Harold Sanditen

I Got Rhythms

The Crazy Coqs, London, UK, October 8, 2022

Reviewed by Gavin Brock

“Rhythms,” declared Harold Sanditen with an air of profound truth, “are everywhere.” From the phases of the moon to the rattling of an ice-shaker in a cocktail bar or the rhythmic syncopation of bodies rocking together in the afterglow of consuming the aforementioned cocktails, there is no escaping them. The rhythm, to quote Gloria Estefan, “is going to get you.”

Accompanied by the sublime jazz trio of Carl Greenwood (piano), Robert Rickenberg (bass), and Dado Pasquilini (drums), the honey-toned crooner offered a potpourri of musical influences that straddled the length and breadth of the Americas, taking inspiration from Harold’s adolescence in 1960s Oklahoma, where Latin was the dominant musical style. While the gentle strum of Brazilian bossa nova and the free-spirited fervor of the Cuban salsa were firmly represented., the Argentinian varieties were not in evidence. “I may have rhythms,” Harold guiltily admitted, “but no tengo el tango.”

Such self-effacing humor is typical, but it belied the artist’s genuine versatility. Harold’s effervescent delivery and assured vocal skill at once demonstrate an artist as at home with performing a Gershwin standard as with a contemporary dance track. The toe-tapping set-list also boasted crowd-pleasers drawn from the songbooks of American songwriters as diverse as Irving Berlin, Carole King, and Diane Warren, while also delivering a treasury of less well-known gems; in these I Got Rhythms really took flight.

“Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me” was a particular delight, here delivered as a fast and furious patter song (à la John Denver). Sanditen’s wittily revised lyrics detailed a catalogue of humorous contemporary annoyances at 100 miles per hour. Similarly, the Shirley Temple standard “The Codfish Ball” was given a cheeky facelift with newly minted, charmingly R-rated lyrics by Barry Kleinbort that would make the song’s writer blush.

Thanks in no small part to the recent pandemic, I Got Rhythms was Sanditen’s first solo show in eight years, and it was his realization of a dream three years in the making. Happily, the wait was worth the while. Sanditen’s charisma was as infectious as his toe-tapping rhythms, and his adoring audience ultimately showed themselves to be willing slaves to those rhythms and gave him a rapturous standing ovation.