Lea DeLaria presents the wall2wall series at PizzaExpress Jazz Club every other month.  Tonight’s show was a collection of eleven of David Bowie’s songs, which DeLaria will eventually record. The series is always a one-off, so is somewhere between a polished rehearsal and a final product, and includes some terrific jamming.

At some point DeLaria said, “Who’d have ever thought I’d be scatting to David Bowie,” but she proves, once again, she can swing even the most un-swingable of songs. My date tonight pointed out something I’d never noticed. There’s a real similarity between DeLaria and Ella Fitzgerald, particularly when Lea scats. Tonight was reminiscent of Fitzgerald’s 1970s period, when she sang popular songs of that era.

I have to admit I’ve never been a huge Bowie fan, but DeLaria shed a brand new jazz light on him. “Let’s Dance” was my favorite song, with a lovely, slow swing, a dark underbelly and some truly amazing scat. I loved the tempo change in “Fame,” moving from slow and intense to a samba swing. The songstress was joined on four songs by the wonderful Ian Shaw, who sang a soaring “Life on Mars?” Together they did a very funny impromptu swing of “The Laughing Gnome,” before finishing with DeLaria’s favorite, “Starman,” again treating us to some great scat.

Janette Mason (piano), Mark Fletcher (drums) and Simon Little (bass) formed the wall2wall trio, providing superb accompaniment and improvisation.

Look out for DeLaria’s CD, which we might see by next spring.

Harold Sanditen
Cabaret Scenes
September 20, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org