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Nikki George
The M Lounge
February 9th 2010
1520 S Wabash
Chicago, Ill 60605
Cost: $
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Greta Pope
Tuscany Oak Brook
February 9th 2010
1415 West 22nd Street
Oak Brook, Ill 60521
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Katerinas Jazz Mondays
Katerinas Jazz Mondays
Date Posted: March 16 2009
Written By: Randy Freedman
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Did you ever wonder where Chicago’s top musicians and vocalists go to relax and enjoy alive music when they have a night off?
Who are the musical performers that the other musical performers are consistently willing to spend their own hard-earned cash to see and hear? About every month or so, two of them hold court at Katerina’s Supper Club on Chicago’s North Side, usually on Monday nights. They are vocalist Jeannie Lambert and guitarist Andy Brown. Their audience on a Monday in late January was filled with local music personalities and fans like myself.
Lambert is a seasoned traveler on the Chicago jazz scene. Brown is a more recent Cincinnati/New York transplant, who has steadily gained respect from musicians and fans alike since his arrival in Chicago five years ago. Each brings a unique set of musical talents and skill to their occasional partnership.
Though based in Chicago, Lambert’s vocal skills are admired nationally, and her most recent CD; Alone With The Blues (with pianist Judy Roberts) prompted this comment from Scott Yarrow, one of the world’s most published jazz historians: “The singer has to have lived life enough to completely understand and feel the lyrics, she has to be skilled at perfectly placing each note, and her lived-in voice has to be expressive without ever quite going over the top. Ms. Lambert manages all of that.”
Other less experienced or simply less wise vocalists can sometimes wander hopelessly far from a melody. Sometimes they can disrespect classic American Songbook material with vocal histrionics, shrill screeching vocalizations passed off as stylizations, and worst of all, unrepentant attempts at outright imitation of great past vocalists that often embarrass all present to hear them.
Instead of these unsuccessful cheap tricks, Lambert gives you double doses of the jazz singer’s “Holy Grail,” phrasing. I am talking about riveting, keep the audience on the edge of their seat, phrasing. Phrasing, that has the audience wondering at breaks, “ How would this song or that song sound if Lambert sang it?”
Andy Brown is one of Chicago’s most sought after accompanists and has worked with top vocalists Kurt Elling, Paul Marinaro, Spider Saloff, Kimberly Gordon, and Brown’s wife, Petra van Nuis, to name just a few. His guitar play is always melodic, understated, and involving; drawing the audience in with multiple techniques and textures instead of the guitar pyrotechnics that some other players like to show off with. Brown’s ability to seamlessly, “walk the bass line” (reinforce rhythm by playing some of the bass notes) while carrying the melody, invariably gives his guitar a fuller, richer, more complete sound that suggests the presence of multiple instruments existing only in the mind’s eye.
While skillful and sensitive in all his playing, Brown seems to show a higher level of personal involvement when playing Bossa Nova, and brings a special flair to that music. This was demonstrated that evening during outstanding solos on “How Insensitive” and “Useless Landscape.”
Other highlights of that particular Monday included a rousing Dixieland-style rendition of “Sweet Georgia Brown” during which the duo was joined by Lambert’s husband, trombonist Russ Phillips. Lambert’s vocals were exceptionally compelling on “Emily,” “East Of The Sun”, and “This Time The Dream’s On Me.” Also featured was a charming version of “Little Jack Frost,” performed by guest vocalist Petra van Nuis.
A city like Chicago offers listeners many options, every night of the week, to hear different kinds of music performed in a variety of venues. If you have only enjoyed live music, and particularly jazz, as part of the a crowd in a large, impersonal theater like setting, or have just moved away from the club scene, I cannot recommend highly enough giving smaller, intimate venues like Katerina’s a try. The Monday night sessions with Andy Brown and Jeannie Lambert are the perfect place to start with the best of talent in a great listening environment.
For more information contact: Visit Katerina's Website
Chicago freelance writer Randy Freedman is a jazz connoisseur, photographer, food critic, humorist, and devoted music fan. He is a regular contributor to Chicago Jazz Magazine.
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