The rhythm is swing and the name of the game is love when willowy Pamela Luss takes the Metropolitan Room stage with her matchless jazzmen — Houston Person on saxophone, bassist Jon Burr, Alvin Atkinson, Jr. on drums, and Musical Director/pianist Jon Weber. So This Is Love – and for Luss it’s a mix of romance, passion and nostalgia. She intersperses the music with quotes on love and voilà, you’re hearing a fluid program of eclectic tunes.

Luss possesses a unique quality of girlish innocence mixed with savvy maturity.  Her enthusiasm is not naiveté. She can tackle a sophisticated songbook, connecting well with the lyrics, understanding the intent of the song, and communicating her feelings. Her delivery is refined, her interpretation unaffected, giving each song the distinct touch it needs. She sinks luxuriously into “Why Did I Choose You?” (Michael Leonard and Herbert Martin), the intimacy heightened by Atkinson’s sexy drum brushes. She enjoys the familiarity of the perky TV theme song, “Bewitched” by Jack Keller and Howard Greenfield. Luss uses phrasing that relaxes into long, lingering lines, and then snaps back in time. With ease, she inserts a smoky depth into the simple truth of Brian Wilson and Tony Asher’s “God Only Knows.” She enjoys the easy swing in “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” (Frank Loesser) and Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler’s classic, “Let’s Fall in Love,” and flawlessly delivers the poignancy of Paul McCartney’s “The Long and Winding Road.”

And that band! Luss’s polish and the zip of Person, Burr, Atkinson, Jr. and Weber add up to musical party time. It’s a mutual admiration society, Person’s soulful sax sound expounding on her lyrics and Luss delighting in his cheeky blues improvisations. The second half of the show sizzles when the group goes into exuberant R&B time with Rudy Toombs’s “Teardrops from My Eyes.”

Pamela Luss continues to deliver her trademark of honesty, introspection and solid songs.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
November 4, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org