Cabaret singer Kristopher McDowell asked me to recommend a performer for the finale of his 4th annual Central California Cabaret Series and only one name came to mind, acclaimed international cabaret artist and jazz legend Wesla Whitfield. Being a longtime fan and having had the pleasure of working with Wesla and husband/arranger/pianist Mike Greensill before, I felt confident that the folks in Merced would be in for a much welcome treat. That the season finale concert on March 10th was such a smash was no surprise, elevating the CCC's series to higher artistic level.

I hit the road for the Central Valley, driving through mile after mile of blooming fruit and nut trees, dairy pastures and grain mills. The town of Merced lies in this fertile agricultural plain, a bustling hub of agribusiness and supporting infrastructure and obviously, by the sold-out audience at Wesla’s show, an area ripe for cultivating culture as well as produce.

Welsa loves to open her shows with a ballad, and after the overture by Mike Greensill and bassist Dean Reilly, she set the tone for the evening with the wistfully romantic Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne tune "I've Heard That Song Before." The night would belong to love, a theme expressed throughout every lyric and channeled through Welsa's exquisite vocal phrasing and breath control, her instrument in fine form and wonderfully wrapped within the cozy textures of husband Mike Greeensill's arrangements and the occasional plaintive solos from Dean Reilly on a muted pocket trumpet.

"Let There Be Love" performed with just bass showed off Wesla's acappella abilities followed by Gershwin's "The Man I Love" and Lane and Loesser's "Moments Like This." A lovely rendition of Michael Edwards and Bud Green's "Once In A While" from Wesla's latest CD includes the a hopeful lyric: "In love's smoldering ember, one spark may remain, if love still can remember the spark may burn again." Wesla exhorted the audience to hold the hand of the person next to you, oh, and you can move around the room.

Wesla has them in the palm of her hand for the remainder of the second set, mixing up the selections between ballads (Frank Loesser and Hoagy Carmichael's "Heart and Soul," the Mills Brothers' "Nevertheless" and an encore of Jimmy Webb's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"), up-tempo swing ("Pick Yourself Up") to quintessential Welsa covers of Brooks Bowman's "East of the Sun," a unique arrangement of "Just In Time" (once again with only a bass backing) and playful versions of "Tea For Two" from the 1925 show No, No Nanette and Dave Frishburg's "The Sports Page," a humorous commentary on media spin where only the sports page "can't make losing look like winning.

After the show new found fans surrounded Wesla, either asking her the name of a certain song, relating what a song meant to them personally, or telling her how their cabaret series had been enhanced by her performance. Wesla has that ability. She touches people on a deep emotional level and as she explained, "it's like a hypnotist who peels off layer after layer till all that's left is a puddle. The mood was buoyant in her dressing room and at the after party at My Bed and Breakfast where the champagne flowed and Wesla and Mike entertained us with stories both musical and very private. They're both walking encyclopedias of music and love to talk composers and musical geneology's. I got a chance to just sit with the woman, relax and eat strawberries (I had bought out-of-season berries it seems - being from Santa Maria, the lady know her strawberries!).

I got the feeling this was a very special night, a privilege - the finest of cabaret/jazz sophistication and style transported to fertile ground. Wesla Whitfield's songs of love moved the audience, profoundly I would say, and a seed was sown.

Steve Murray
Cabaret Scenes
March 10, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org