Sandra Locklear is one of those musicians who defiantly eludes classification.
With a technical proficiency honed since she took her first piano lesson at age 7, the Seattle-area singer-pianist glides with ease between musical genres, including jazz, blues, folk and rock.
On the evening of Sunday, Oct. 23, Locklear demonstrated her finesse as she finished a two-night tribute show at Thumpers restaurant and bar on Capitol Hill highlighting the music of Nina Simone, an African-American singer-pianist known as the High Priestess of Soul.
Like Locklear, Simone began playing piano as a young child and refused to be limited to one musical category. So it should have come as no surprise when Locklear announced to the small but enthralled audience in Thumpers' elegant, oak-trimmed cabaret setting on Sunday that she chose to do the tribute because Simone was a role model for Locklear.
Just for the tribute show, the charismatic Locklear, who also performs every Friday night at Thumpers, was joined by Portland bass player Ken Anoe. While the pair does not regularly play together, they had an effortless synergy that bolstered Locklear's interpretations of Simone's work.
To prevent the audience from getting bored, Locklear varied her music selections from ballads to work songs and from playfully feisty to intensely passionate. Which often required Locklear to abruptly shift gears emotionally and stylistically as she moved from one song to another, a task she accomplished admirably.
With a rich alto voice and subtly jazzy shadings refined over many years of playing venues in Europe, Canada, the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, Locklear did more than justice to Simone's legacy. Locklear's best, however, was unleashed by the ballads, stunning emotion pouring through her voice.
"Strange Fruit," the legendary ballad by Lewis Allen and Sonny White, is a haunting lament of the aftermath of a lynching of African-Americans. The song was first recorded by Billie Holiday and later by other prominent African-American singers, including Nina Simone. In Locklear's rendition, sorrow wells up out of the very earth and righteous fury is evident in the harsh delivery of words like "drop" or "suck."
"House of the Rising Sun," which originated from a folk song about the ruination of a young woman, was breathtaking. Although the rock group The Animals recorded the tune in the '60s from a man's viewpoint, Locklear returned to Nina Simone's version, honoring the original perspective, that of the young woman. The regret Locklear expresses in "House of the Rising Sun" isn't the least bit resigned or so lyrical it loses its punch. Locklear's sadness was a sage wail of warning that sharpened around the edges into anger and disappointment, punctuated by the heartbeat of Anoe's bass as it marks the passage of a wasted life.
On some songs, Locklear ran up against the hazard of trying to be both a singer and a pianist at the same time. During "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl," a jazzy original composition of Simone's, the use of strike piano split Locklear's focus, so the sexual intimations of the song weren't at the full throttle they chould have been. The lyrics may substitute the euphemism "sugar in my bowl" for sex, but the song makes no bones about being a bold, almost desperate seduction. Under Anoe's agile fingers, his bass sang as fluidly as a vocalist.
Locklear's "The Look of Love," written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, was a thing of spine-shivering beauty, where technique served as the handmaiden to emotion, with one brief exception.
Ending her show on a personal note, Locklear performed one of her original compositions. "Dark Eyes" slides along the borders of jazz, blues, Latin and rock-ballad territories but never chooses a country. This effective fusion and Locklear's lyrics suggest an irresistible eroticism and illicit trysts. When Locklear sings "your dark eyes melt my soul and take me to a place that's deep and warm," her voice turns up the heat, sweeping you uncontrollably away to that very place.
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Singer-pianist Sandra Locklear performs jazz standards, blues and Latin tunes at Thumpers, 1500 E. Madison St., every Friday night from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thumpers also offers a variety of cabaret performances. Information: 328-3800.
Freelance writer Maggie Larrick lives in the Seattle area. She can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com.
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