Jazz vocalist Judi Silvano has been on my radar screen for years, thanks to hosting the radio shows Welcome to the Club in New York and At the Ritz in Connecticut. She’s married to the highly regarded post bop tenor sax player, Joe Lovano, and, as an equally hip soulmate, she has specialized in a kind of improvisational vocalise that, I have to admit, I personally have never fully understood, appreciated or been able to embrace.

All that changed when I headed out to The Duplex recently to review a performer who, it turned out, was more monologist than singer.Not wanting to make a trip to the village in vain, I stumbled into Bar 55 and was greeted warmly by the ebullient Silvano and joined by fellow jazz birds Andrea Wolper, Linda Presgrave and Mary Anne De Prophetis.

A seasoned veteran in both music and life, the “unflappable” Silvano calmly and discreetly handled the fact that her vibist had inadvertently left his mallets at home and had to return to Brooklyn to retrieve them, delaying the start of her set. “There’s always something,” she noted, eventually beginning the set with one of several original compositions, called “Dobranotz.”

Her love for the music was instantly palpable and her voice, with its three and a half octave range, became like another instrument in her extraordinary ensemble featuring Stefan Bauer on vibes, Ratso Harris on bass, Newman Taylor Baker on drums and Chris Bacas on reeds. What followed was a master class in the art of improvisational jazz singing and I was hooked!

Her second number, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, further revealed what this style of singing is all about and how adept Ms. Silvano has become at performing it. She knows her songs cold, their structure and their sound, and she knows exactly where to take the big risks and “go for it” convincingly and without fear. Other highlights in her first set included “Reflections” by Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington’s “Mood Indigo.”

Silvano is also a beloved and respected teacher and has for years been on the faculties of The Manhattan School of Music, Vassar College and Rutgers University. She’s also conducted workshops in vocal improv in New York and at The Banff International Center for the Arts in Alberta, Canada.

Lynn DiMenna
Cabaret Scenes
May 19, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org