Betty Buckley 2000

Betty Buckley at the Bass Hall, Dallas

Buckley gives familiar tunes a jazz infusion at Bass Hall

04/25/2000

By Tom Sime / The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH - Fort Worth native Betty Buckley was back on home turf for Monday night's concert at the Bass Performance Hall. But she was exploring new territory too, as a Broadway empress standing in the center of a jazz combo, offering a program including many songs new to her repertoire. Even her more familiar numbers from Cats and Sunset Boulevard were heard in jazzed-up arrangements.

Ms. Buckley came across like an ambassador mastering the customs of an exotic land. She'd learned the language expertly, making intimate jazz crooning her own with unexpected tunes including "Ruby" by Parish and Roemheld, from the eponymous Jennifer Jones movie; and Mary Chapin Carpenter's "Come On Come On."

Many of the songs were taken from Ms. Buckley's new album, Heart to Heart, a self-produced collection released on her own label. It's a collaboration with longtime pianist and arranger Kenny Werner, who led the onstage ensemble of fellow Buckley vets Tony Marino on bass and Billy Drewes on reeds, along with a newcomer, Duduka da Fonseca, on percussion. Together they crafted an often ingenious setting for Ms. Buckley's phenomenal voice.

Even the less successful experiments were interesting. Though she often downplayed her propensity for rafter-rattling, Ms. Buckley's Broadway roots rose with awesome, sometimes crushing power now and then, usually in the diva songs she's been doing for years.

"Memory" was surprisingly solid as an ensemble piece. But then there was "Meadowlark" from The Baker's Wife, a dreadfully overwrought ballad beloved by divas, but here launching a hate-hate relationship with jazz. "With One Look" from Sunset Boulevard also made for a bizarre clash with the combo, a dissonance underscored by Mr. da Fonseca's constantly shivering cymbals.

Sometimes the contrast was fun, as with "Come Rain or Come Shine," where Ms. Buckley was a fusion Jolson, her quivering hand thrust into the air. And most of the evening was pure, heavenly pleasure. Stephen Sondheim ruled the second half. There was a tenderly riveting "Anyone Can Whistle"; a stunning arrangement of "Sorry-Grateful" that proved it jazz-friendly enough to inspire a long jam session; and a delightfully arty piano-and-voice treatment of "Send in the Clowns."

Other highlights included Irving Berlin's "How Deep Is the Ocean" and Rodgers and Hart's "You're Nearer." But disappointingly, Ms. Buckley did not perform either of her own compositions from the CD. Perhaps that was a come-on to buy Heart to Heart, but chances are any of her enthralled hometown crowd who hadn't snapped it up at intermission would do so by evening's end.

From http://dallasnews.com/entertainment/69349_BUCKLEY25.html