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 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.
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 “inspired by†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’t 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 “old school†is their attitude – it’s all about good music and entertaining the audience, none of that “aren’t-I-great” and “see-how-fast-I-can-play” nonsense.
My personal favorites are the medleys, or pairings, as Clairdee likes to call them. (“Like pairing a gourmet dish with a fine wine.â€) Strictly speaking, combining two songs does not a medley make. Looking up medley in the Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music, one is referred to the entry for potpourri: “A medley of popular tunes…played in succession, connected by a few measures of introduction or modulation.†Nor is Webster’s of any use here: “A piece of music arranged from a series of melodies from various other sources.†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’ll settle for calling it great music. Here’s the set list:
The Great City + Sunday In New York
Do Something
After You’ve Gone
Summertime
Deed I Do
My One & Only Love + Why Did I Choose You
All They Way
Someone Else Is Steppin’ In
They Can’t Take That Away From Me
For All We Know
Alright, Okay, You Win
The 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 “entrancing duetsâ€), radio promoter Neil Sapper, and Kevin Calabro from Hyena Records (distributors of Clairdee’s CD Music Moves).
As for the audio clip that I’d hoped to post — sorry. I’m glad that when I first mentioned it I used that every-important caveat, “if.†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’ll just have to wait for the professionally recorded duets, or catch Clairdee and Henry Johnson together in a live performance. You know I’ll be cluing you in when the time comes.