Back in the
1950s, television (like the nation) was defined in black & white – with the
faces on air almost exclusively white – until a new variety show debuted in
1956. Now the most elegant man on television was Nat King Cole. With his
buttery baritone and sophisticated manner, his appeal crossed age and race.
This preteen was smitten immediately and I remain a Cole fan to this day.
Brian
DeLorenzo’s smart cabaret show at Sculler’s Jazz Club offered an evening of
songs made famous by the inimitable Cole. DeLorenzo put his own spin on the
music, of course. His voice, he pointed out to us, is nothing like Cole’s. For
one thing he’s a tenor but what you soon discover is that they have meticulous
phrasing and polished musicianship in common.
Some strange
chemistry seemed to be at work at Sculler’s. When DeLorenzo sang, say “Mona
Lisa,” you admired his take on the song and at the same time you could hear
Cole’s version in your memory…and neither detracted from the other, a cerebral
duet of sorts.
DeLorenzo
managed to fit delightful historical detail between the songs, like Cole’s
competition with his idol, Earl “Fatha” Hines when the two pianists joined a “Battle of the Bands” and
Cole won, playing Hines’ signature song!
The hip Bill
Duffy Quartet meshed seamlessly with DeLorenzo’s relaxed style and the singer
generously gave them opportunity to show their stuff. With his consummate
delivery he (and Duffy’s playful piano) found the humor in Rogers and Hart’s “This
Can’t Be Love” and then made a novelty song like “I Found a Million Dollar
Baby” (in a five and ten cents store) sound profoundly romantic. His warm,
velvety low notes in “When I Fall in Love” morphed into a sweet midsection,
then floated off into the skies in the upper range. DeLorenzo knows how to put
across a song!
The quartet
knows their way around jazz. Ed Harlow blew a fine sax solo in Johnny Mercer’s
“Day In, Day Out.” Percussionist Steve Rose added a brassy rat-a-tat-tat to
“It’s Only a Paper Moon” but the piece de resistance was DeLorenzo’s sorrowful,
heartbreaking “Answer Me (My Love)” in which Keala Kaumeheiwa on bass supplied
one solo verse, sounding like a cello weeping its lament.
You can’t have a
Cole evening without “Unforgettable” – and since the DeLorenzo family has long
performed together, Brian and his sister Elaine made the crowd swoon with
pleasure. And it was unforgettable.
