Paula West: Politics, Protest and Patriotism

  • Post author:
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Paula West

Politics, Protest and Patriotism

SFJAZZ, San Francisco, CA, July 16, 2016

Reviewed by Steve Murray for Cabaret Scenes

Paula-West-Cabaret-Scenes-Magazine_212Paula West has always included material touching on subjects of social injustice, sexism and racism, so we know just where she stands. But with the absolute horrors of recent events, this new show boldly and thoroughly focuses our attention head-on and lays bare the thin veneer of the status quo and “so-called” social progress. It is her most powerful and important show to date. With pianist Adam Shulman’s brilliant arrangements, and master craftsmen like Ed Cherry on guitar, Doug Weiss on bass and the phenomenal Jerome Jennings on percussion, West doesn’t just pay lip service to the strong material, but grabs you by the lapels and shakes you out of any complacency.
https://londonbes.education/Media/new/custom-essays.html

Right from the opening instrumental cover of Charles Mingus’ most explicit political work, “Fables of Faustus,” a protest against the Arkansas governor’s attack on desegregation, the tone was set. West enters to a funky cover of Stephen Stills’ iconic street protest song “For What It’s Worth” written for the Sunset Strip riots of 1966, but equally current and cogent today. When she sings “There’s something happening here/What it is ain’t exactly clear/There’s a man with a gun over there/Telling me I got to beware,” we all feel the cold chill of escalating violence.

Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam,” capturing the murders of Medgar Evans and the Birmingham Church bombing which killed four black children, is sung with a show-tune feel that contrasts the starkness of the message. It doesn’t have the same anger as Simone’s recordings; rather, West highlights the lyrics and lets them convey the songs’ disgust. A couple of Freedom Songs are included, civil rights anthems adapted from Negro spirituals: James Weldon and John Rosamond Johnson’s 1900 “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round’” (traditional).
https://londonbes.education/Media/new/help-writing-essay.html

Bob Dylan’s anti-Cold War “Masters of War” is a blatant condemnation of the arms buildup and featured a haunting drum solo by Jennings. Two World War II songs lightened the mood: Frank Loesser and Arthur Schwartz’s “They’re Either Too Young or Too Old,” about the lack of male dating options, and “Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet” (Don Raye/Gene De Paul), a Rosie the Riveter ditty. On the flip side, West includes the swingingest version of George M. Cohan’s World War I patriotic rally cry “Over There.”

The underlying economic issues of poverty are revealed in Marvin Gaye’s scathing “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” and the 1930s depression hit “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (Yip Harburg/Jay Gorney).

Shulman’s arrangements re-interpret each number in West’s style, a mashup of R&B shuffles and jazz rhythms. West’s attention to lyrics is outstanding as always. She felt compelled to present this show at this time and let the chips fall where they may. We all need the courage to stand for our convictions in this critical moment in our history. Kudos to Paula West and her band for providing an opening salvo.
https://londonbes.education/Media/new/buy-essay-papers.html

Steve Murray

Always interested in the arts, Steve was encouraged to begin producing and, in 1998, staged four, one-man vehicles starring San Francisco's most gifted performers. In 1999, he began the Viva Variety series, a live stage show with a threefold mission to highlight, support, and encourage gay and gay-friendly art in all the performance forms, to entertain and document the shows, and to contribute to the community by donating proceeds to local non-profits. The shows utilized the old variety show style popularized by his childhood idol Ed Sullivan. He’s produced over 150 successful shows, including parodies of Bette Davis’s gothic melodramedy Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte and Joan Crawford’s very awful Trog. He joined Cabaret Scenes 2007 and enjoys the writing and relationships he’s built with very talented performers.