Dakota
Christmas Jazz Party
Minneapolis Star-Tribune - December 11, 2001
Michael Anthony, December 11, 2001
A Christmas jazz concert sounds like a fun idea, and so the
Dakota, the area's premier jazz club, is giving that idea
a good run, offering a bevy of top local performers in two
evenings this week.
Actually, there were two shows Monday night, both broadcast
live on KBEM (88.5 FM), and some of the performances both nights
will make up a CD, "Chestnuts: Cookin' At the Dakota 2001," which
will be offered for sale at the nightclub. Both shows will
be repeated today.
Four singers performed in the first show -- Debbie Duncan,
Judy Donaghy, Erin Schwab and Lori Dokken -- doing both solo
and ensemble numbers, with Dokken playing deft accompaniment
on piano and the other three seated on stools. In the second
show, Connie Evingson sang with the assistance of reeds player
Dave Karr, pianist Mary Louise Knutson, bassist Terry Burns
and drummer Steve Jennings. Burns and Jennings also backed
up where needed during the first show.
The pattern was sort of loose to tight. Dokken's group was
winging it much of the time -- or at least appeared to be --
while Evingson and Karr had worked out some fairly complicated
arrangements, including a clever opus called "Nutcracker
Petite Suite" based on melodies from Tchaikovsky's "The
Nutcracker" with interpolated lyrics.
Despite a few musical train wrecks during the first show, and
not enough care taken in blending these four quite distinctive
voices, there were some highlights. Those included a majestic
treatment of "O Holy Night" by Duncan and a lovely,
heartfelt take on "I'll Be Home for Christmas" by
Schwab, a fine singer-actress who earned praise for her recent
performance in "The Rink" at the Loring Playhouse.
Between these was Dokken's amusing impression of Katharine
Hepburn reciting "The Night Before Christmas."
For her part, Evingson opened with a nice surprise, "Snowfall," the
old Claude Thornhill theme, enhanced by Karr's subtle arabesques
on tenor saxophone. A warm reading of Mel Torme's "Christmas
Song" followed, as did a sexy version of "Santa Baby," with
Karr this time on flute. Karr added clarinet to his one-man
band for a whimsical run-through of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed
Reindeer," which also offered a buoyant solo by Knutson.
The shaker hymn "'Tis a Gift To Be Simple," which
Aaron Copland made much of in his orchestral music, was another
surprise, an arrangement that evolved into gospel style.
As usual, Evingson was in fine voice. Her cool tone is just
right for jazz material, but she's never chilly. She phrases
intelligently and draws the listener in.
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