Carol Kidd Live at the Brunton Theatre, Edinburgh
01 October 2011
Edinburgh Evening NewsSarah Nisbet
Jazz legend Carol Kidd returned to Musselburgh's Brunton Theatre with a diverse and affecting programme.
Accompanied
by collaborator Nigel Clark on acoustic guitar, she opened with
up-tempo Georgia On My Mind, before launching into Someone to Watch Over Me. The night's set continued in
similar fashion with jazz staples being occasionally interspersed with
songs from Kidd's new album, Tell Me Once Again, an exploration of love
and loss.
Despite the solemn theme of the set, Kidd's infamous
puckish persona was present throughout - whether horsing around with her
partner or taunting latecomers.
Her humour was not only
apparent in her candid exchanges but also played an inherent role within
her repertoire. Ragtime oldie Jeepers Creepers was given the
songstress' special treatment, with the song's scat-like outro played
out for laughs.
Kidd's boldest departures, though, involved
imaginative interpretations of the standards. Sweeping from a towering
falsetto to hushed tones, Kidd delivered her evocative slow account of
the Arlen and Koehler classic Stormy Weather over Clark's impromptu
playing.
Other favourites from the great American songbook
included a heart-on-sleeve rendition of The End of a Love Affair and A
Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.
If familiarity has dulled
Kidd at all, it is the tendency to underplay some of the song's
implications in favour of ostentation.
Returning to the standards for the finale, Kidd belted out Bye Bye Blackbird, encouraging the audience to sing and clap along.
Unsurprisingly,
the encore belonged to the singer's poignant signature song, When I
Dream, which rounded off the evening's proceedings.
"I can be
the singer or the clown in any room," sung Kidd. Words which, given the
evening's nature of two halves, couldn't have been more appropriate.
Related Links
Carol Kidd
Nigel Clark
Tell Me Once Again