Three women — three styles — one show.  That was the format for Cabarabia Spotlight, an intermittent series of evenings produced by Clifford Bell.

On this evening, the three women were Joanne Tatham, a jazz stylist fresh off a gig at NYC’s Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, Jorian Clair, a singer putting a unique spin to a series of mostly familiar songs, and Rosemary Tarquinio, a TV executive by day making her cabaret debut with a multi-song set.

Tatham has a mellow voice, a relaxed stage presence and a calming effect on an audience.   Having just come back from New York, she opened with “Sunday in New York” (Peter Nero/Caroll Coates), followed by a humorous take on Los Angeles traffic entitled “Too Long in L.A.” (Dave Frishberg).  She also performed a swinging version of  “The Man with the Bag” (Dudley Brooks/Harold Stanley/Irving Taylor) and a nice samba version of “Vivo Sonhando” (Antonio Carlos Jobim) in English and Portugeuese.  But her piece de resistance was “Tell Me a Bedtime Story,” an instrumental piece written by Herbie Hancock, to which Tatham added her own lyrics many years later with Hancock’s approval. Tatham delivered the song with a particular lilt in her voice, perhaps because of the song’s instrumental origins.

Clair has a husky voice and a nice way with a lyric, and she likes to explain what each song means to her.  Often, the perspective is unique since Clair lost her eyesight ten years ago. So “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her (His) Face” (Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe) became an ode to recognizing someone by something other than sight. “What a Wonderful World” (Bob Thiele/George David Weiss) prompted Clair to reflect on her memories of colors mentioned in the song linked to events in her life. “Married I Can Always Get” (Gordon Jenkins) reflected her stubborn, independent streak.  Clair also sang an original, “Eye Candy,” about people’s obsession with looks.

For her set, Tarquinio proved herself a force to be reckoned with once she got past some first-performance jitters.  With a full, rich voice and easy delivery that belied her nervousness, she pulled off Sondheim’s “Anyone Can Whistle” with ease and total aplomb and offered a warm, winning voice on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (Hugh Martin). She was also effective in a medley that combined “Won’t You Be My “Friend” (Fred Rogers) with “The Boy Next Door” (Martin) and a funny double-entendre number called “TV Is the Thing This Year” (Phil Medley/William Sanford).

All three singers were accompanied by John Belzaguy on bass and Tom Bowe on drums.  John Randall accompanied Tarquinio on piano; and Eli Bruegemann accompanied both Tatham and Clair on piano and showed off his soft touch on the keyboard and soft voice with a solo on “Wish,” which he wrote with Joshua Redman.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
December 12, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org