Review: ANAÏS RENO at Birdland by Guest Reviewer Andrew Poretz

Anaïs Reno

(Featuring the Esteban Castro Trio)

Birdland Jazz

July 4, 2022

By Andrew Poretz

On a night when most New Yorkers were jockeying for a spot to watch fireworks, a savvy Birdland audience found fireworks of a different kind at Birdland, where young jazz phenom Anaïs Reno performed a fine set with the Esteban Castro Trio. Anaïs (most recently seen in this club, where she brilliantly filled in for eight sets with the Tierney Sutton Trio during the Sutton's brief illness) displayed great poise and skill in her single set on The Fourth. Remarkably, Ms. Reno - who has performed at Birdland throughout her time as a student at LaGuardia High School - is only 18, and has just completed her first year at SUNY Purchase College.

Anaïs, dressed in a "New York black" ensemble of an exquisite leather jacket over a skirt, opened with a breezy "Gone with the Wind" (Allie Wrubel/Herb Magidson). As someone "obsessed with" Frank Sinatra since childhood, the singer has adopted Sinatra's habit of acknowledging composers and lyricists, sometimes adding a bit of color about the song. The title of this 1937 song was likely inspired by the bestselling Margaret Mitchell novel published a year earlier. Anaïs was off to a fine start with interesting runs of countermelodic scales, rather than scatting. In fact, though she is an excellent scat singer, she eschewed this oft-overused technique entirely in this set, in favor of some new vocal explorations.

Ms. Reno had some fun with "Gravy Waltz," a tune written by Ray Brown, with faux southern lyrics later added by television personality/musician Steve Allen. It was as much blues as it was waltz.

The singer spent extensive time in France a couple of years ago, and is fluent in the language. This provides her with the unique ability to interpret a song like "Autumn Leaves" in both French and English. Though the original title ("Les Feuilles Mortes") literally means "the dead leaves," she prefers the more hopeful tone taken by Johnny Mercer's English lyrics. First sung rubato and then swung, this was the first opportunity for the trio to let loose. Appealingly, the young star always appears delighted, watching her musicians play when she is not singing.

"I'll Remember April" (Gene de Paul/Patricia Johnston and Don Raye) is an unlikely standard in that it was introduced in an Abbott and Costello comedy (Ride 'Em Cowboy). She sang this initially with only Aaron Seeber's sizzling drums. The complex arrangement had multiple, challenging rhythms, which, if not quite out of the Dave Brubeck playbook, were nonetheless impressive for both the trio and Ms. Reno to pull off.

The star's love of all things Ellington gave us "Take Love Easy," a song not on Anaïs's 2020 debut album devoted largely to Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (Lovesome Thing). Though it was introduced as a big band song by a young Lena Horne in 1948, it was mainly an instrumental, and never became a standard. (If only Frank Sinatra had recorded it on one of his 1950s concept albums!) Ah, but here's Anaïs Reno giving the song her delicious take, so perhaps the song will finally have its day in the sun.

The trio had the benefit of ace drummer Aaron Seeber on board. Mr. Seeber is a formidable force behind the kit, a versatile player who can support anyone from a ballad singer to an instrumental big band. (His impressive debut album, First Move, was released two months ago.) The set did not fully avail itself of his skills until "Caravan" (Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington/Irving Mills), the opening track of her album. Interestingly, she revealed it was a tough song to record, and gave Birdland owner (and mentor/co-producer) Gianni Valenti credit for pushing her through multiple takes, with outstanding results. In the pared-down trio version of the arrangement, Seeber's incessant tom-toms and rhythmic flourishes helped create the vision of a desert caravan. All that hard work paid off, as this was the hottest song of the set.

Ms. Reno's emotional maturity and wisdom as an interpreter of songs was never more apparent than in her take on "'Round Midnight" (Thelonious Monk/Cootie Williams). Inspired by Carmen McCrae's recording, she took the time to first discuss the motivation of the song's narrator, something of a lightbulb moment. Some of the most accomplished jazz singers might perform this song for, oh, 50 years without understanding and conveying its emotion as well as Anaïs does at 18 - she sings songs like this as if she's already "been there." (This quality, even more than her considerable technical skill and technique, is behind the "jazz phenom" appellation.)

Though this was a one-off set, Anaïs Reno will be back at Birdland soon enough. Learn more about the star at Anaïsreno.com. For additional great shows at Birdland, visit birdlandjazz.com.

Anaïs Reno

The Esteban Castro Trio

Piano: Esteban Castro

Bass: Dylan Shamat

Drums: Aaron Seeber

Birdland Jazz Club

315 West 44th Street, NYC

Photos courtesy of David Rosen

Andrew Poretz, "The Boulevardier of Broadway," is an entertainer (singer, guitarist, ukulele player and storyteller), producer, and a reviewer of jazz and cabaret shows, primarily for Theater Pizzazz. An early podcaster, his "Coaches' Corner on BlogTalkRadio" segments are still available on iTunes. Andrew has performed in prominent venues throughout New York and the Bay Area. Andrew is also a board member of The American Popular Song Society. His blog, "The Boulevardier," can be found at www.andrewporetz.com

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