Concert Review by: Joe Montague
Venue: Vancouver East Cultural Centre (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
August 10, 2007 - Swedish jazz diva Jeanette Lindstrom opened her first set at the Vancouver
East Cultural Centre on the evening of August 10, with “Always,” an R&B
flavored tune, that served up reminders of Taylor Dane’s song “I’ll Always Love
You.” Guitarist Peter Nylander, who heads up the Jazz Guitar Department at the
Royal Conservatory in Stockholm, Sweden, wove his magic on some smooth and
seamless chord changes, while trumpeter Staffan Svensson’s muted horn filled the
room with warm, mellow melodies.
The concert was presented as part of the two-week annual music extravaganza
known as Festival Vancouver, which features jazz, classical and world music
artists. Lindstrom’s appearance, her second in four years, was made possible in
part by sponsorship from the Swedish Embassy.
Dressed in a black, knee length dress, matching black sandals, an emerald
colored glass bracelet on her right arm, silver earrings, and wearing her long,
light brown hair up, Lindstrom was at ease addressing her audience while talking
and performing songs from several of her albums, In The Middle Of The
Riddle (2005), Whistling In The Dark (2006), Walk (2003),
Feathers (2000) and Another Country (1995).
In listening to Lindstrom’s beautiful vocals and observing the ease in which
she interacts with her audience, it is not surprising that twelve years ago
Quincy Jones was led to remark about the pretty Swedish songstress, “An old soul
in a young singer. She really understands what jazz is all about!”
Lindstrom has a deep, soulful voice that infuses her lyrics with passion and
romance, while inviting the listener to join in an intimate exchange of thoughts
and feelings. Her emotive vocal attitude on “Leaf” and her utterance of lines
such as, “One Look apparently got to me,” and “I felt his gaze, I looked away,”
are breathtaking. As she taps into her emotions while seductively wooing her
audience, it is not uncommon to hear other listeners exclaim, ‘heartfelt,’ and
‘she is beautiful.’ Those comments came from female members of her audience.
Lindstrom’s pretty vocals engage you as much as her incredible smile.
The singer’s many faceted vocals appear to be delivered effortlessly whether
she is near the top end of her vocal range or spectacularly scatting for over
three minutes during the song “From The Tower.” During her performance of the
“The World,” you are reminded of Lena Horne. She is equally adept at delivering
more contemporary melodies, a la Barbara Streisand, with songs such as her cover
of Henry Mancini’s “Whistling Away In The Dark,” originally recorded by Julie
Andrews for the movie Darling Lilly.
As the second set drew to a close, after almost two hours of fabulous music,
Lindstrom elegantly covered Burt Bacharach’s “Trains and Boats and Planes,” and
performed her own composition “All The World’s A Stage.” The later song
evidenced a deeper groove than most of her pieces, and once again highlighted
guitarist Nylander’s thoughtful fretwork.
As Lindstrom and her band left the stage, the audience refused to stop
applauding until their heroine returned to perform an encore, “Be There,” a song
she originally recorded in Canada. She said on the original recording, you could
hear frogs in the background but “The frogs couldn’t make it tonight.” Flashing
her audience a warm smile as the song came to a close, Lindstrom held out her
arms towards her fans as wide as she could and then imitated a hug that
indicated she wished she could embrace them all, which drew even more ecstatic
applause from those in attendance.
The audience was sure of one thing as they left the Vancouver East Cultural
Centre this summer evening, and that was they were happy that Jeanette Lindstrom
had traveled from her home in Sweden to grace them with a spectacular
performance.
For more information: Vancouver East Cultural Centre
Photo by: © Patrick Leo
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