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Performance Review |
Jimmy Webb | |
| Pizza on the Park, London - October 1999 | ||
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Having previously appeared at the now defunct Green Room at The Cafe Royal, Jimmy Webb moved to The Music Room at The Pizza On The Park for a week of shows. At first it might seem that the cabaret venues of the world are not the most natural places to find prolific songwriter Jimmy Webb. This would be an inaccurate assumption. Right from the start, Webb creates an easygoing and intimate rapport with his audience. Accompanying himself on the piano, the evening was perhaps unsurprisingly filled with Webb’s self-penned songs. But what songs they were! ‘Galveston’, sung here as a wistful, painful remembrance was followed by the light-hearted ‘Up Up and Away’, Webb pointing out that he had ambitiously attempted to sing solo something that had originally been sung by five! There is always something fascinating about hearing a songwriter sing their own material, it is often the only way of getting to the true intention of the song. Webb provided plenty of anecdotes about things that had been done to some of his songs, in one particularly memorable instance a song had been recorded by a major recording artist but changed to such a degree that on first listening to the album Jimmy wasn’t even aware that it was included! The material included was well-chosen from the vast catalogue of Webb songs available. Old and new compositions were mixed together with interesting effect. Webb brings an honest and touching edge to many of the numbers, that is further enhanced by a certain vulnerability in the delivery. Of particular note were truly lovely renditions of ‘No Signs of Age’, ‘Crying in My Sleep’ and a new song ‘Right as Rain’ Every songwriter has ‘that’ song which is forever associated with them. Amanda McBroom has ‘The Rose’, Tom Andersen ‘Yard Sale’ and Jimmy Webb has ‘MacArthur Park’, here delivered with a real sense of drama which was heightened by an extremely risky (and technically superb) piano accompaniment. The evening ended with a truly beautiful song ‘Time Flies’. Already recorded by Rosemary Clooney it could in anyone’s estimation be considered a cabaret standard. Here it was sung so movingly that it was not surprising to see people going misty eyed out into the night to make their way home. For many, Jimmy Webb performing in an intimate cabaret room would have been something of a revelation, it was certainly one worth making the effort to discover.
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