Ty Stephens’ “Standard Tyme” at Birdland Was Full of Spirited Soul and Joyful Swing

By Marilyn Lester***From the moment singer-songwriter and recording artist Ty Stephens opened his show Standard Tyme at Birdland Theater with a slow, evocative opener of “Round Midnight” (Thelonius Monk, Thelma Murray), it was apparent that the evening was going to be something extra special. Then shortly into the set, an alluring “The Nearness of You” (Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington), proved without doubt that Stephens taps far into endless rivers of soul. In fact, his band is called “(The) SoulJaazz,” and that says everything.

Much of his material is outright, or inflected with, blues and R&B/funk. Even swing tunes, such as his rendition of “Just in Time” (Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green) and “Pennies from Heaven” (Arthur Johnston, Johnny Burke), are infused with musical gravitas. And this speaks to Stephen’s persona and being. There’s a transcendental quality to the man—positive, joyful and authentic. As an interpreter of lyric he intensely feels the text as well as the music; it’s apparent that he’s living the experience as he delivers it. In focusing on standards in this set, the re-imagined tunes take on vibrant new life.

As a songwriter, his work goes back far, through the many decades of his noteworthy career, at least to the early-mid 1990s. His “Fade to Gray,” a melodic ballad with a French sound, began its life as a poem. His story song “Another Day in Time,” reveals a deep-thinking storyteller. Introducing the piece with the summary, “the relationship is over, but you’re still living together,” Stephens delivery, with only the piano of Aziza Miller to accompany him, was intensely real. Miller, a pianist, composer, and spoken-word vocalist was the musical director for Natalie Cole in the late 1970s. She collaborated with Cole on the hit song “La Costa,” a bluesy ballad sung by Stephens with characteristic sensitivity.

That sensitivity was also more than applied to “You Don’t Know What Love Is?” (Don Raye, Gene de Paul), introduced by Carol Bruce in, of all things, the 1941 Abbott and Costello film, Keep ‘Em Flying. Bruce’s rendition was melodramatic; a follow-up hit by Dinah Washington was showy. Like Billy Strayhorn’s “Lush Life,” the harmonics of the song are tricky and the feeling intended via both haunting melody and sophisticated lyric isn’t easy to master. The tune has been covered by a plethora of singers and musicians. Sinatra is curiously missing from that group, and from those who attempted the song, Chet Baker and Nina Simone rank high as delivering it as if they meant it. Stephen’s version was definitive. He simply nailed it—so big kudos to him for that triumph.

Playing out, Stephens offered a samba-based, jazzy “Nature Boy” (eden ahbez), featuring scat and a big, blazing guitar solo by Robert “R.T.” Taylor. The sound was big band—fulsome and rocking— almost like a churchy religious experience. The Latin arrangement continued in a joyful encore of “I Wish You Love” (based on the Charles Trenet, Léo Chauliac song, “Que reste-t-il de nos amours?”; English lyric by Albert Askew Beach), delivering a sincere farewell sentiment.

In addition to guitarist Taylor and pianist/music director Miller, rhythm and musical energy and skill was provided by bassist Paul Ramsey and drummer Sipho Kunene.