Ada Bird Wolfe
Soliloquy
The E Spot Lounge, Studio City, CA, October 15, 2015
Reviewed by Elliot Zwiebach for Cabaret Scenes
Ada Bird Wolfe is a potent jazz singer who packs a big wallop with delicate, gentle vocals and tremendous authenticity in her performance. She presents songs in a soft, unassuming manner that seems to enable her to connect emotionally with an audience—at the same time she’s connecting with her musicians by turning to them often as she sings in apparent acknowledgement of the support and inspiration she gets from them.
The title of her show, Soliloquy, references a four-song set written for Cleo Laine in the mid-1960s by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett and Julian Mitchell—a suite that takes the singer from the bluesy “And Now He’s Gone,” reflecting rejection and disappointment, to a more reflective tone in “Along the Tow Path,” followed by an up-tempo, rangy “Woman, Woman, What Gets into You?” and ending with a soft, sensual ballad, “I’m a Woman, That’s All,” that resolves her feelings triumphantly.
The 10-minute-long suite is a powerful undertaking for any singer, and Wolfe was superb—moving from hurt to insight to defiance to strength with total commitment to the performance and total mastery of the content and her vocal instrument. And she had pinpoint support from her musical director/pianist Jamieson Trotter, along with Peter Buck on drums and Dan Lutz on bass.
With “Soliloquy” as her next-to-closing number, Wolfe built the show around the shifting aspects of love as experienced by an Everywoman, delivering a thoughtful reading on “Where Is Love?” (Lionel Bart) and a swinging take on “Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be?)” (Jimmy Davis/Roger Ramirez/James Sherman) and exhibiting deep emotion on “How Insensitive” (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Norman Gimbel) and a smooth sensuality on “Sweet and Slow” (Al Dubin/Harry Warren).
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Wolfe was particularly strong in a series of mid-show ballads, particularly “Wake Up Alone” (Amy Winehouse/Paul Duffy), a powerful piece of music that fit her voice well and during which she seemed extremely comfortable—with the audience so wrapped up in the performance that it took a beat before applauding. In addition, she effectively communicated palpable emotion on “Between the Bars” (Elliott Smith) and deep, dark despair on “No More” (Bob Russell/Toots Camarata). During her encore, “But Beautiful” (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke). Wolfe sang beautifully and added a physical grace note by leaning on the piano, which felt very appropriate following the look into a woman’s soul she had just presented.
The show was directed by Ciifford Bell.
