Waif-like and demure, promising jazz bird Emily Abraham has an impressive background in the performing arts, having attended a summer session at The Eastman School of Music and winning a scholarship to Sarah Lawrence College. But she can thank her friendship and collaboration with director Lina Koutrakos and, especially, musical arranger Rick Jensen, for helping to make her show at the Metropolitan Room so memorable. She offered re-arranged takes on a song list of well-known jazz standards and well-chosen pop staples, with a few Broadway gems thrown in for good measure.

She opened with an unusual pairing of Paul Desmond’s “Take Five” and Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” Musically, the combination worked and stylistically they were effective in showing off the wispy, breathy quality of her vocal and scatting ability.

Jensen’s arrangements were particularly appropriate on “I’ve Got the World on a String” and “Out of This World” where he built them around her vocals and thanks, too, to her exceptional trio of first-rate musicians (Noah Haidu on piano, Dan Martin on bass and Dan Sternbach on drums) who managed to make both songs sound fresh and inventive.

Abraham showed intelligence and a facility with rapid-paced lyrics on Sondheim’s “Getting Married Today” and Loughborough and Wheat’s “Better Than Anything” and an overall comfort level with the swingier “Love You Madly” (Duke Ellington and Luther Henderson) and Cahn and Van Heusen’s “Come Fly with Me.”

By show’s end, I regretted not hearing a bit more depth, vocally and emotionally, and not knowing Emily herself a little better through her patter and song choices. I sense a real sweetheart!

Lynn DiMenna
Cabaret Scenes
March 24, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org