By Andrew Poretz***Jazz vocalist Lucy Wijnands played the first of two Birdland Theater gigs, accompanied only by her father, pianist Bram Wijnands. (You can catch the secondo set of the duo at Birdland on Tuesday, August 20 at 5:30 PM.)
Wijnands first came to this reviewer’s attention in 2021, when she performed at an American Popular Song Society show honoring the late Susannah McCorkle. The fresh-faced singer was particularly notable for a lower register reminiscent of Sarah Vaughn, who turned out to be a major influence. In nearly three years, Wijnands (pronounced “wine-ins”) has grown considerably as a singer and performer. Her burgeoning confidence, very fluid and expressive voice, and astounding breath control reveal an artist who knows her instrument.
Wijnands has an old-school beauty and poise about her. Her periwinkle gown made her resemble the Columbia Pictures “torch lady.” (“I’ve heard that before,” she later told me.) Her warm personality lit up the room even before she began singing. Bram Wijnands has excellent piano skills that draw from the likes of Errol Garner and Fats Waller, with a strong left hand with a knack for “stride” playing—stride found its way into nearly every song in the set. He is tall, handsome and youthful, despite the graying hair and beard.
The rising star opened strong with “The Great City” (Curtis Lewis), a song introduced by Nancy Wilson in 1960. Wijnands displayed excellent tone and pitch. In the second song, “Got a Lot of Livin’ to Do” (Charles Strouse,Lee Adams), she flaunted her rhythm chops. On the (stride) arrangement of “April in Paris” (Vernon Duke, Yip Harburg), Wijnands sang with verve and an elastic voice. She often takes bold chances, and here she scatted the obligato instrumental parts of the famous Count Basie arrangement of the tune, throwing her head back in abandon as she reached for the high notes. She even reprised the ending Basie-style (“One more, once!”).
Wijnands was in top form for the ballad “I Don’t Want to Walk Without You” (Irving Berlin). The lusciously sung verse contrasted with her slow, bluesy 
approach to the refrain. She delivered the lyric with the emotional resonance of a fine storyteller. She was especial superb on “Moonglow”(Will Hudson). Her ability to ride out not only a long, legato phrase, but a complex musical progression on a single breath, was simply stunning.
The father/daughter duo not only perform together, but they write songs, with dad crafting the melodies and daughter writing the lyrics. Their “Always and Forever” was so well-crafted that could have been written by a couple of 1940s song pluggers. The duo had fun with the catchy tune, and during an instrumental break, the traded fours with piano solos and scat, with a repeated riff of The Turtles’ “Happy Together.” They also wrote “Don’t Wanna Leave You,” complete with a verse.
Wijnands called up special guest, pianist Johnny O’Neal to the stage, the two performing a gorgeous duet of 
“Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke). O’Neal has a particularly tender touch at the keys. He perfectly underscored Wijnands’ sweetly sensitive singing of this classic tune, normally sung by a man, about about the protagonist dreamily flashing back to the chance meeting on the dance floor with the timid young gal in a polka dot dress, who is now his wife.
After a very fun boogie-woogie of the Andrews Sisters “Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar” (Don Raye, Hughie Prince and Ray McKinley) that had the joint jumping, Wijnands closed the night with the popular and much-sung bossa nova “Chega de Saudade” aka “No More Blues” (Antonio Carlos Jobim,Vinicius de Moraes) in Portuguese.
Photos by Beth Naji
