Review: PAULA WEST Perfects Jazz at Dizzy's Club

Dizzy's Club, NYC, November 22nd, 2019

With the dim outline of Central Park behind her, Paula West lounged on a wooden stool, tilted a smile at the crowd, and let her classic, mystical voice seduce her adoring audience on a quiet, Friday night. Her simple ability to project enormous volume while remaining crisp and clean, made for vocals that sounded better than if they'd been mixed in a studio. In every way she was the epitome of class, and through each song, she guided us along tenderly. One of the nice things about jazz is when a singer takes either a song from another genre or a standard and makes it their own. West made this seem natural as words and melody blended beautifully to create experiences unique to the evening. And although it may not seem like this relaxing evening would inspire a crowd to join in song or to cheer out loudly, they did both. When West spun the lyric, "How does it feel/To be on your own/With no direction home/A complete unknown," the crowd did just that, bewitched by the beauty of her voice on this Bob Dylan classic, "Like a Rolling Stone."

My favorite numbers of the evening were littered throughout the show and exemplified the smooth fusion between instrumental solos and vocal prowess. Even the Double Bassist, Barak Mori, added a uniquely adept solo to embellish upon West's "Stars Fell on Alabama." The resulting experience felt like being transported back to the foundations of the genre itself. West sang a gentle refrain of "I can't forget the glamour/Your eyes held a tender light/And stars fell on Alabama last night," hooking us in before turning the space between verses over to her talented musicians. Another pair of these magicians, I mean musicians, was Russell Malone and Bruce Barth who traded off exceptional solos in another of my favorite of West's numbers, "Gentle on my Mind." The lyrics, "By the rivers of my memory/and for hours you're just gentle on my mind," seemed to be a perfect fit for both West's singing style and the personal aura of sage-like experience that she exuded. In between verses, Malone, performed an incredible solo and then Barth picked up the melody on the piano and took off in equal fashion.

Perhaps summing up the experience completely was West herself in the line, "I have dreamed every word you whisper when you're close to me." For that's how dream-like and easy she made it look. And to put an emphatic stamp on the evening, she took us up to those same stars that had fallen on Alabama, singing "Space Oddity." West is a rare talent and it's a privilege to see her perform.

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