LA Jazz Scene Reviews Sylvia Brooks
December 19th, 2009 | By admin
Sylvia Brooks
By Veronica Dawn
Jazz is certainly no stranger to Sylvia Brooks, a fact extraordinary evident throughout the duration of her encore performance at Catalina Bar and Grill. Brooks returned to Catalina stage on July 16, 2008, where she performed songs from The Great American Songbook masterfully arranged by Tom Garvin.
Sylvia Brooks comes from a solid musical background, growing up with her father a popular jazz pianist and her mother a nightclub performer. “Sitting in the crib and hearing that music, it has to do something to you”, says Brooks. It was inevitable that melodies and harmonies would course rapidly through her veins from a very young age. Through Garvin’s innovative arrangements, this music possesses the ability to convey complex emotions while telling a unique and vivid story through the utilization of refreshing and diverse sounds performed by Brooks and her dynamic sextet. (more…)
Sylvia Brooks, directed by Tom Garvin on piano, and backed by Chris Colangello on bass, Kendall Kay on drums, Kim Richmond on sax and flute, and Jamie Havorka on trumpet, performed not so much a concert as dramatic musical monologues of some tasteful 20th Century standards, laced with pop-Latin pieces that may never have been lent such authority before. In the hands of this singer and this group, each song is part of a series of musical vignettes on the theme of the uneven playing field of love. 
