The Rrazz Room continues its sensational premiere season by presenting the husband and wife team of Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth. Appropriately titled (she's a Dame, he's a Sir), the two-hour set flows from the finest of instrumental jazz to the sublime stylings of one of the finest singers of our time.

Dankworth, an accomplished horn player, and his quartet ripped through "Stompin at the Savoy," a latin infused "Macho Gazpacho" and two Duke Ellington numbers: "Jack the Bear" and the sweet ballad ,"Tonight I Shall Sleep," before Laine made her entrance with a medley of "Without a Song" /"Sittin' and Rockin." Her voice is still superb, more mature and lower, but retaining the jazz instrument that made her a star. She scatted through a delightful "Hallelujah" and deconstructed "Tea For Two" with a slow and deliberate reading. She scintillated on "Peel Me a Grape" with its overt sensuality. Now into her '80s, Laine's voice is vibrant and enticing. While listening to her and the band swing through Frank Loesser's "Slow Boat to China," Gershwin's "I Got A Crush On You" and "Facinating Rhythm," I hear all the greats and Laine's peers: Ella, Carmen, Sarah, Lena, Rosemary, Peggy.

When the set closed with two Ellington numbers and an encore of Billie Holiday's "Fine and Mellow," I found myself smiling. Great music makes me do that. Laine and Dankworth continue an enduring legacy of musical genius—one that isn't diminished by age. It's not their titles that make them jazz royalty, it's their consummate, timeless class.

Steve Murray
Cabaret Scenes
September 2, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org