Reviews

If you have a kernel of affection for the jazz or blues, pick up the telephone now and make your reservation to see Rosalyn McClore’s cabaret debut at the Hideaway Room at Helen’s. A new crossover from the jazz world, McClore—who’s no rock and roller—rocks the room as she runs through a song list that includes gospel and the operatic I Loves you Porgy as well as jazz and blues. From the opening Gus Kahn standard, My Baby Just Cares for Me, McClore reveals a sure hand at the keyboard and an expressive voice with a wide range that she frequently flaunts with joyful abandon.

At the show we attended, she had her listeners supercharged, whooping out their praise as she performed. “An interactive audience,” she exclaimed, delighted at the unexpected ardor. McClore benefits from the support of two accomplished jazz musicians, Nat Townsley on drums and bassist Rene Hart. If there was anyone left in the room not already swept away by McClore’s performance up to then, they were goners when she launched her closing number, Nina Simone’s incensed and heartfelt wail, Mississippi Goddamn, with a driving, emotional vocal and piano.

- Peter Leavy, Cabaret Scenes - Feb. 22, 2005

"She appears to have everything going for her. With no frills or artistic pretensions, she makes wonderful music with unassuming confidence and easy grace. Add to that her ingratiating stage presence and clearly genuine personal charm."

- Roy Sander, Critic and Columnist

After spotting exciting newcomer Rosalyn McClore at this years’ Cabaret Convention, I felt compelled to see more. So I raced down to the Hideaway Room @ Helen’s in time to catch her cabaret debut. From her two numbers on stage at Lincoln Center, it was obvious she knew her way around a hot keyboard and a song. Her show, featuring the songs of Stephen Sondheim and Nina Simone and backed by a three-piece band, proved a serious step towards gaining recognition. She is sassy, dramatic, sensual, and fully committed to her material. And not only can she sing well, she can interpret with style and bring new meaning to familiar tunes.

This happened right at the top with a sizzling reading of Sondheim’s “Back in Business”, from the film Dick Tracy. Switching gears, she gave his “Anyone Can Whistle” a full-tilt blues treatment fusing jazz with R&B. Her interpretation sounded more like something one might expect from Aretha Franklin. After she finished, she admitted, I have never seen a Sondheim show,” and noted, “He writes lots and lots of lyrics.” Then she made the bizarre comparison of Sondheim’s lyrics to those of Nina Simone, noting “Sondheim is very dark and Nina Simone is very dark”. This led to her taking expansive musical liberties on the way to reinventing “Marry Me a Little" (Sondheim), combining it with a cynical take on Simone’s already cynical “Marriage is For Old Folks.” To her credit, it worked in spades. She brought a combination of warmth and inner peace to “Not While I’m Around” (Sondheim). Taking even more liberties, she turned “Losing My Mind” (Sondheim) into a guttural, lusty blues aria, demonstrating how soul techniques can be used selectively to illuminate a line.

I don’t recommend tackling a fusion of Sondheim and Simone in anybody’s show-ever. Yet McClore’s musicianship, interpretive intelligence, and smoky alto mark her as a unique talent, an emotionally chafed hybrid of the late jazz empress Carmen McRae and the stylishly silky Nancy Wilson.

- John Hoglund, Backstage Magazine - Nov 2005