Karrin Allyson Reviews

Swinging at Showcase Live
'Jazzmasters' wow Foxboro audience
Sun Chronicle
May 16, 2010
By Rick Foster

FOXBORO - Jazz fans had plenty to choose from during "Jazzmasters," an all-star evening replete with solos, stellar ensemble playing and cool vocals Friday at Showcase Live at Patriot Place.

At the center of it all was Kansas-bred jazz vocalist and classically trained pianist Karrin Allyson, who held forth for about one-third of the program soloing on piano and collaborating with a talented cast that included rockstar guitarist Jay Geils and ageless former Benny Goodman collaborator Bucky Pizzarelli.

Allyson, making her first appearance at the Foxboro nightspot, traversed a vast expanse of jazz and blues from Jobim to Harold Arlen and bantering engagingly with her audience and sidemen to boot.

But Allyson was ably complemented by Waltham's Gerry Beaudoin and his trio and saxophonist Harry Allen, who worked their own kind of magic with standards that ranged from Gershwin to Count Basie.

But the biggest show of audience appreciation went to Pizzarelli, who has been jazzing it up longer than most anyone. He earned a standing ovation after polishing off a Honeysuckle Rose that moved quickly from a moderate swing to a manic tempo filled with impossible-to-duplicate solo tricks.

Allyson, billed as the main attraction, began her set with Jobim's "Happy Madness," and moved on to Arlen's "Loads of Love" punctuated by a display of the vocalist's famous scat-singing creativity. She also collaborated with Pizzarelli on Bobby Timmons's "I Wish I Knew," and provided a lengthy homage to the blues pairing with Geils on Randy Newman's "Guilty" and Bonnie Raitt's "Give It UP."

The entire cast brought the evening to a satisfying musical climax with Allyson bringing home Raitt's "Love Me Like A Man" in convincing style, and firing scat vocals back and forth as a counterpoint to Geils' blues guitar.