Natalie Douglas: Human Heart

Peter Haas | March 28, 2016

Natalie Douglas

Human Heart

Birdland, NYC, March 21, 2016

Reviewed by Peter Haas for Cabaret Scenes

There was a bright moon over Birdland one evening in late March—but it was outshone by the performer inside on stage. It was Natalie Douglas, in a one-night show celebrating the release of her new CD, Human Heart. Radiant in a white cocktail dress, and accompanied by a lively six-piece band headed by Musical Director Mark Hartman, Douglas, with her voice ranging from clear and clarion to velvet and throbbing, won cheer after cheer from the packed house.

Her program ranged from popular and show songs to the socially significant. Among the former were: the sweet “It Never Was You” (from Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson’s score for Knickerbocker Holiday); “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” (Kern and Hammerstein from Show Boat), with her interpretation highlighting the song’s emotion and artistry); “The Best Is Yet to Come (Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh), featuring a bright piano solo by Hartman; a Billie Holiday favorite, “I Must Have That Man” (McHugh/Fields); and a lullaby, “Sleepy Man” (by Robert Waldman and Alfred Uhry from The Robber Bridegroom). Also on tap, in a loving rendition: Jerry Jeff Walker’s gentle tribute to a dancer, “Mr. Bojangles.”

Douglas, however, has always been a crusader against injustice, and this aspect emerged strongly throughout her show. Numbers included two Abbey Lincoln songs, “Wholly Earth” and “Throw It Away”; Nina Simone’s half-century-old anti-segregation song, “Mississippi Goddam,” and Abel Meeropol’s classic, “Strange Fruit,” which evoked an especially powerful performance from Douglas – and cheers from the audience.

A special pleasure in seeing Douglas’ shows over time (a dozen years, for a total of 39 shows, as she told her Birdland audience) is to see the increasing strength, sureness and beauty in her performing. Her audience clearly realized it, too—giving her, as she stepped off the stage at the end of her evening, a standing ovation.

Tags: Abbey Lincoln, Abel Meeropol, Alfred Uhry, American Songbook, Billie Holiday, Birdland. NYC, Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man, Carolyn Leigh, CD, Clubs, Composers, Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields, Great American Songbook, Human Heart, I Must Have That Man, It Never Was You, Jazz, Jazz Singers, Jerome Kern, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy McHugh, Knickerbocker Holiday, Kurt Weill, lyricists, Mark Hartman, Maxwell Anderson, Mississippi Goddam, Mr. Bojangles, Musicals, Musicians, Natalie Douglas, Nightclubs, Nina Simone, Oscar Hammerstein, Peter Haas, Popular Song, Revues, Robert Waldman, Show Boat, Show Tunes, Singers, Sleepy Man, Songbook, Standards, Strange Fruit, Supper Clubs, The Best is Yet to Come, The Robber Bridegroom, Throw It Away, Venues, Vocalists, Wholly Earth