Post by HitsvilleSoul on Dec 11, 2005 20:18:11 GMT -5
Supreme Mary Wilson — she keeps hangin' on :read:
SAY THIS for Mary Wilson: She's got staying power.
As one of the founding Supremes more than 40 years ago, Wilson stayed true when Motown leader Berry Gordy pushed Wilson and Florence Ballard into the background so that he could make Diana Ross a star.
When Ross left the trio in 1970, Wilson kept the Supremes going with a changing roster of fellow singers until the group disbanded in 1977.
Now the 61-year-old Wilson is in a spotlight of her very own with yet another chapter in her musical history. This time she's a cabaret diva, and her new show, "Up Close," had its premiere Tuesday at San Francisco's Empire Plush Room.
Wilson is a charming performer who easily establishes rapport with her audience, but as with any new show, there are kinks to be worked out.
Resplendent in a silky red gown, Wilson struggled through the show-opening "Here's to Life" and a bumpy "Smile" because she was having technical difficulties with her earpiece monitors.
"My ears are not working," Wilson said, referring to the gizmos she had just pulled from her ears.
"But the jewelry is working, honey," shouted an exuberant male fan in the audience.
If Wilson's fans feel like they know her, that's not surprising. She's been making music for four decades now, and audiences love it when a back-up singer emerges into the foreground to get her due.
With technical glitches at least partly resolved (the earpieces would continue to be a problem throughout the 85-minute show), Wilson and her stage-crowding five-piece band forged ahead through "Body and Soul" and Sting's "Fields of Gold."
With a samba-fueled medley of "I Remember You," "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Masquenada," Wilson finally began showing signs of life.
Vocally, the singer is most comfortable in a pop milieu with hints of jazz and R&B. She responds well to a forceful beat, and nowhere was this more evident opening night than on a three-song trip through Supremes hits.
Up to this point, Wilson's show was a poppy lounge act suitable to Vegas or a cruise ship (but not necessarily to the Empire Plush Room, where top price is $55 plus a two-drink minimum). On "My World Is Empty Without You," "Reflections" and "Back in My Arms Again," Wilson took hold of the stage and didn't let go as she put her own energetic stamp on songs she (and her audience) have been singing for years.
The crowd went nuts for the songs — especially when she let them do some background "ooo-ooos" — and Wilson didn't seem to mind strolling down memory lane.
"I couldn't talk in the Supremes," she said, "so I'll talk now."
Another tepid dip into the pop till with Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" gave way to another show highlight, "I Am Changing," from the Broadway show "Dreamgirls," a thinly veiled dramatization of the Supremes saga.
Introducing the song, Wilson expressed admiration for the show, which is soon to be a movie, and said that if Ballard, who died in 1976 at age 32, was alive today, this is the song she'd be singing.
With this big, theatrical ballad, Wilson seemed to make her strongest emotional connection of the evening.
Neither of her encores — Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" and the Louis Armstrong hit "What a Wonderful World" — came anywhere near the passion of "I Am Changing," but she was still coasting on that song's electrical charge, so it didn't matter much.
Music director and pianist Mark Zier has a stage full of musicians — Donzell Davis on drums, Daniel Fabricant on bass, Ray Pannell on guitar and Winston Byrd on trumpet — and yet the arrangements were consistently bland.
It's a good thing Wilson brings her own spark. With a few more interesting songs (and maybe another golden oldie), Wilson's "Up Close" will be a cabaret experience worthy of such a Supreme part of pop music history.
SAY THIS for Mary Wilson: She's got staying power.
As one of the founding Supremes more than 40 years ago, Wilson stayed true when Motown leader Berry Gordy pushed Wilson and Florence Ballard into the background so that he could make Diana Ross a star.
When Ross left the trio in 1970, Wilson kept the Supremes going with a changing roster of fellow singers until the group disbanded in 1977.
Now the 61-year-old Wilson is in a spotlight of her very own with yet another chapter in her musical history. This time she's a cabaret diva, and her new show, "Up Close," had its premiere Tuesday at San Francisco's Empire Plush Room.
Wilson is a charming performer who easily establishes rapport with her audience, but as with any new show, there are kinks to be worked out.
Resplendent in a silky red gown, Wilson struggled through the show-opening "Here's to Life" and a bumpy "Smile" because she was having technical difficulties with her earpiece monitors.
"My ears are not working," Wilson said, referring to the gizmos she had just pulled from her ears.
"But the jewelry is working, honey," shouted an exuberant male fan in the audience.
If Wilson's fans feel like they know her, that's not surprising. She's been making music for four decades now, and audiences love it when a back-up singer emerges into the foreground to get her due.
With technical glitches at least partly resolved (the earpieces would continue to be a problem throughout the 85-minute show), Wilson and her stage-crowding five-piece band forged ahead through "Body and Soul" and Sting's "Fields of Gold."
With a samba-fueled medley of "I Remember You," "The Girl from Ipanema" and "Masquenada," Wilson finally began showing signs of life.
Vocally, the singer is most comfortable in a pop milieu with hints of jazz and R&B. She responds well to a forceful beat, and nowhere was this more evident opening night than on a three-song trip through Supremes hits.
Up to this point, Wilson's show was a poppy lounge act suitable to Vegas or a cruise ship (but not necessarily to the Empire Plush Room, where top price is $55 plus a two-drink minimum). On "My World Is Empty Without You," "Reflections" and "Back in My Arms Again," Wilson took hold of the stage and didn't let go as she put her own energetic stamp on songs she (and her audience) have been singing for years.
The crowd went nuts for the songs — especially when she let them do some background "ooo-ooos" — and Wilson didn't seem to mind strolling down memory lane.
"I couldn't talk in the Supremes," she said, "so I'll talk now."
Another tepid dip into the pop till with Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" gave way to another show highlight, "I Am Changing," from the Broadway show "Dreamgirls," a thinly veiled dramatization of the Supremes saga.
Introducing the song, Wilson expressed admiration for the show, which is soon to be a movie, and said that if Ballard, who died in 1976 at age 32, was alive today, this is the song she'd be singing.
With this big, theatrical ballad, Wilson seemed to make her strongest emotional connection of the evening.
Neither of her encores — Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" and the Louis Armstrong hit "What a Wonderful World" — came anywhere near the passion of "I Am Changing," but she was still coasting on that song's electrical charge, so it didn't matter much.
Music director and pianist Mark Zier has a stage full of musicians — Donzell Davis on drums, Daniel Fabricant on bass, Ray Pannell on guitar and Winston Byrd on trumpet — and yet the arrangements were consistently bland.
It's a good thing Wilson brings her own spark. With a few more interesting songs (and maybe another golden oldie), Wilson's "Up Close" will be a cabaret experience worthy of such a Supreme part of pop music history.
