So where was I? Oh yes, the show was… terrific, of course.<\/p>\n
Vocal Legacy opened with a bright and breezy one-two-punch, combing The Great City<\/em> (Clairdee<\/a><\/strong>) with Sunday In New York<\/em> (Henry Johnson<\/a><\/strong>). After the first song, Nancy Wilson took the stage, not to sing, but to support the work of these fine performers. (She said she’d been coaching Henry by phone on his singing and she is pleased with the results.) In fact, she liked them so much that she took a seat in the back of the room and stayed to hear most of the show, slipping out just before the set was over.<\/p>\n In keeping with the vocal legacy theme, the opening songs were in salute to Shirley Horn. Other selections were inspired by artists as diverse as Joe Williams, Donny Hathaway, Helen Humes, Johnny Hartman, and Ernestine Anderson. When I say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153inspired by\u00e2\u20ac\u009d all that I mean to imply is that Clairdee and Henry are well-versed in the history of their music, and that they have been touched or moved by particular performances. But don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think, not even for a moment, that Vocal Legacy is another new act attempting to resurrect or imitate the work of others. Clairdee and Henry both have their own sounds and their own unique and contemporary approaches to the music. What is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153old school\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is their attitude \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about good music and entertaining the audience, none of that “aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t-I-great” and “see-how-fast-I-can-play” nonsense. <\/p>\n My personal favorites are the medleys, or pairings, as Clairdee likes to call them. (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Like pairing a gourmet dish with a fine wine.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) Strictly speaking, combining two songs does not a medley make. Looking up medley in the Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music<\/em>, one is referred to the entry for potpourri: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A medley of popular tunes…played in succession, connected by a few measures of introduction or modulation.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Nor is Webster\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s of any use here: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A piece of music arranged from a series of melodies from various other sources.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Neither definition reflects the effects achieved by weaving together two disparate yet harmonically compatible songs, commingling their not only their musical structures but their lyrical intentions as well. So call it what you will, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll settle for calling it great music. Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the set list:<\/p>\n The Great City + Sunday In New York As for the audio clip that I’d hoped to post — sorry. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad that when I first mentioned it I used that every-important caveat, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153if.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The powers that be (management, in this case) have decreed that the recording is a great tool for self-evaluation, but not of a quality that they wish to share with the public. So, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just have to wait for the professionally recorded duets, or catch Clairdee and Henry Johnson together in a live performance. You know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be cluing you in when the time comes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So where was I? Oh yes, the show was… terrific, of course. Vocal Legacy opened with a bright and breezy one-two-punch, combing The Great City (Clairdee) with Sunday In New York (Henry Johnson). After the first song, Nancy Wilson took the stage, not to sing, but to support the work of these fine performers. (She … Continue reading “IAJE & NEA: The Last Chorus continued”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jazz-ears"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.devradowrite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.devradowrite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.devradowrite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.devradowrite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.devradowrite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.devradowrite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.devradowrite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.devradowrite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.devradowrite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nDo Something
\nAfter You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve Gone
\nSummertime
\nDeed I Do
\nMy One & Only Love + Why Did I Choose You
\nAll They Way
\nSomeone Else Is Steppin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 In
\nThey Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Take That Away From Me
\nFor All We Know
\nAlright, Okay, You Win
\n<\/em>
\nThe audience encompassed myriad ages and ethnicities. From my vantage point, standing on the side of the room near the front, I saw a lot of toe-tapping and smiles all around. After the show, many stopped to share their enthusiasm with the musicians and with John, including Chicago deejay Marsha Noble, veteran record producer Herb Wong (he loved those \u00e2\u20ac\u0153entrancing duets\u00e2\u20ac\u009d), radio promoter Neil Sapper, and Kevin Calabro from Hyena Records (distributors of Clairdee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s CD Music Moves<\/em>). <\/p>\n