Sharon Clark Quartet "Take Two: From Porter To Hendrix and Beyond" - New York City Article

Sharón Clark Quartet
“Take Two: From Porter To Hendrix and Beyond”
Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall
Broadway at 60th Street, 5th Floor
Wednesday, January 23

The term “mash-up” has become quite the buzz word in contemporary music, but the all-time champion of the art of mashing upwards is Sharón Clark, not least because she’s an even better singer than she is a masher-upper. Miss Clark’s specialties is mixing the genres and generations, offering a seamless mix of jazz and soul even while balancing the traditional standards of the Great American Songbook with more contemporary material in a way that’s thoughtful and incisive. For instance, the current show at Dizzy’s promises to counterbalance two musical questions of great profundity (literally), Irving Berlin’s “How Deep is the Ocean?” with the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love?” And “The Lamp is Low,” inspired by Maurice Ravel, plays off “Turn Your Lights Down Low” by Bob Marley (from Exodus). (I wonder if she knows “After the Lights Go Down Low” by Al Hibbler?) As a singer, she’s most frequently compared to Sarah Vaughan, and her most recent album is Intimate Ella: A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, but make no mistake, she has a soul and highly musical style all her own.

vocalist Sharon Clark, pianist Chris Grasso (musical director), bassist Zack Pride, drummer Lenny Robinson.

for reservations, click here.