Review: ANAÏS RENO QUARTET: LADY OF THE LAVENDER MIST at Dizzy's

Acclaimed young star Anaïs Reno made her Dizzy’s debut last week. Nearing completion of her college education at Purchase, where she studies jazz voice and operatic technique as an Ella Fitzgerald Scholar, Anaïs brought all that new education and years of experience to her Dizzy’s debut, which doubled as an album-release show for her second studio album, Lady of the Lavender Mist. It was an auspicious start to the next phase of the singer’s career.

Now approaching 22, Anaïs can legally have a drink at a nightclub like Dizzy’s. This writer has known Anaïs since she was 14. She's had a photo of Sinatra as her iPhone screensaver since the age of 8, and had even then an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Strayhorn. (I’ve reviewed several of the shows she performed at Birdland in her late teens.)

For this performance, the fine trio of pianist Dawn Clement, bassist Sameer Shankar, and percussionist Matt Wilson accompanied Anaïs. (Though billed as the "Anaïs Trio Quartet," that includes herself. She is not an instrumentalist.) 

Anaïs arrived to the bandstand appearing radiant and lovely. She wore a copper-colored dress bejeweled with mysterious-looking ornaments, along with pink shoes, all of which complemented her waist-length, chestnut hair. The set opened with “Night and Day” (Cole Porter), including the verse, in a spare arrangement, with vocals on point. The arrangement made use of Wilson’s tom-toms for the verse that references them (“Like the beat, beat, beat of the tom-toms…") The arrangement returned to the verse for a percussion-filled conclusion with tom-toms and bass, and a sizzling ending where Anaïs repeated “You, you, you,” as almost a mantra with just the tom-toms. Interestingly, now that Anaïs is an adult, it’s not quite as jarring to hear her sing lyrics like “’Til you let me spend my life making love to you” as it was when she was a teen.

A fast arrangement of “Gravy Waltz” (Ray Brown/Steve Allen) was delicious, with a tasty bass solo by Shankar that left the crowd hungry for more. This tune appears on the star’s new album.

An inspired (non-jazz) choice was “Moonchild,” a reworked cover of a song by progressive rock band King Crimson from their 1969 album, In the Court of the Crimson King. Anaïs felt inspired to create a male "Sunchild counterpart" to the title character, for which she wrote lyrics reflecting an optimist’s perspective. Her delivery was both ethereal and powerful, and she had full command of this unique material.

On Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady,” Anaïs’s long, legato bends were luscious and perfectly executed, with excellent tone. Shankar, who consistently shined in every solo in the set, was especially good here.

Another highlight was Anaïs’s take on “Les Feuilles Mortes”/“Autumn Leaves” (music by Joseph Kosma, with French lyrics Jacques Prévert and English lyrics by Johnny Mercer). She is fluent in French, and sang the very rarely heard verse in French with just Clement’s piano accompaniment. When Anaïs switched to the English lyrics, she amped up the now-upbeat arrangement with some fine scatting.

This set also unveiled Anaïs’s entirely original song from the new album. “Sad Little Swan” was inspired by the “damsel in distress” trope of the film BLACK SWAN. It began as a slow waltz, with a bit of a Weimar Republic cabaret feel. It morphed into a 4/4 swinger, ending as an “oom-pah” waltz. Anaïs has good songwriting instincts.

The biggest highlight of the night was “The Man that Got Away” (Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin), a song Anaïs avoided for years, and not just because she was too young for the lyrics. A big song for Judy Garland, she felt those were “big shoes to fill,” but now finds it cathartic after avoiding it for so long. She sang it “saloon style,” singing with only the piano. It was, for this writer, the first time she truly connected with the material emotionally in a powerful way.

Another song from the new album is “Kiss and Run” (Jack Ledru/William Engvick). Like “Autumn Leaves,” this number was originally written in French, with a French title), though only the English lyrics were used here. Anaïs had a startlingly brilliant a cappella cold open with no discernible reference note.

Anaïs closed the set with the title track from her new album, “Lady of the Lavender Mist,” a Duke Ellington song for which Anaïs provided lyrics that conjure a phantom-like woman, the story she felt when listening to Ellington’s recording. She made great use of Shankar’s outstanding work on the bass, singing the verse with just bass, and finishing the song in the same fashion.

It is great to see this young lady as an adult of 21. That said, she still has much of the countenance of a younger person. There’s a slightly shy awkwardness about her that’s both endearing and surprising, as she appears quite confident in her formidable skills as a singer and interpreter of music. Still, she does not quite command the stage yet. When she shakes off the remaining strands of her youthful cocoon, and walks on that stage as if she owns the room, watch out.

Learn more about Anaïs Reno at www.anaisreno.com. For more great shows at Dizzy's, visit https://jazz.org/dizzys