Oct. 9-11: Karen Oberlin

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Karen Oberlin

Karen Oberlin Sings Doris Day

October 9 & 10 at 7:30 pm
October 11 at 2:30 pm

Brownville Concert Series
160 Atlantic Ave., Brownville, Nebraska
402.825.3331

Karen-Oberlin-by-Bill-Westmoreland-Cabaret-Scenes-Magazine_212Here’s our Stephen Hanks’ review of one of Karen’s previous shows:

Talk about foreplay! Anyone in the mood for a romantic (perhaps even erotic) Valentine’s Day evening with a spouse or significant other couldn’t have done much better than beginning an intimate interlude at Karen Oberlin’s 7 pm show at the Metropolitan Room. Stringing Along with Love featured the kind of amorous music you’d want to hear while cuddling with your honey by a cabin fireplace on a snowy winter’s night. With a sweet soprano and accessible stage presence that is made for a cabaret room, Oberlin’s breathy, contained delivery and artful articulation of lyrics—especially those about love—can be like Cupid’s arrow piercing your heart. And it only enhances the atmosphere when the orchestra consists solely of the seductive sounds of string instruments (hence, the show’s title), in this case, the beguiling guitar stylings of Sean Harkness, and the virtuoso violin playing of guest artist, Aaron Weinstein. Different violinists are lined up for Oberlin’s two subsequent shows in this run.

Fittingly, Oberlin began with a sweet, mellow and jazzy version of “I’ll String Along with You” (Harry Warren/Al Dubin), and she strung the audience along for the rest of the evening without any resistance. She followed that with the lovely and almost Tin Pan Alley-retro ballad “My Valentine,” from Paul McCartney’s new CD, Kisses on the Bottom (released the previous week), which included a beautiful mid-song Harkness guitar riff. She than gave Weinstein (who referred to himself as “the most Jewish jazz violinist”) a chance to shine on “You Are Not My First Love” (Bart Howard/Peter Windsor). Oberlin may not be this reviewer’s first cabaret love, but she certainly will last.

Weinstein was featured again on the Burton Lane/Ralph Freed standard “How About You?,” during which Oberlin managed to work in a shout out to the New York Giants’ quarterback and Super Bowl hero Eli Manning. From then on, it was just one solid turn after another from a totally polished and professional performer who makes every song—no matter how intricate—seem effortless.
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Billy Strayhorn’s “No One Knows” may be relatively unknown, but Oberlin’s lush rendition put it in a league with Strayhorn’s classic “Lush Life.
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” She sent a Valentine to her husband (and Strayhorn biographer) David Hajdu by singing his lyric on “Do You Think This Happens Every Day?
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,” co-written with jazz composer Fred Hersch. And, although there is more than a little Doris Day in her vocal demeanor, there was a hint of Barbra Streisand in Oberlin’s delivery of “The Kind of Man a Woman Needs” (Michael Leonard/Herbert Martin), some Joni Mitchell touches in Mitchell’s song “Love,” even undertones of Paul Simon in his “Train in the Distance,” all of which featured Harkness’s pitch-perfect guitar accompaniment.

Ending with “I Wish You Well” (music by Gene Goldberg/lyrics by Peter Haas, the latter of whom was in the audience) was a perfect send-off for an audience hopefully continuing a sentimental Valentine’s night journey. Karen Oberlin’s sensual show turned out to be the perfect way to begin the ride.