By Andrew Poretz . . .
When you’re a singer and songwriter whose first album in five years was inspired by birds, what better venue than Birdland to celebrate its release? The Canadian performer Emilie-Claire Barlow did just that for Spark Bird in six sold-out sets at Birdland Theater for three nights. Theater Pizzazz was there for her penultimate set on April 2.
This set consisted primarily of songs from the new album, as well as some favorites from her dozen previous albums, which ranged from jazz standards to bossa nova, pop and rock songs, though with completely reimagined arrangements. Ms. Barlow was accompanied by her Canadian band of Amanda Tosoff, saxophonist Kelly Jefferson, guitarist Reg Schwager, bassist Jon Maharaja, and drummer Fabio Ragnelli.
The star explained that a “spark bird” is what birders call the bird that first inspired their interest and passion in the field, which she elaborated on in a recent article in the BirdWatching online magazine. Though not a birder herself, it was a newfound love of birds that inspired her to record this album.
(Photo: Mike Amodei)
Ms. Barlow opened with three songs from Spark Bird. At first, Ms. Barlow seemed, well, extraordinarily pleasant. An attractive woman with waist-length hair, she has a light, airy voice. As things progressed, however, her biggest vocal strengths became evident: melodic vocalizing, vocalese, and even scat singing. She is blessed with flawless intonation and tone. When singing in French, or when she makes her voice sound like a flute, it brings to mind a deeper-voiced version of Danielle Licari, who dubbed Catherine Deneuve in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
The linguistic aspect gives Ms. Barlow—who sings in four languages and is fluent in English and French—quite an edge. The polyglot star sang “Fais comme l’oiseau” (“Do Like the Bird”) in French. It was during the fine tenor sax and guitar solos that things became more interesting, when she and Mr. Jefferson’s sounds became intertwined, giving the illusion of a sax section. On “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” which had something of a Brubeckian rhythm, her vocalizing sonically doubled the sax.
Ms. Barlow presented a fabulous rendition of “Surrey with the Fringe on Top,” second only to Mel Torme’s 1960 gold standard arranged by Marty Paich. The well-crafted arrangement, with unison playing, had something of a noirish quality. Ms. Barlow was fully in her power here.
“La Belle Dame Sans Regret” is a Sting song, entirely in French. The percussion was played double-time against a straight 4/4 melody. Ms. Barlow performed a flute-like vocalization that was quite impressive. After the solos, she sang with only guitar accompaniment, which left me wanting more of that. Ironically, she performed her next number, Van Morrison’s “Sweet Thing,” like Sheila Jordan, singing with only the bass.
Ms. Barlow sang a gorgeous rendition of the jazz standard “Skylark,” seemingly performing the entire song with only Mr. Schwager’s guitar. While singing a very long final note of the lyric, “Won’t you leave me there,” the piano came in over the note, and the rest of the band followed to complete the song. It was a brilliant approach. Interestingly, Ms. Barlow changed the “politically incorrect” line, “sad as a gypsy, serenading the moon.” She replaced “gypsy” with “whippoorwill.” This might have gone unnoticed but for an extra syllable. As it happens, the lyric actually references the (two-syllable) wagtail, a bird known for serenading by the light of the moon, and also known as the “gypsy bird” for its nomadic nature.
The jazz highlight of the set was James Edward Heath’s “Little Jazz Bird,” arranged by Ms. Barlow and Reg Schwager. The arrangement seemed to be modeled on the “George Shearing sound,” with “doubling” (two or more instruments playing the same note or in octaves) of the guitar and piano, as well as Schwager’s doubling of Ms. Barlow’s vocalese. This was quite intentional, as confirmed after the set. In fact, Mr. Schwager played with Shearing’s quintet for the last ten years of the legendary pianist’s career.
Towards the end of the set, Ms. Barlow really let loose on Harry M. Woods’ swinger, “What A Little Moonlight Can Do,” a Billie Holiday hit. Along with scat, vocalizing and vocalese in the same piece, her rhythmic skills made this quite a hot number.
While her interpretative skills are fine, Ms. Barlow has exceptional rhythmic timing, which really gives her an edge on jazzy, upbeat songs. She even played the bass drum on one number. Ms. Barlow switches between lyric and vocalizing with ease. With her excellent presence, voice, humor and versatility, she makes a superb addition to the New York jazz scene.
Emilie-Claire Barlow performed from March 31 to April 2 at Birdland Theater, 315 West 44th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenue www.birdlandjazz.com.
Photos: Andrew Poretz, except where indicated
Feature photo: Mike Amodei
