Review: HOT SUMMER NIGHTS JAZZ SERIES: KATE BAKER And Pangea Are All Kinds Of Cool

Walking through the front door of Pangea last night felt like coming home. The restaurant that fought to stay alive all throughout the pandemic retains the warm and welcoming ambiance and all the neighborhood energy that makes it a favorite of Manhattanites from all over the city, not just the regulars who can't get enough of the delicious Mediterranean meals and family atmosphere. Overjoyed to be back in this place I love so much, after affectionate greetings from the entire Pangea team, I settled into my chair in the cabaret room where the Alt Cabaret movement started to enjoy an hour of jazz music, which is also one of the genres that Pangea proudly offers patrons on a regular basis.

Curated by singer Ben Cassara, the Hot Summer Nights Jazz Series debuted last week with Sheila Jordan and continued last night with Kate Baker, and while I wasn't available for Ms. Jordan's night (sadly), at Ms. Baker's appearance I found an hour of impressive music and delightful humanity - enough to make me go right home and check my calendar for the future engagements of Mr. Cassara's creation. What Ben has put together with his efforts is just what the heat of summer needs: a chance to get out of the house and visit a cozy place where the menu is perfect of price and pleasant on the palate, where the drinks and the air conditioner are sufficiently chilly, and where the music and the mood are comfortable and casual. Well, Ben, you did it. Last night, this writer was able to sit back, relax, and let the mind go where Kate Baker wanted to take it... and the musical journey was a good one, indeed, good enough to get on the subway in the hateful heat.

A jazz set, rather than a cabaret show, Ms. Baker's evening of music was one without a theme, an hour of songs she and her band like to play and play for others, and each selection was thoroughly enjoyable from a jazz standpoint, but also from the standpoint of just listening to fine music. With a band behind her that was so exceptional (particularly pianist Rachel Z) that this writer would plunk down money just to hear them, Baker was safely protected at every turn, whether working on Rodgers & Hammerstein, Carole King, Henry Mancini or her own compositions. At the onset of the performance, Ms. Baker remarked that this was "like getting back on a horse" and it wasn't the only time during the hour that she referenced her long hiatus from live performing, one assumes because of the pandemic. Vocally speaking, Kate Baker suffered no loss of skill from her time off - her instrument is in fine form, and so is her technique. With her appealing voice and a clear knowledge of her craft, Ms. Baker puts on a show that serves, simultaneously, as class and entertainment. Watching how she leads the members of the band into her visions, both artistic and technical, is as interesting as listening to their music is fun - there is such clear rapport between the band members and so much respect for their trade, that an experience that might only have been an audible one is rendered a visible one, as well, effectively upping the ante for everyone in the audience. At no time did the proceedings on stage drop below the benchmark of "interesting" and as the night progressed, the room leaned more and more into heartwarming.

Kate Baker was right about getting back up on the horse, but not in the way she thought. While she was musically on point from start to finish, Ms. Baker was timid on the stage, and it showed... but only for the first four numbers. By the time she got to her fifth number, "Harvest Moon" the timidity was rolling off her back and a gutsy playfulness was standing center stage with her, growing more prevalent throughout the set until the woman up on the stage was grinning and glowing, resplendent in her reverie happening in real-time. With each new tune came a longer story about the composition, about what it meant to her, about the way it was created, accompanied by some one-on-one chat with friends in the audience, and maybe even a little giggle-inducing profanity, as the jazz proficient threw herself deeper into the music, the moment, and the memories she was re-living, and the ones she was making. It was like watching a flower bloom in time-lapse, and it was a thing of beauty, full of humanity, artistry, and the experience of living that connects us all.

Kate Baker is, officially, back on the horse, and she needs to book herself more dates into more clubs, preferably Pangea, and preferably sooner as opposed to later.

And Pangea - thank you for staying on the horse. New York City, the East Village, and the Cabaret Industry would be so much less fun if you weren't here. Thanks for hanging in there.

The Kate Baker band is Musical Director Rachel Z on piano, Jon Toscano on bass, and Anthony Pinsiette on drums, with Kalena Nash acting as backup singer.

See what other great shows are coming to Pangea HERE.

Visit the Kate Baker website HERE

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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