Presented by So What Media
@ The Promethean
FRIDAY 9 March (until March 17)
On entering the intimate, atmospherically lit confines of The Promethean for a tribute to blues, jazz, rock, experimental and all-round song-writing legend Tom Waits, one had to wonder just what to expect.
When covering the work of such a monumental and imposing figure, there’s always the risk that someone, somewhere will find your attempt somehow lacking. He’s been around too long, swum in too many musical styles, taken on too many personalities and told too many different stories through songs, spoken word poems, tall tales and industrial instrumentation to be definitively summed up.
The best tribute shows for anyone of Waits’ calibre must try to approach the spirit and emotional resonance of their material while avoiding pure imitation. Covering artists should inhabit chosen songs while still bringing something of themselves to the performance. With New Coat Of Paint, singer Alison Coppe and pianist Aaron Nash have produced a show that offers style, enthusiasm and sex appeal without ever delivering the kind of knock-out visceral or emotional punch that Waits himself managed to pull off so frequently.
Opening with a suitably loose, jazzy introduction by Nash, this five piece group launched into the night’s namesake song. It was clear from the start that musicianship wasn’t going to be a problem: the playing was smooth, precise and confidant. It strode (rather than swaggered) out from the stage while Coppe worked her central position with a sultry, self-aware and, at times, charmingly awkward performance. Both she and her vocal abilities, too, are undeniably beautiful. However, moving on through Down in the Hole, a more guttural number prominently featured as theme song for The Wire and then Jockey Full Of Bourbon, another tune from Waits’ 80s period, it began to seem as though perhaps there wasn’t enough range in either vocals or performance to provide the full experience of these songs.
It wasn’t a matter of female vocals being unable to accomplish the bourbon soaked, smoked-meat sound of the originals, as many women (including the wonderful Madeleine Peyroux) have given excellent renditions of Waits classics. Rather, it was the development of a meaningful connection with these songs that didn’t always make the mark.
As the night continued, it seemed the best performed tunes were those somewhat tongue in cheek numbers that better suited Coppe’s bouncy manner and sometimes rambling banter. Jazzy numbers like Nighthawks at the Diner became even more so – if that’s possible – at the hands of her and Nash, who also work on a project called The Jazz-Hop Experiment doing jazz covers of hip-hop songs. The value of this was evident on Step Right Up, which already possesses a rap-like vibe along with lashings of humour and suited Coppe’s stage presence well. A wonderfully done rendition of the Waits/Streisand duet I Never Talk To Strangers featured drummer David Mazzarelli on the male lines and, again, worked perfectly with the playful feel of this performance.
It was the renditions of more rough-and-tumble bar room stomps, along with the heart-rending melancholy of Waits’ many late-night ballads that, for me, let the show down somewhat. There was a certain lack of rhythm and by-the-numbers element to some of the former, with Coppe and the band failing to fully let-loose. Meanwhile, on standard Waits “bawlers” like Drunk on the Moon and Martha, it seemed as though Coppe did not fully inhabit the songs: did not tap in to the raw, desperately personal emotion at their heart. Combined with sometimes forced-sounding banter and song introductions, it seemed too much like we were being told someone else’s well-known stories, rather than hearing them anew.
Nevertheless, as I said before, this is one undeniably talented group, both musically and vocally. The packed room of obvious Tom Waits fans certainly left happy and there was much to like in this performance. It’s just that at times, all you want is a little bit of dirt.
