Jazz Lives 2007

This is third year that Jazz FM has put on their fundraising concert at Convocation Hall, and this is the third time I've attended. So far it has yet to disappoint; there are always acts I've always wanted to see (Emilie-Claire Barlow, Kurt Elling), acts I've never heard of that blow me away (Kenny Rankin, Adam Makowicz), acts I have heard of that blow me away (Pat LaBarbera, Michael Ruby, Amanda Martinez, Kevin Clark, Colleen Allen) and those returning that I'm happy to see (Jeff Healey, Sophie Milman). No Peter Appleyard this year, though.

There was even a Surprise Guest in the programme (my favourite act after TBA), who turned out to be Randy Bachman. He played a couple of songs that made me realize that he's an amazing guitar player as well as a songwriter, and then he and Sophie Milman performed "She's Come Undone".

Some time in the past few years, when I wasn't looking, Emilie-Claire Barlow dyed and cut her hair, glammed herself up, and learned how to hold back. I used to listen to her a lot until I tired of her lack of nuance; although remarkably skilled for someone so young, her singing was like a machine gun going off in all directions. I was pleased that her voice has matured and grown some affectations, and that she still makes it sound so easy.

The other performer I'd been looking forward to was Kurt Elling. I didn't know anything of him other than his distinctive voice and ability to wring meaning out of a lyric without going over the top. Whenever I hear him on Jazz FM, I have to stop what I'm doing and listen.

I was thus surprised to see what he actually looks like -- in my head, I had always pictured a Denzal Sinclaire-like groovy black dude at a piano with dreads and cool glasses. Instead, this guy in a natty brown pinstripe vintage suit and slicked-back hair came out. He looked like an old school Italian-American mobster, and had a bit of a lounge lizard vibe when he spoke. He didn't even play piano. But his voice and interpretation were still grand, and the interplay between his singing and his pianist was tight. That's probably why I'd always assumed he accompanied himself on piano.

The biggest surprise of the night (besides Ralph Benmurgui's dark hair when I could've sworn I saw him on King Street last week fully grey) was Kenny Rankin. I knew nothing about him, had never heard his name before. We speculated that perhaps he was connected to the Rankin Family but he turned out to be an American singer-songwriter in the tradition of Gordon Lightfoot and James Taylor. Despite his age (at least in his fifties), he still had an amazing, pure, young voice that sounded as if it had come straight out of the 1970s. He brought the house down with his rendition of "Blackbird".

30 jazz giants, one stage, one night only. That pretty much sums it up, and I look forward to next year's show.