As often as you see Paula West perform, there are always new moments with new musical messages.  Without tribute or theme in her current show at the Algonquin's Oak Room, she surprises with a vibrant "Iko Iko" by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford, bringing in all the fun of a Caribbean beach vacation or a Cajun cookout.  From here she turns around for a stately "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes" by John Wall Callcott and Ben Jonson, a luscious rendition with her trademark dark alto voice insinuating itself around the words.

West is always dedicated to delivering the story but just as important, she has a jazz-oriented intelligence.  Add to this the musicianship to deliver unique interpretation with no scatting, no frou-frou.  The excitement comes from the songs, like the intense emotion in Rodgers and Hart's "My Romance."  In "The Music Goes 'Round and 'Round"  (Edward Farley, Michael Riley and "Red" Hodgsob), she delivers more deedle-dee-ho-ho-ho fun than you ever thought possible.  Patter is minimal.  West just moves to the microphone and starts to sing.  Her breath control sustains notes interminably, it seems, with no vibrato.  This technique goes further than show-off rights.  West has the understanding to use it to underscore the intent of the song.

Bob Dylan and Cole Porter remain firmly in her repertoire, with West approaching flamboyancy delivering all those clever rhyming verses in Porter's matchless "You've Got That Thing."   She opens her show with Bob Dylan's "All I Really Want to Do" with a limbo lilt.  West brings memories of Bobby Short with Porter's “I’m in Love Again” and a salute to Ethel Waters with Hoagy Carmichael's "Bread and Gravy."  Her delivery of "Romance in the Dark," (Lil Green) is like a nostalgic waft from a 1940s movie.  "Where Flamingos Fly" (Harold Courlander, El Thea, and John B. Brooks), recorded by two of the coolest jazz singers, Peggy Lee and Helen Merrill, is heated up with loss.

Joining West in her eclectic song list is a matchless quartet with Barak Mori on bass, Jerome Jennings on drums, Ed Cherry on guitar and Musical Director and pianist, George Mesterhazy.  Paula West appears at the Oak Room through November 14.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
October 28, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org