All Photos by Billy Bennight for The Los Angeles Beat
The doors opened at 7 p.m. and by the time Deborah Silver took the stage at 8:30 p.m., The Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood was completely full, with every table filled with expectant faces. With a full band to back her, she opened with “I Can’t Give Anything But Love” from her “#1 Billboard Traditional Jazz” hit album “The Gold Standards” that hovered in the top ten for 3 consecutive weeks running. The band was tight and full as Deborah delivered an accomplished set with power and ease. The audience was transfixed and responded to every song with revelrous applause for this showcase and celebration of Jazz classics and a great voice.
Deborah deviated a bit from her versions of Jazz standards when she covered Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” and Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” near mid-set. It was a tribute to her Mississippi roots and some really great songs. She followed those with a story of her parents’ musical influences. Deborah’s dad was more of a Blues and Dixie guy, where her mother was a trained Opera singer. Deborah offered a special piece of music that utilized both, using folk overtones and opera to great effect. Deborah put it this way, “It has special material that I wrote in connection with an old blues tune. It’s not really the entire song since I wrote some of the material to go with it.” It was this mid-point outing that gave everyone in the room an idea of Deborah’s chops as she swung between some pretty diverse styles of singing. Then Deborah took a moment to introduce some very special friends that occupied the center table of The Catalina Jazz Club with Glen Campbell’s wife, Kim Campbell, Mary Wilson and Jane Seymour.
Deborah returned to the Gold Standards with “Never On A Sunday.” She soon introduced Alan Broadbent and the boys in the band. She then joined Alan on the piano where both gleefully pounded on the keys for “I Love a Piano,” adding a surprising dynamic to the show that for some reason brought to mind Reg Wilson’s “88 Keys and a Girl.” As the evening concluded, Deborah closed with “I Will Wait For You” to a grand round of applause from every corner of the Catalina.
It was a fine show of stellar performances of Jazz Gold Standards. As the evening closed, folks mingled and gathered around Deborah for photos and chats with the star, while cupcakes were served in her honor. Mary Wilson had a chat about the cupcakes and Jane Seymour had a moment or two to shoot a few single shots as the evening wound down. It was a vibrant showcase of Deborah Silver’s amazing talent!
