By Michael Barbieri****Play that funky music, white boys! Well, at Don’t Tell Mama, Brad Simmons and Lennie Watts did just that in their wonderful show, Blue Eyed Soul. Performing popular hits from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, Simmons and Watts took me back to the AM radio of my youth. And a lovely trip it was!
Early in the evening, we learned that in 1964, a Philadelphia DJ named Georgie Woods coined the expression “blue eyed soul,” as a code to let his listeners know that the artist they were hearing was white. The Righteous Brothers were the first artists to receive the moniker, beginning the trend of R&B radio stations playing music by certain white singers.
I had always thought of Lennie Watts as a blue eyed soul singer. I’ve known and worked with him for years and I’ve heard him sing in many styles— Broadway, pop, rock and comedic. But there’s always been an honest, soulful quality to his voice that makes this genre perfect for him. Brad Simmons, on the other hand, was entirely new to me. Watts and Simmons met at the O’Neill Cabaret Conference, where Watts has served as a Master Teacher and Simmons as Associate Artistic Director. Watts joked that after he first heard Simmons perform he almost wanted to quit singing entirely. But rather than give up, Watts paired up with Simmons to create a show filled with this music they both loved. It turned out to be a great match! Simmons’ smooth, soaring vocals and funky piano arrangements were the perfect complement to Watts’ energetic, high-flying sound. Additionally, the simplicity of the show —just two great singers and a piano—allowed the material and the performances to shine more brightly.
Their opening number set the tone perfectly, combining Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music,” from 1976, with George Michael’s “Freedom ’90.” Rather than copy the bobbling, funk tempo of the originals, they made it their own and gave the medley more of a slow groove, trading off refrains and verses, eventually shifting into a clever counterpoint and amping up the ending with a burst of power.
Next, a soft rock classic by Ambrosia, “Biggest Part Of Me,” showcased the blend of both singers’ voices on the chorus, as well as Simmons’ gorgeous falsetto wail. In a show with many such moments, this was the first that brought to mind listening to all those great AM radio hits back in the day.
A medley of “Holding Back the Years,” and “All Around the World” was sung beautifully, but also allowed the pair to engage in some funny banter–they sang ‘Been around the world and I, I can’t find my Baby,’ and then thanked the audience for applauding their pain at being single. Also, apparently in “Holding Back the Years,” neither of them wanted to sing the lines ‘Strangled by the wishes of pater, hoping for the arms of mater,’ feeling that the terms pater and mater were silly and antiquated. But Lennie, as a MAC Award winner, jokingly pulled rank and Brad ended up with the lyric!
In an evening loaded with hits, we also heard Robbie Dupree’s “Steal Away,” coupled with a 70s era favorite of mine, the romantic, harmony-laden ballad, “Dance With Me,” by Orleans. “Son of a Preacher Man” had a bouncier, funkier, more gospel-like arrangement than Dusty Springfield’s original; a fabulous Hall & Oates medley featured no less than seven of the duo’s songs and Simmons tackled Daryl Hall’s “Every Time You Go Away,” and “Baby Come Back,” in which he improvised masterfully around the melody lines. And with “What You Won’t Do For Love,” they took the original recording’s slow groove and morphed it into a ballad of dark longing, with laser-sharp emotional focus from Watts, and sensitive, almost symphonic accompaniment from Simmons.
I feel I should mention one of my favorite moments of the evening. During Gino Vannelli’s 1978 classic “I Just Wanna Stop,” we all learned something new: Lennie is a hero! While Gino Vannelli was falling in love in Montreal, Lennie confessed that he was there as well, saving a certain French-Canadian songstress from a near fatal beignet incident! I couldn’t be more proud!
Anyway, as the evening drew to a close, we were treated to a mashup of “Yacht Rock” hits—a genre I had never heard of, which drew on influences like smooth jazz, soft rock, soul, disco and R&B. Brad and Lennie described it as the music rich white guys listened to, just to appear cool.
While the medley began with a slightly dark arrangement of “I Can See Clearly Now,” and the gorgeous, breezy “Sailing,” by Christopher Cross, it eventually took a fun, silly turn with Styx’s “Come Sail Away,” where Brad seemed to channel South Park’s Eric Cartman and Lennie delivered spacey sound effects.
Blue Eyed Soul was a wonderful rarity, in that luckily and happily, I knew every song in the set! I certainly hope Brad and Lennie bring the show back for another run, because while standards by Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, et. al. will never die, the pop classics presented in Blue Eyed Soul are just as worthy of celebrating. For my generation, these songs were a part of our Great American Songbook!
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