Carolina Gengo
All of Me
Don’t Tell Mama, October 24, 2026
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Carolina Gengo was charming, funny, and blessed with a wonderful voice. Her enunciation was perfect as she delivered her lyrics, and she connected with her audience. But she deserves a far better showcase than this show provided. The occasion for this outing was the release of her CD, which shared the title with her show. It was dedicated to her mother who also had a career as a vocalist, but she also shared stories about her father who was a professional dancer and later a representative for a long list of famous jazz artists. These reminiscences were the heart of the show and its most human moments. Gengo also earned points for dressing in a stunning outfit and treating a one o’clock show as if she was appearing at seven in a glamorous boite.
As to the musical aspect, Gengo certainly surrounded herself with excellent musicians. Music director/pianist Antonio Ciacca, bassist Carlos Barreto, and drummer Marcello Cardillo all know how to swing with numbers such as “Satin Doll” (Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn/Johnny Mercer) and “Cheek to Cheek” (Irving Berlin), and Gengo swung right along with them. She even tackled, for the first time in public, a song in Italian (she teaches Italian) “Ti Guarderó Nel Cuore” (Marcello Ciorciolini/Nino Oliviero), better known in the United States as “More.” This added a nice variety to the program that otherwise totally lacked it.
The other 10 selections of the afternoon (counting the encore) were offered at basically the same tempo. (Only “When Sunny Gets Blue” (Marvin Fisher/Jack Segal) was delivered as a true ballad.) Each number followed the same pattern: Gengo sang a verse, then the trio played an extended instrumental while the singer kind-of-danced around a bit before she finished up with another sung verse. Yes, this is the standard jazz arrangement, but it became very repetitive very quickly. Even worse, it often sent the star of the show to the sidelines rather than center stage where she definitely belonged.
Even so, there were highlights, such as a dazzling “Teach Me Tonight” (Gene de Paul/Sammy Cahn) and a personalized “The Lady Is a Tramp” (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart). Hopefully, on her return the show will be all about her.
