Elaine Delmar – The Pheasantry

Elaine Delmar performed at The Pheasantry, London.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

The appreciative audience at Elaine Delmar’s cabaret show will have their own special memories of this star performer.

There was ‘Honeysuckle Rose’from the all-star hit, Bubbling Brown Sugar which ran for nearly two years at the Royalty Theatre in 1979. ‘Remind Me’, the Kern-Fields ballad, was a special favourite, accompanied by Delmar’s moving interpretation with that unmistakeable velvety lower register, a trademark to this day. That song was in Kern Goes to Hollywood (Donmar/1985).

Whether on land or sea, she has been an ever present figure on the jazz scene, honing her act to a fine degree, repartee kept to the minimum, allowing the songs to speak for themselves.

One anecdote, from her shows aboard cruise ships, revealedthe most requested song to be ‘I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter’. This led, as perhaps it did then, to an invitation to join her on the reprise, which she endorsed wholeheartedly.

Acknowledging a penchant for Gershwin and Porter didn’t preclude some unexpected treasures during the evening including Duncan Lamont’s ‘English Folk Song’, a setting of verses by Spike Milligan, as well as ‘I Won’t Last aDay Without You’, the Carpenters hit, and the Latin-styled ‘Likea Lover’. 

Delmar’s presence was as graceful and magnetic as ever, with a singer’stechnique to be envied. Despite an all too efficient air-cooling system drying out the atmosphere, she delivered a number of finely graded hairpoint pianissimi, at a song’s conclusion.

‘It’s All Right With Me’was a manifestation of the innate power she can summon when called for, but if anything, her repertoire and execution of it was one of less is more with her musicians Barry Green (piano) and Simon Green (bass) at one with her interpretations. 

From ‘Tea For Two’, a picture of domestic bliss never more rapturously painted, to ‘Summertime’ with a spare eight note figure on bass. This was a masterclass of song interpretation.

Vocal colouring imbued ‘Killing Me Softly’ with a special spirit and an appreciation of Oscar Hammerstein’s poetic lyric shone through her relaxed account of ‘It Might As Well Be Spring’. In contrast ‘There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon For New York’ swung to perfection with singer and pianist as the long lines of ‘If You Love Me’ and ‘I Loves You, Porgy’ spoke for themselves. 

It was a captivating evening of song, the singer, cold apparent, wisely delegating to her pianist, a freedom of improvisation that was a joy to hear too. 

Do catch their next show at Burgh House, Hampstead on 22 July.

Adrian Edwards