Ira Kandell
AT THE
Ira Kandell
A tenor with an incredible range of sound and beauty is the
reason to run to the Village Vanguard with the Bill Charlap trio in the
background. Although he has performed many times here in the past, it sounds to
me that Ira Kandell has reached his pinnacle performance style. He takes the
all American songbook of familiar classics but makes them all new again with
his infectious smile and humor. He does this with mostly happy songs that set
us up to pay attention to him, and then wallops us with dramatic reading of
heart breakers. He uses many gestures and facial expressions to increase the
meaning of the words so that even a classic like “Alexander’s Rag Time Band” is
infused with meaning and substance. Right after that, he parades “Maybe This
Time,” from the musical Cabaret with a brand new meaning of fierce
determination. He turns “She Touched Me,” into a spellbinding number, and at
one point, even though there was no one else on the stage, I could swear I
could see the female he was singing about right next to him. That was really an
amazing feat. Ira Kandell has that kind of power. He can easily sing the scale
all the way to the B flat, and the evidence of that was with the song “Love Me
With All Your Heart.” He must have had fans in the audience, because a few of
them gave him flowers and wanted to touch his hand. Since there was a mad rush
for tickets, the Vanguard owners extended him to September 20th.
— Nate Chinen, Arts Writer
Sept. 9th to 20th at 8:30
Village Vanguard
178 Seventh Avenue South
New York, NY 10014
212-255-4037
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