Once settled at the Steinway, Ms. Schuur swung into Deebles is My Name, her trademark song that uses her childhood nickname. In the middle, however, she detoured a bit from the standard words to sing “how wonderful to be in Cleveland” after which she scatted around a bit. Up the scale and down again, in and around the melody, bending notes, but always coming back to the intended note, her three-and-a-half octave voice is crystalline, a thing of beauty no matter the pitch.
Not every song gets this treatment, as she mixes up the repertoire so that if one song is bouncy, the next is soft and bluesy, and the next may be pure jazz. Whatever it is, however, whether new or old, it’s a musical meeting-of-the-minds between the four musicians, taking turns at solos or sometimes duets. At times one would swear there was a trumpet up there somewhere, hiding behind one of the other guys, but no—it’s Ms. Schuur’s clear voice soaring from the stratosphere to the basement, blending with the sax or bass, or even playing tag with one or the other of them.
Roger Hines doubles as Musical Director and bass player; Jim Rupp was featured on drums and Mike MacArthur was the very busy sax player. Together with Ms. Schuur, they form a quartet that is unparalleled for sheer musicality and enjoyment. It was neat to see them all smiling at each other during the music.
Diane Schuur doesn’t just sing; she imitates other instruments as well, in an astonishing variety. After the joyous Deebles, she gave us a smooth, ultra-bluesy The Man I Love using a synthesizer that provided an accompaniment of blended organ and strings. Then it was a boisterous rendition of So What by Miles Davis. Whew! The melody started in the bass, went from there to the sax, and then to a duet between Ms. Schuur’s soaring soprano and sax, and finally back to the bowed double bass again. There were a lot of smiles during this piece, and not all of them were in the audience!
From the recent album done with Barry Manilow, was When October Goes, a sometimes sad, bluesy song with wonderful chordal modulations at the end of it. A wild drum solo and more scat singing highlighted It Don’t Mean a Thing (if it Ain’t Got That Swing!) followed by a poignant Teach Me Tonight. This one could have been the pattern for a traditional jazz trio presentation, just piano, bass and drums, with superb singer added in, of course.
The first half ended with another old standard You’d Be So Easy To Love. What a treat to hear these gorgeous old songs and their meaningful lyrics, complete with verse, sung in such intelligent, comprehensible fashion. Even though many of them were written before she was born, Ms. Schuur is in tune with that tradition, and thank goodness for it!
To begin the second half, Ms. Schuur enticed her husband of eight years to bring a chair out on stage and sit beside her. He smilingly obliged and they carried on with fun-filled banter between songs. After Meet Me at Midnight they reminisced about their meeting, courtship and subsequent marriage. She assured us all that anyone else she’d ever been with were ‘just dress rehearsals… or, undress as the case may be!’ This amused her into another fit of giggles.
Blues standard The Very Thought of You followed, showcasing the mellow sax of Mr. MacArthur, along with Ms. Schuur’s vocals. Hard Drivin’ Mama followed, and it was indeed hard drivin’ by all of them. Whew! The Theme of Big Bopper brought more scatting and a luscious scat duet between the singer and the saxophone. Other moments here were highly reminiscent of Yackety Sax. Remember him? To tumultuous applause from the rather small crowd, Ms. Schuur asked her musicians, “Wasn’t that fun?” Absolutely!
The great American soul singer Ray Charles (who died earlier this month) was both mentor and friend to Ms. Schuur, who paid tribute to him with It Had to Be You. Earlier, she had demonstrated the ‘bobbing’ movements that so typified the performances of Mr. Charles, as well as the head-moving of Stevie Wonder, so, in the second chorus, she lowered her voice to sound more like Mr. Charles, while imitating his movements, as well. Done with love, it was not the least bit offensive..
Mr. Hines switched from amplified acoustic bass to electric bass for Love Dance which allowed him to move around a bit to the synthesizer once again used by Ms. Schuur. The mildly rocking Louisiana Sunday Afternoon concluded the program, for which the musicians were awarded a rousing standing ovation. But no—not quite! Ms. Schuur changed her mind and after having the microphone adjusted downward, she gave us a marvelous encore. All by herself, she sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It brought both shivers and tears.
This program was a benefit for Maximum Independent Living in cooperation with SRO Entertainment. Next up will be flutist, Sir James Galway on Tuesday, October 12, 2004, also at Severance Hall. For more information, call (216) 990-2321. from Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriter@core.com (:divend:)