Delphine Cortez, Hope Morgan, Francine Reed
The Valley Jazz DIVAs Show
The Nash, Phoenix, AZ, March 15, 2025
Reviewed by Lynn Timmons Edwards
In the laid-back style of jazz, music director/pianist and Nash artistic director Joel Robin Goldenthal welcomed everyone to the 2025 DIVAs show (which has been going on since 2004) about 15 minutes past curtain. Jazz lovers settled into the comfortable chairs of the newly renovated club, ordered drinks and food, and got ready for a night of expert musicianship and song.
The band led by Goldenthal included Cleve Huff on drums, Felix Sainz on bass, and Tony Vacca on saxophone and flute. One of the hallmarks of the DIVAs show has always been the contrasting vocal styles of the songstresses, and the band was up to every challenge.
Delphine Cortez was up first, and she amazed me with her ability to take the stage after surviving a traumatic brain tumor. She needed some assistance and is no longer able to move about the stage, but to quote her song sister, Hope Morgan, her voice was “soft, smooth, and consistently good.” She invoked the ghost of Sinatra as she glided through five songs in her repertoire. Goldenthal has been playing for her for decades and they have been married almost as long. Her voice fits like a glove on the hands of his accompaniment. She weaved from “Brooklyn Blues” (Bruce Sussman/Jack Feldman) to the standard “Chicago” (Fred Fisher) through a little samba to Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” to the Sinatra classic “The Tender Trap” (Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn), one of my favorites. She opened the second half of the show with four more beauties, the best of which was her haunting rendition of “Norwegian Wood” (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) and the silky “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (Rodgers & Hart).
Hope Morgan, a newcomer to the DIVAS, a very gifted vocalist, has clearly studied the greats and worked hard on her scat. She warmed up on “No Moon at All” (David Mann/Redd Evans) and credited the late Margo Reed for introducing her to the song. Her song choices were a little more obscure to me, but we heard “Jitterbug Waltz” (Fats Waller/Richard Maltby, Jr.) and a favorite of hers, “Love Dance” (Joe Bonner). She is a jazz diva who hails originally from New York and spent many years holding court in Austin, Texas as the first lady of jazz there. She looked smashing in her sparkly pants and showed off a wide vocal range. In the second half she included “The Late, Late Show” (Dave Cavanaugh/Roy Alfred), which is filled with quickly moving lyrics and internal jumps. Goldenthal and the musicians love her jazz repertoire. After each of her sets, Morgan introduced the Grand Dame of jazz in Arizona, Francine Reed. At 76 years young, she showed everyone how it is done.
My reaction when Reed took the stage was visceral and I found myself holding back tears for a reason I cannot explain. She exudes confidence and she was 100% at home with herself and the musicians. She was very funny, bossed everyone around, and reminded us it was past her bedtime. Reed was a frequent Sunday Matinee act at the Nash, so seeing her at night was a special treat. She dedicated “Birth of the Blues” (Ray Henderson/Buddy DeSylva/Lew Brown) to the missing DIVA Sherry Roberson who was unable appear as scheduled. Reed’s voice was all jazz and it climbed inside you like a Baptist sermon. She followed with “Meditation” (Antonio Carlos Jobim/Newton Mendonça/Norman Gimbel); “Misty” (Erroll Garner/Johnny Burke), and “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever” (Burton Lane/Alan Jay Lerner). She is a master of the Great American Songbook, and she said she loves the songs she heard on the radio as a child. Before she left for the night, she blessed us with “Just in Time,” (Jule Styne/Betty Comden & Adolf Green), the Gershwins’ “Someone to Watch Over Me,” a medley of Duke Ellington/Bob Russell’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” “What a Difference a Day Makes” (Maria Grever with English lyrics by Stanley Adams,) and her signature song “Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues,” which Goldenthal suggested for her decades ago. That song by Ida Cox is 101 years old. Reed has brought down the house with it every time. She’s gifted at personalizing lyrics here and there and playing off her musicians’ input. Reed and Vacca, a masterful sax player, went back and forth like siblings seeing who could outdo the other.
As I was working on this review, I learned the heart-breaking news that one of the original jazz DIVAS, Sherry Roberson, had passed away on March 16. She was one of a kind, often singing the songs made famous by Sarah Vaughn and Billie Holiday. She will be missed by musicians and audiences alike.
Morgan will be back at the Nash with the legendary jazz crooner Dennis Rowland making Mother’s Day Magic on May 11.
