Jimmy Scott at the Bird
BY LARS BJÖRN
On
September 15, the renowned ballad singer Jimmy Scott visited
the Bird of Paradise with his Jazz Expressions trio. He drew a capacity
crowd, which is not surprising given the attention he has been receiving
late in his career. Even Madonna claims he is the greatest!
I had very high expectations
for his concert and was mildly disappointed. Scott's unique phrasing
could still be heard on numbers like "Blue Skies" and
"All the Way," but, at least in the first set, his vocal
powers seemed substantially diminished. After singing five numbers
he had to hand the stage back to his trio; he later returned to
finish the set.
His best song of the night
was actually his encore: "Everybody's Somebody's Fool,"
his old hit with Lionel Hampton.
