Ann Hampton Callaway: But Beautiful
Ann Hampton Callaway
But Beautiful
Birdland, NYC, May 4, 2016
Reviewed by Ron Forman for Cabaret Scenes
I have seen Ann Hampton Callaway perform many times in the past ten years. Each time I see her, her voice appears to have become richer and even more powerful. She is truly a diva, in the best sense of the word, at the very top of her form. Callaway has great sound and style and exudes such great confidence on stage, that on the one occasion that she blew a lyric, she turned it into a funny and very positive event by scatting nicely through a few bars of the song. She was backed by the marvelous jazz group, the Ted Rosenthal Trio—Rosenthal (piano), Martin Wind (bass), Tim Horner (drums)—all of whom did solos that enhanced the performance. Callaway celebrated spring as a time for love with some of the best songs chosen from The Great American Songbook.
The trio opened with a jazzy up-tempo “People Will Say We’re in Love” followed by Callaway’s “Let’s Get Lost.” She then slowly sang the verse of “All the Things You Are,” then started swinging, and had the audience join in while she scatted. Her performance of “The Folks Who Live on the Hill” ranked with Peggy Lee’s as the best I have ever heard. Callaway did a three-song tribute to jazz pianist Bill Evans that included “Never Let Me Go,” “Here’s That Rainy Day” and a big and brassy “Come Rain or Come Shine,” which she performed in the film The Good Shepherd. The number was preceded by amusing anecdotes involving the movie’s director, Robert DeNiro, and star, Angelina Jolie.
Of course, she sang the show’s title song beautifully, before closing with “Taking a Chance on Love.” Callaway began her encore with the almost never-performed verse to “Blue Moon” before showing off her chops as a belter with the chorus.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews, Regional
