Annie Ross at The Metropolitan Room: Lush and Twisted
By: Michael Dale May. 10, 2007
A rather wonderful thing happens when time starts diminishing the melodic qualities of great cabaret and jazz singers. When the voice loses much of its power, tempos are slower than usual and there are more spoken lyrics than you may recall from classic recordings, what's left is the raw interpretive artistry perfected by experience. It may seem like a backhanded compliment, but the skills that separate cabaret artists from mere singers are what keep someone like Annie Ross so captivating, even as she approaches her 77th birthday. Call her open-ended Tuesday nights at 7PM engagement at The Metropolitan Room a master class, a history lesson or just a dreamy way to spend the early evening and you'll be right on all counts.
Most famous for serving as the latter third of the vocal jazz trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, she was a pioneer of the singing style known as vocalese, where lyrics were set to intrumental compositions and improvisations. Her signature tune "Twisted," with a satrirical lyric about psychoanalysis she penned to a solo of sax player Wardell Gray, still sparkles with jivey wit. The Gershwins' "I Got Rhythm" lingers with a supine and satisfied ease while Ogden Nash's romantic lyric to Kurt Weill's sumptious melody for "Speak Low" is delivered with deep, rich tones and the sage wisdom of a love guru.
Two Johnny Mercer/Richard Whiting tunes, "Too Marvelous For Words" and "Have You Got Any Castles, Baby?" swing with her jaunty rhythmic phrasing, but when the room quiets down to pin drop decibles, she softly emotes Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" with a crushing simplicity.
Partnering with Ross, and accenting the set with numerous exile rating solos are Tardo Hammer (piano), Neal Miner (bass) and Jimmy Wormworth (drums).
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