The Evening Was a Swingin’ High Celebrating Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra at NJPAC

By Marilyn Lester***Two icons and giants of American popular music, Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra, were not only contemporaries but happened to be very best friends. Their relationship was not romantic, but deeply personal and professional. When Sinatra died in 1998 at age 82, after several days Lee released a simple statement in reaction—a twist on a song title meaningful to both: “I’m glad there was you.” Lee died six years later, in 2002, at age 81.

Part of the NJPAC/TD Jazz Series (and co-produced with Danny Kapilian and Festival West), the program proved a stirring tribute. Many stops were pulled out to deliver a swinging evening of music that caught the spirit of these two legends.

Hosting Celebrating Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra was bandleader and master bassist, Christian McBride, who fronted a jazz unit of 17 players with an extra complement of seven strings. Opener, sans strings, was a band feature of “Night Train,” in a swinging Count Basie groove. The tune, with a complicated back story, is attributed to Jimmy Forrest and Oscar Washington and connects to Basie because Sinatra worked with him many times. The rendition was a barn-burner, so much so that a few more band-only outings would have been welcome.

But the focus was squarely on vocals, with minimal narrative, and a cast of top-line interpreters: Aloe Blacc, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Paula Cole, Bettye LaVette, Rachel Price and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Two acts split the programming: the first to Sinatra’s greatest hits and the second to Lee’s. Although the pair often sang together, especially on “The Frank Sinatra Show” (1957-1960), only one number featured a duet to honor that legacy—the act one closer of the Gershwin’s “Nice Work If You Can Get It” performed by Mitchell and Bridgewater. Given the friendship between the two, a more effective choice would have been to integrate the music and contributions of the pair throughout.

Bridgwater is an idiosyncratic performer, full of moods and moves with a commanding mastery of  jazz singing. Highlights in act one included a sensuous rendition of “Angel Eyes” (Matt Dennis, Earl Brent) in duet with McBride’s bass; a lush string-forward “The Shadow of Your Smile” (Johnny Mandel); and “I Don’t Know Enough About You” (Dave Barbour, Peggy Lee).

Singer-songwriter activist Blacc has a Sinatra-type voice; he’s not an imitator, but possess a similara vocal tone. He excelled with two big Sinatra hits: “Come Fly with Me” (Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn) and “Fly Me to the Moon” (Bart Howard). A treat was a never-recorded Quincy Jones arrangement of “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” (David Mann, Bob Hilliard). Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell was in a showy, manic mood, belting out a zippy “Luck Be a Lady” (Frank Loesser), utilizing the full range of his impressive baritone. Positioning himself on a stool, he created mood with a melancholy “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)” (Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer).

On the distaff side in act two, two vocal powerhouses, Paula Cole and Rachel Price, delivered an insightful duet on “Is That All There Is” (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller). Cole performed “Fever” (Eddie Cooley, Otis Blackwell), originally recorded by Little Willie John in 1956 and covered by Lee in 1958. The tune was an enormous hit, so much so that it became her signature song. Price handled the upbeat “It’s a Good Day,” penned by Lee and her first husband Dave Barbour. Then there’s Bettye LaVette, a singer’s singer, a soul queen who wraps her unique voice around a tune, gives it an R&B or blues bump, and proceeds to totally inhabit it with thundering authenticity. Her take on “The Man I Love” (George and Ira Gershwin) was a wrenching plea. Switching gears she sweetly teased with “He’s a Tramp” (Sonny Burke, Peggy Lee) from the 1955 animated Disney film, Lady and the Tramp.

The finale of Celebrating Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra brought Bridgewater, LaVette, Cole and Price onstage for a rousing, driving version of “I’m a Woman” (Jerry Lieber, Mike Stoller). The tune was set up by the appearance of Holly Foster Wells, Lee’s granddaughter, who heads the Peggy Lee Estate and manages the icon’s legacy. A more inspiring and empowering outro couldn’t have been had.

All photos courtesy of NJPAC