Harold Sanditen performed his show Flyin’ High at the Crazy Coqs, London. Picture: Jack Ladenburg
Harold Sanditen performed his show Flyin’ High at the Crazy Coqs, London.
Regulars at the ever-sophisticated London music room Crazy Coqs will know Harold Sanditen best as the host of the popular weekly Open Mic nights at the venue (Thursdays at 10.30pm), a venture which recently celebrated its first birthday. However, on this occasion the spotlight was purely on his own talent as a cabaret singer as he introduced his brand new show, Flyin’ High.
Sometimes a singer can be guilty of almost making up a hobby in order to string together a collection of songs related to a particular subject, but not Sanditen. Travelling the world is the central theme of Flyin’ High and there is no doubt that the performer has top credentials for the musical journey, having visited 65 countries at the last count (apparently covering all continents except the polar regions!).
Yet instead of falling into the trap of choosing an endless stream of numbers directly about travel, Sanditen uses his eclectic choice of material to illustrate his thoughts and feelings – whether it’s remembering a duvet covered in ants in a dodgy motel room or, on a more serious note, a particularly stunning sunset.
By avoiding the predictable, links between patter and song are occasionally a little tenuous, but elsewhere there are plenty of treasures to savour from songwriters of different eras: Irving Berlin, Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, Michel Legrand, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Lennon and McCartney and Billy Joel.
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma (on the ‘Route 66’ – an unavoidable cue for the Bobby Troup song), early highlights include an atmospheric, dreamlike rendition of Gerry Goffin and Carole King’s ‘Up On the Roof’ and an amusing performance of the Willie Nelson song ‘Crazy’, as Sanditen recalls taking part in his first ever karaoke competition in the hope of winning a bottle of champagne on his 50th birthday.
During a nicely balanced programme, other standout numbers include a yearning ‘Look of Love’ and a refreshingly different version of ‘I Got the Sun in the Morning’. Even when Sanditen appears out of his comfort zone with ‘One Night Only’, the tables are turned with a segue into Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash’s ‘Speak Low’.
Many of these songs are given a whole new lease of life by pianist Michael Roulston who has written the majority of the evening’s musical arrangements, and who also accompanies the singer alongside skilful bassist Jonty Fisher. Roulston has a whole cabaret career of his own going on, and is appearing with singer Sarah-Louise Young in two separate shows during the London Festival of Cabaret, Julie Madly Deeply and Roulston & Young – Two Faced. For Flyin’ High, he has excelled himself with some truly memorable arrangements, incorporating sweet changes of tempo, ranging from swing and jazz to a soft, almost poetic musical quality. His work enables Sanditen to not just sing the compositions, but also tell stories with the lyrics.
The quality continues with an honest and poignant retelling of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s ‘Waters of March’ and an encore of what is probably my favourite Lennon/McCartney song, ‘In My Life’.
It can’t be long before Sanditen is off on his adventures again, but it is obvious cabaret and the joy of performing in such an intimate room as the Crazy Coqs are equal in his affections. With Flyin’ High, that passion certainly comes across.
Lisa Martland
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