Talk about lucky!  This week has been terrific on the reviewing front. First the fabulous Marlene VerPlanck, then an amazing cabaret debut by Melanie la Barrie, and now a young Australian jazz singer, Joshua Kyle, who can knock your socks off, and did mine.

I have to admit that sometimes his style is just a bit too hard-core jazz for me, but putting my personal choices aside, his voice is always something from the gods. He can hit a low note with either a breathy sultriness or a clarity that sends shivers up your spine, and then move seamlessly to a falsetto that sopranos would envy. When he melts into a note, you melt with him. When he holds a note, you hold your breath. In certain songs he has a tremolo which is simply beautiful. His vibrato is always gorgeous – his upper register, nothing less than angelic. His voice is natural and not forced, and his interpretations of songs quite unique. He does scat and vocalese, both with amazing ease. I’m truly amazed at the abilities of this 23-year-old. I’d still be amazed if he were twice his age, with years of experience behind him.

By far my favourite song of the evening was his version of Carmen McRae’s version of Miles Davis' classic recording (Joshua's words!) of “’Round Midnight.” It’s still haunting me, even now – jazz and Latin and blues all in one – and it was one of two songs which displayed his vocal range and talents to their fullest extent. The other was Don Raye and Jon Hendricks’s “Do You Call That a Buddy.” I loved his cool cat, almost beatnik version of Don Raye/Gene de Paul’s “You Don’t Know What Love Is.” Other highlights were “Wisdom the Prize,” Josh’s own all-time favourite, Hoagy Carmichael and Mitchell Parish’s “Stardust” and Miles Davis’ “Blue in Green” in which you could seriously feel Joshua’s pain.

As for criticisms, there’s one biggish one and one little one. While he is so incredibly listenable, he’s not always as watchable. He can often disappear into himself for too long a time, and leave us outside looking in. That can work for short periods, but can also be alienating, especially when he seems to go through facial contortions and almost rap-like movements with his arms. When he engages with the audience, he’s fun and playful and has a nice, almost wicked twinkle in his eyes. It’s clear the Joshua we want to hear, but that’s the Joshua I want to see. If he could keep that engagement with his audience, I imagine he’d have people spontaneously jumping to their feet, without even thinking, at the end of his show. I also honestly believe that this is what will catapult him to even greater fame than he will achieve otherwise.

The little criticism is that he was often difficult to understand because he held the mic too close to his mouth and was over-amplified. It was only exacerbated by the sound mix which, for some reason at the 606 Club, seems to favor musicians and drown out singers.

His jazz trio is also wonderful – Tom Cawley on piano, Geoff Gascoyne on bass and electric guitar, and Sebastian de Krom on drums. Each did numerous solos which also knock your socks off. By the end of the evening, the sockless audience was very pleased indeed!

You can catch Joshua in London March 30at the Bedford Hotel and April 7 at The Spice of Life. Go! You won’t be disappointed, and in a few years, maybe just a few months, you’ll be able to say “I saw him when…..”

Harold Sanditen
Cabaret Scenes
March 9, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org