Not Just A Pretty Face
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Hilary Kole has been a prominent jazz singer on the New York scene for over a half-decade, so it’s a little surprising that her four-night run this week at Birdland is her big launch as a solo artist. But with a powerhouse quartet backing her and a high-concept show based on the lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Ms. Kole began making up for lost time on Wednesday night.
As a cast member in the tribute shows “Our Sinatra” and “Singing Astaire,” Ms. Kole impressed audiences with her swinging, seductive style. For years, however, her music relied too much on her beautiful voice, her beautiful arrangements, and her supermodel looks. It’s only now that Ms. Kole’s skills as an interpreter are beginning to catch up with her craft as a musician. She is learning how to take a lyric and make an audience feel she believes it – and therefore, by extension, make them believe it too.
At Birdland, the singer was aided considerably by one of the best accompanying bands assembled in a while: Jay Leonhart (bass), Russell Malone (guitar), Mark McLean (drums),Ali Ryerson (flute), and one of the all-time great accompanists, pianist Alan Broadbent. Ms. Kole’s own arrangements showed her customary penchant for offbeat harmonic substitutions and original rhythmic transfigurations.
The Bergmans wrote English lyrics for many popular Brazilian songs, some of which Ms. Kole included (“Like a Lover,” “So Many Stars”). She also transformed Michel Legrand’s French melody “Summer Me, Winter Me” into a samba (mostly in a swinging 6/8 time), and turned another warm weather tune, “The Summer Knows” – one of Legrand’s few 4/4 songs – into a typically French minor key waltz.
Ms. Kole, unlike a lot of contemporary jazz singers, isn’t trying to be different or clever just for the sake of it. Most of her effort, rightfully, has gone into finding ways to open up a lyric, climb inside it, and inhabit it – and there are times when she actually succeeds. When she performed still another Bergman-Legrand seasonal song, “You Must Believe in Spring,” she did it without the safety net of a fancy arrangement or levels of unnecessary decoration – and completely convinced the audience that she actually “believed” in spring.
Until November 19 (315 W. 44th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, 212-581-3080).
