By Andrew Poretz …

Singer Kieran Brown, a very young, “up and coming” jazz and R&B singer with a strong proclivity for material from the Great American Songbook, took the stage at The Green Room 42 with pianist/musical director Matt Baker. Mr. Baker is a rather accomplished jazz pianist (and equally excellent photographer). The Australian-born pianist has a knack for elevating whatever material he works with through thoughtful and creative arrangements, particularly in his choices of voicings and some unique time signatures. Ms. Brown, though relatively new to the jazz scene, already has an impressive résumé.

Ms. Brown, a statuesque beauty, was dressed in a shimmery, metallic gown that nearly made her look like a silverish Oscar, rather appropriate for the movie theme. The show presented some of Ms. Brown’s favorite movie songs, with some appropriate patter and fine singing. She consistently did a great job of introducing each movie title and song pairing: she provided the song titles, their composers and lyricists, which showed a great respect for the material.

Ms. Brown opened strong with “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” (Jule Styne/Leo Robin) from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Ms. Brown has good timing and can scat, something she did a few times in the set.

Judy Garland had much representation in a medley of “The Boy Next Door” and “The Trolley Song” from Meet Me in Saint Louis. For the former tune, she sang the verse rubato, before taking the song to a waltz tempo, with some excellent voicings by Mr. Baker. After Baker’s instrumental, she made it much jazzier. Ms. Brown followed this with a somewhat bluesy “The Man That Got Away” from A Star is Born, for which she had the lights turn red. She quipped, “We gonna get dramatic now!”

For “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factor (Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley), Mr. Baker arranged it in an unusual 5/4 time signature.

A surprising highlight was “Shallow” from the Lady Gaga version of A Star is Born (Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, Anthony Rossomando, and Lady Gaga). Though the movie version has Lady Gaga performing the song as a duet with Bradley Cooper, Ms. Brown did the duet parts herself. The song is very suited for her voice, and here, the emotional resonance hit home.

In a highlight for Mr. Baker, he took a solo instrumental turn with a marvelous medley of songs from Annie (Charles Strouse/Martin Charnin).  With Ms. Brown back at the mic, the pianist’s arrangement of a medley from The Sound of Music (Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II) had a unique, innovative take on the title song that at times approached R&B, with a contemporary, funky bass line. His 7/4 time signature on “Edelweiss” was wonderfully startling to the ear, along with Ms. Brown’s warm singing.

After a finale of ‘As Time Goes By” from Casablanca (Herman Hupfeld), the duo performed an encore of “It Had to Be You” (Isham Jones/Gus Kahn). This arrangement closely followed that of Harry Connick from the rom-com When Harry Met Sally. While Ms. Brown took the majority of the vocal, Mr. Baker surprised by joining in. Though he is not known for his singing, he can carry a tune, and pulled it off quite well in a manner reminiscent of Herb Alpert’s sweetly unadorned crooning of “This Guy’s in Love With You,” Alpert’s first Number 1 single.

Kieran Brown has a young, appealing sound with good tone and intonation. Her enunciation is crisp and precise. She can come off as a bit too studied, at times singing more technically than from the heart. It did not help that she sometimes read the lyrics from a book on a music stand, which, frankly, is to her detriment. Still, she shows much promise. When she fully develops her ability to connect emotionally with the material – and knowing every lyric completely will go a long way towards getting her there – she will be on her way to stardom.

Kieran Brown and Matt Baker: Let’s Go to the Movies took place on September 16 at The Green Room 42 in in Yotel Times Square (https://thegreenroom42.venuetix.com/), 570 10th Avenue between 41st and 42nd Street.

Photos: Andrew Poretz