The Butterfly Lightning Music Reviews ...
Last year a friend told me "you've got to come hear this singer I found at Doc Dammers." So we went, and thus was born another chapter of the Ariana Hall Fan Club. We went back a number of times, and even followed this budding talent to another venue at O'Casey's in Pinecrest before her summer of travel in South America wrested her away from us by force. Along the way we collected her demo CD which, but for a minor recording flaw or two, seemed ready for mass distribution ... it certainly became one of the most-often-listened-to items in my own collection, right up there with the likes of Stacy Kent.
It was therefore with great anticipation that we looked forward to this opportunity to see her in recital with, as it turned out, a full and talented ensemble of backup musicians, all in the setting of the fine acoustics of Clark Recital Hall on the UM campus, miked and amped to perfection by the capable tech crew, and (I might add) decked out in a stunning blue evening gown.
If you haven't heard her, you have to imagine Ariana's voice as a kind of bright mid-range speaker with the ability to plunge to surprising depth and to hit perfectly accurate upper pitches with grace and control. To this she adds an array of expressive touches that seem remarkably mature for someone still early in the twenty-somethings.
I'm partial to the sort of material she usually features -- classic jazz standards with new life breathed into them, and the swaying bossa nova of Jobim -- but was impressed with the range of material on this night. We went from the sultry "Detour Ahead" to the rousing "Corrida de Jangada" ("Raft Race") and the bizarre "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" (by Frank Zappa). We went from "There Is No Greater Love," 1936, to "Older," 2001 (by Ariana herself).
This was a recital, after all, so besides showing her talent as vocalist and composer Ms. Hall also accompanied herself on the piano, revealed that she had arranged the opening "No Greater Love" for the six voices who performed it, and showed off her skill with languages. I already knew she could do English (the language of jazz) and Portugese (the language of bossa nova) as well as Spanish ... but Greek? It almost seemed like showing off, except that she did it so effortlessly. Scat, too, of course -- and although that is not a language, I can tell you that it most definitely conveys meaning when Ariana speaks it. There were times when she seemed to be playing the microphone as if it were an instrument, trading licks with the instrumentalists as if she were one of them.
Does it sound like we had a good time? We did! Here's hoping for lots more chances to share the joy of her music with Ariana Hall.
-Steve Donachie,
February, 2001