Freda Payne delivered a solid set of standards, rarely straying from the Great American Songbook stylings of Ella Fitzgerald, the titular honoree of her cabaret at Iridium. But from the reaction of her audience, that’s exactly what they came out to hear. Playing to a full house, Ms. Payne displayed audience-pleasing vocal pyrotechnics and a more womanly voice than Ella’s girlish sophisticate as she ran the gamut from “You’ll Have to Swing It” (“Mr. Paganini”) complete with some playful scat to a plaintive “Someone to Watch Over Me” and a “Mack the Knife” that included a persuasive imitation of Louis Armstrong in duet with her Ella.

Ms. Payne opened the set with an engaging, Latin-inflected “Lost in Love” (Klemmer, Batteau) that quieted the crowd. She then launched into a mini-tribute in song to the late Lena Horne, capturing the tigress in her by bringing a seductive drawl to her interpretation of “From This Moment On” (Porter), then putting her own stamp on “Stormy Weather” (Arlen, Koehler) and “Love” (Martin). High points included an edgy “Angel Eyes” (Dennis, Brent), “St. Louis Blues” (Handy) which she built into a jazzy swing number, and “Miss Otis Regrets” (Porter) that emphasized the storytelling.

At times, the saloon singer in Ms. Payne got a little too comfortable with her environment letting her scramble the occasional lyric and allowing some roughness to creep into her voice when she pushed it at the end of a song. All in all, it was an enjoyable, if uninspired, evening of solid vocal skills. Still, one wished she had taken more risks with her choice of songs and interpretation to add a note of freshness to the proceedings. Ms. Payne ended with an lively encore of her hit single from the 70s “Band of Gold.”

Bob Barnett
Cabaret Scenes
November 13, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org