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NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Review of Josephine Baker – A Life of Le Jazz Hot!,
performed at the Apollo Theatre
June 7, 2007
By Herb Boyd
ANOTHER "DANCING WITH THE STARS"
Dance and music, as anthropologists often declare, are inseparable.
They are so tightly related in some cultures that one does not fully exist without the other. Two events last weekend in Harlem lend credence to this maxim: the Imani Winds' tribute to Josephine Baker at the Apollo, and Olu Dara and Dianne McIntyre's collaboration, "Pieces of Pieces," at the Schomburg Center.
Not only did the two events have music and dance in common, they both had their own special patter that enhanced the performances.
The Imani Winds – Valerie Coleman (flute, piccolo), Toyin Spellman-Diaz (oboe), Mariam Adam (clarinets), Monica Ellis (bassoon and soprano saxophone), Jeff Scott (French horn) and Joseph Tompkins (drums) – is an ebullient ensemble, and their giddiness among themselves and between the period pieces spilled over into the often-peppy polyphony of their music.
Josephine Baker, who died in 1975 at 69, is best remembered as a flamboyant dancer and chanteuse who was the rave of Paris in the '20s. Dancer Rachael Ashley is a shorter, but no less nimble and limber, Baker as she expressively offered bouncy versions of the Charleston and the Black-bottom. Ashley would veer even closer to a replica of Baker when she spun across the stage with her hips enticingly arrayed in nothing but bananas.
Vocalist Rene Marie was equally adept in her portrait of Baker, and perhaps most effective when she sang in French. Her mambo number was especially delightful, and when it was later reprieved with her leading the ensemble, as only Baker could do, it must have been a joyful memory for Jean-Claude Baker and Jarry Baker, two of Baker's adopted children who were in attendance.
When Monica Ellis was given an extended solo, she evoked Sidney Bechet, the great soprano saxophonist, who often shared the limelight with Baker during his long tenure in Paris.
Right down to the very poignant closing number, "J'ai Deux Amours," Baker's theme song, the great entertainer was present. It might have been a nice finishing touch, though, to have had Rene Marie sing along with the ensemble, at least for a measure or two.
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