Jeanne Gies
Travelin’ Home
The Cabaret at Germano’s, Baltimore, MD, November 30, 2018
Reviewed by Michael Miyazaki for Cabaret Scenes
Photo: Joseph Boggess
Much like the necklace she wore over her black blouse, Jeanne Gies’s show at Germano’s was a string of varied, glittering baubles. Highlights included an intense reading of Joan Baez’s “Diamond and Rust,” a sassy “Taking a Chance on Love,” a passionate “Fire and Rain,” and a restrained reading of the Julie London hit “The Meaning of the Blues.
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” Two of the most effective songs were her original compositions—“Samuel,” a loving tribute to a nephew, and “Happy New Year” a bluesy song that deserves to become a holiday tradition.
Nominally, the show had a theme about going home. Gies observed that many songs about going home have a certain melancholy, such as Steve Winwood’s “I Can’t Find My Way Home.” However, she also noted that home is “finding where we resonate best,” leading into Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home.”
Gies was backed by a superb ensemble that had Michael Raitzyck on guitar, Michael Rorby on trombone, and Blake Meister on bass. Despite her frequent allusions to lack of rehearsal, the musicians played with cohesion and freshness and were totally in tune with Gies’ needs as a vocalist. Legendary jazz pianist Larry Willis appeared as a special guest, performing stunning instrumental solos and accompanying Gies. His encore of “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?
” and his accompaniment on “The Nearness of You,” which started with a set of dissonant figures that led into Gies’ caressing of that lyric, were particular thrills of the evening.
