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NY Jazz: "Singers Over Manhattan" – cool & hot sounds and glittering view

Eric Reed Trio backs up Carla Cook, Jennifer Sanon and Sachal Vasandani

By Lucy Komisar

Eric Reed plays a cool, sophisticated, luxurious piano. He performs delicious mainstream hot jazz, but one also hears a classical influence. Think Gershwin. His trio was the back up band for a Jazz at Lincoln Center performance by Jennifer Sandon, Sachal Vasandani and Carla Cook, vocalists very different in mood and style.

With a stunning, glittering Manhattan panorama viewed through the two-story glass window backdrop, the Jazz at Lincoln Center series is a visual as well as musical experience.  The glass wall looks east over Central Park and 59th Street. Across the park you see the lit widows of the Fifth Avenue skyline. A light show of passing cars flickers red and white.

There's a reason why blues singers are women. Jennifer Sandon, in a sweet, sultry, honey voice interprets the standard blues complaint:  bad guys, no money. "You're so mean to me baby, I know you're going to drive me away." Her best number is a soulful rendition of "Damn that Dream." She radiates a warm innocence that makes her appear just the sort to be done wrong.

Sachal Vasandani is a young man, but his "September Song" reflects the sensitivity and rich baritone of an old time crooner. This is a performer who belongs on the Broadway stage. His full rich voice and jazzy phrasing make Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," seem like a song I've never heard. He is best doing the old standards; a black inflection on the blues seemed forced.

Carla Cook's rocky, raunchy sound is made for the blues. She brings a hot energy to tunes such as "I'm beginning to see the light" and a new complexity to "My one and only love." With talent honed by experience, she moves easily from ballads to skat, illuminating the music with her earthy inflection.

The schedule of concerts and cabaret programs run by Jazz at Lincoln Center is listed at http://www.jalc.org.

"Singers Over Manhattan." Eric Reed Trio: Reed on piano, David Wong bass and Willie Jones III drums; vocalists Carla Cook, Jennifer Sanon and Sachal Vasandani.

The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Time Warner Building, 5th floor, Broadway & 60th Street. $40, $75, $130. Oct. 20-22, 2005. 7:30 p.m. 212-721-6500, or box office, or http://www.jalc.org.

Photos by Jazz at Lincoln Center

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