[Dixielandjazz] Bobby Short

[Stephen Barbone]

Not bad for a kid who got his start playing "Tiger Rag" on the piano at
parties when he was 10 years old. If you are in NYC, damn the expense,
go see Bobby Short at the Carlyle. There just aren't any other
entertainers who do what he does, with such polish and wit. Not
Dixieland, but surely OKOM.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


NY Times May 6, 2004

Bobby Short, Displaying a Little Bit of Soul

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

         Romance in the Dark," a sexy, blues-flavored swing song written
by Lil Green, may not yet be a familiar popular standard. But if Bobby
Short has anything to say about it, that will change. Mr. Short has made
it a signature song in his musical arsenal comparable to "Georgia on My
Mind" in Ray Charles's. And at Tuesday's opening-night show of his 36th
spring season at Cafe Carlyle, Mr. Short carried it to a new level of
soulful exuberance that brought to mind singers like Mr. Charles.

Because of his fondness for composers like Cole Porter and Vernon Duke,
Mr. Short isn't usually thought of as a soul or blues singer. But both
elements are deeply embedded in his musical personality. And when he's
in good voice, as he was on Tuesday, they lend his singing and piano
playing a deeper foundation. Especially when performing blues-related
material, the crags in his voice (Mr. Short turns 80 in September) add
texture to the high-buff polish of his younger days. The result is a
wonderful blend of the urbane and the funky, with surprising falsetto
notes and insinuating blues twists that bring his perfect enunciation
down to earth.

A steady, rolling undercurrent of the blues is not the only
underrecognized ingredient of Mr. Short's music. What came through on
Tuesday with unusual clarity was his care for lyrics. Mr. Short is
really the opposite of a smoothie in the way he delivers lyrics in
enthusiastic bursts, half-belting, lapsing into speech-song and
occasionally popping up from his seat and grandly waving his arms.

As usual, the show blended numbers in which Mr. Short was accompanied by
his excellent small band (three saxophones, a trombone and two trumpets,
plus rhythm) and piano-and-voice-oriented numbers. He told amusing
anecdotes about his early vaudeville days and introduced a clever minor
Gershwin song, "High Hat," as the male answer to a spate of women's
blues songs dispensing hardheaded romantic advice.

His version of Porter's tongue-twisting "Looking at You," whose beloved
is celebrated as "the essence of the quintessence of joy," was a saucy
reminder of how terribly much looks mattered, even in the dark age
before television.