Way Out West

[Paula West played The Cabaret at Savor April 19 - 22, 2007. This is the text of my review for KDHX-FM in St. Louis.]

It has been just about four and one-half years since Paula West brought her classy, jazzy and blues-inflected cabaret act to town. Back then she played the spacious and acoustically odd Grandel Theatre. This year it's the more intimate Flim-Flam Room, upstairs at the Savor St. Louis restaurant, and the new venue seems to suit her just fine.

When Ms. West appeared at the Grandel, I admired the way she combined the improvisatory spirit of jazz with the fidelity to the songwriter's intent that characterizes a good cabaret performance. I described her act then as “the best of both worlds”. It still is.

Although somewhat physically restricted by the small playing area at the Flim-Flam - the room was, after all, designed to host close-up magic, which it still does most weekends - West nevertheless connected quickly with the audience. She opened with a solid one-two punch of Vernon Duke and John Latouche's “Taking a Chance on Love” (from Cabin in the Sky, where Ethel Waters introduced it on Broadway) and Gershwin's “It Ain't Necessarily So” - the latter tremendously effective even if Ms. West did have to do both the call and response herself.

The song is an interesting choice, by the way. In Porgy and Bess, it's sung by Sportin' Life, the morally flexible hustler, as a sarcastic response to the hymn singing of Catfish Row's more devout residents. The song's point of view is decidedly male and, in my experience, female singers don't usually take it on. The fact that Ms. West makes it her own is an indication of her willingness to take chances with both song choices and interpretations.

Other examples of her willingness to strike out in new directions include a powerful rendition of Dylan's “Like a Rolling Stone”, the obscure “Man Wanted” by British composer and jazz critic Leonard Feather (another one premiered by Ethel Waters), and a surprisingly upbeat version of “The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond” - a song which, is after all, about “the low road” of death. There's also Oscar Brown, Jr.'s wryly funny “The Snake”, about the folly of believing that love alone can change a snake's nature. It resonated strongly with the women in the audience; can't think why.

It was also a pleasure to hear a moving performance of Bert Williams' 1905 classic “Nobody”, along with a few words about that late, great African-American superstar. Largely forgotten today, Williams was, in the early years of this century, a performer of such immense popularity that, when Ziegfeld made him a Follies headliner in 1910, bigoted protests from some other Follies performers were silenced. Ziegfeld told the protesters that they could be replaced, but there was only one Bert Williams.

That's not to say that Paula West doesn't provide a full measure of familiar tunes, including Porter's “Don't Fence Me In”, Roger and Hart's “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (including some extra lyrics that may not have been Hart's), Charlie Chaplin's classic “Smile” and “Thanks for the Memory”, Bob Hope's signature tune, first sung by him and Shirley Ross in The Big Broadcast of 1938. In every case, Ms. West puts her own unique spin on the song while still keeping true to the composer's and, more importantly, the lyricist's intent.

As she did in 2002, Paula West comes with a solid combo of jazz pros. This time around it's pianist/arranger George Mesterhazy and bassist Vicente Archer. West allows plenty of time for solo instrumental breaks in nearly every song, and Mesterhazy and Archer made the most of them. Mesterhazy is the flashier of the two, with impressive technique to spare, but Archer's subtle and intelligent performance deserves close attention as well. Their teamwork is especially impressive in the encore number “You Came a Long Way From St. Louis”, as they trade licks and the occasional quote from jazz classics such as Bobby Timmons' “Moanin'”.

The bottom line is that Paula West starts off the spring Cabaret at Savor season with ninety minutes of powerful, fasten-your-seat-belts song that will please jazz fans and traditional cabaret lovers alike. She'll be there through Sunday [April 22, 2007]. Tickets are available from licketytix.com. You might also want to consider arriving early for the fixed-price dinner. Savor's excellent cuisine is a bit pricey, but worth every penny.

Those of you outside of St. Louis can catch her at The Jazz Standard in New York City May 17th through 20th, the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco (her home base) on June 15th, and at the prestigious Oak Room at Algonquin Hotel for four weeks, beginning in mid-October. Check out her web site for details. Her three CDs - Temptation (1995), Restless (1999) and Come What May (2002) - are also available on line from amazon.com and other from merchants, both physical and virtual.