Terese Genecco, fresh from a triumphant engagement in Reno, Nevada, appeared in San Francisco’s Rrazz Room October 4th in a new show which she called Party Time. During the past years Genecco has done two Frances Faye tribute shows and an Arthur Schwartz show. This is a brand new show and she is not only singing better than ever but this time her own individual personality emerges. She demonstrates that she is a forceful communicating singer in the style of the great nightclub cabaret artists of the past (think Sammy Davis ,Jr.!) . She appeared with the best jazz musicians in San Francisco. Her ‘Little Big Band” included multi talented Barry Lloyd on piano, Tony Malfatti who wrote several of the arrangements on alto sax, Daniel Fabricant on bass, Jacob Lawler on Latin percussion (bongos), Randy Odell on drums, Rich Armstrong on trumpet, and Max Perkoff on trombone. She announced that it was going to be “Party Time.” Joking that someone in her audience saw a press quote that described her as the daughter of Dean Martin and Judy Garland, she rocked with their songs, “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” and “Come Rain or Come Shine.” There were upbeat jazz arrangements on “A Lot of Living to Do,” “Love Is Just Around the Corner,” and reprises of “Unchain My Heart," the great Russ Garcia arrangement of “St. James Infirmary“ (which had trumpet player Armstrong surpassing Maynard Ferguson in breaking the sound barrier), and “You’re My Thrill.” There were only two ballads: “Drunk With Love” (from the Frances Faye show) which she sang with new dramatic power, and an amazing song by Maria Gentile, “If I Were a Boy,” a moving song about a girl’s unrequited love (for her father? for a girlfriend?) which brought the audience to tears. There was a new arrangement of “Love Isn’t Born It’s Made” that had the audience laughing hysterically.

Genecco's special guest at the Rrazz Room was Russ Lorenson who is doing his new show, Standard Time, in New York during Cabaret Convention time. He swung wildly with the band on “Let’s Raise the Roof” from Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, “Swing is Back In Style,” a great new song by Michael Feinstein, Ray Jessel and Cynthia Thompson, and a song written by Kelly Park when he was 17 years old, “I‘m a Fool in Love." His new show will be devoted to songs from the past twenty years that he feels deserve to be standards.

Terese closed with a energetic “Going To Kansas City” which gave each one of her Little Big Band stunning solos and left the audience begging for more!

Terese Genecco and her Little Big Band appear at the Metropolitan Room in New York October 28, November 1st and at the Rrazz Room in San Francisco on November 22nd.

Russ Lorenson's Standard Time is at the Metropolitan Room in New York October 25tth and 28th.

Barry Lloyd's Take Me is at the Metropolitan Room in New York October 26th.

Joe Regan, Jr.
Cabaret Scenes
October 4, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org