Nica Carrington: Times Like These

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Nica Carrington

Times Like These

September 23, 2022

Reviewed by Alix Cohen

Nica Carrington’s debut CD, Times Like These, apparently a pandemic project, is lovely listening. Fond, familiar material is well executed. The songs are alike in tone, flowing one to another, grey to blue to black (noir) with an almost hopeful nod at the end. It’s not torch. The vocalist’s performance never sobs or wrenches. Her sound is sophisticated, the “heroine” somewhat resigned. Music director/pianist John Proulx contributes sensitivity, shadow, and an occasional jazz vibe. His is the kind of piano one wants to sit under.

“Left Alone” (Mal Waldron/Billie Holiday) arrives as a sashaying blues with a dash of moody drag and with a last note that rises like a candle flame. “Before I ‘di ah eye’” (die) Carrington sings. “When Sunny Gets Blue” (Marvin Fisher/Jack Segal) is a savored, unquenched memory. This one saunters with hands in pockets. Her enunciation is soft edged. Changing the pronoun to “he” would’ve served as Sunny/Sonny can be either gender.

Cole Porter’s “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” emerges regally slow, saturated with regret. The piano is burnished. It’s an elegant take, with back straight and ending with a shrug. Carl T. Fisher/Frankie Lane’s “We’ll Be Together Again” sways with I-know-better submission. The back end oscillation is like quivering; the phrases wax and wane. Proulx’s beautiful piano wanders a bit off the melodic path.

Carrington’s version of “The Summer Knows” (Michel Legrand/Alan and Marilyn Bergman) is a gauzy wellspring of emotion. The vocalist makes its second verse her own. Reluctant to move on from a vision, the notes are elongated. “Angel Eyes” (Matt Dennis/Earl Brent) is expectedly, insinuatingly noir. The music conjures undulating hips and lowered eye lids.

Several renderings on this disc are to me, though well performed, too polished. We end with an interpretation of “Here’s to Life!
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(Artie Butler/Phyllis Molinary) which is more melancholy than the determination we most often hear. It’s as if she’s saying, “I give up, your turn,”—a not invalid but disquieting choice.

Alix Cohen

Alix Cohen’s writing began with poetry, segued into lyrics then took a commercial detour. She now authors pieces about culture/the arts, including reviews and features. A diehard proponent of cabaret, she’s also a theater aficionado, a voting member of Drama Desk, The Drama League and of The NY Press Club in addition to MAC. Currently, Alix writes for Cabaret Scenes, Theater Pizzazz and Woman Around Town. Additional pieces have been published by The New York Post, The National Observer’s Playground Magazine, Pasadena Magazine and Times Square Chronicles. Alix is the recipient of six New York Press Club Awards.