Review: Nicolas King Champions Mike Renzi in a Knockout Debut at 54 Below
Nicolas King entered the ring last night, April 28, with a new show titled "NICOLAS KING: Celebrating the Memory & Iconic Arrangements of Mike Renzi
I’m so excited to write about this.
Nicolas King entered the ring last night with a new show titled "NICOLAS KING: Celebrating the Memory & Iconic Arrangements of Mike Renzi.” At only 128 pounds, he left the ring as a Champion Heavyweight, conquering a diabolical musical selection of material left to him by the legendary Musical Director, Mr. Renzi. They were friends, collaborators and kindred souls and then Mike left this earth on September 29, 2021, leaving Nicolas to grieve and re-visit their rich artistic lives together.
Luckily, for us, Nicolas had a lengthy conversation one night with his friend Richard Jay-Alexander, who illuminated to the young singer/actor, that not unlike authors where you hear, “Write what you know about,” Mr. King sang for us “What he knows about.”
It was a delicious, loving, skillful unraveling of a program the audience had never seen the likes of. You could hear a pin drop in the sold-out room.
Nicolas King is a world-class vocalist, phraser, interpreter and scat abled performer. He was 100% present as he shared with us how certain arrangements were born and how he and Renzi started out when Nicolas was only 17.
Also, fortunately, for us, last night’s show was recorded for future release. The room was loaded with well-known fellow artists, family and friends, and you could see how moved Nicolas was. This was clearly an historic night at 54 Below. But, back to the stage.
Tackling the difficult assignment of honoring the memory of Mike Renzi, was Tedd Firth as Musical Director and on the piano, Mike’s creations and, in some cases, the specifics of playing what Mike did were executed with aplomb. Tricky and brilliant at the same time. Also, the skills of Alan Bernstein on Bass and Mark McLean on Drums right in sync with Nicolas.
The star of the evening also invited onto the stage his friend Gabrielle Stravelli, a gifted singer who dueted with him on a song titled “I Wish I’d Met You” written by Johnny Mandel, Richard Rodney Bennett and Franklin Underwood, in an arrangement that Renzi originally created for Ms. Lena Horne and Sammy Davis, Jr. It was simply a stunning moment in an evening of many.
The standing ovations were earned honestly and I could go on and on, but I now need to share with you some history of my own.
Let me tell you a little bit about why Eda & I were particularly moved by his show. Years ago, I was walking down a NYC street, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Mike Renzi who pointed his finger at me and blurted out in his intimidating but affectionate Robert Di Niro type voice…“That was some “F_____Review!”
He was referencing the night Eda and I had gone to see a cabaret singer a few weeks prior where Mike was at the keyboard. Being a “minor league" pianist, I immediately zeroed in on his precise, powerful, but delicate, piano technique. His imaginative harmonic/melodic and rhythmic support of the vocalist was nothing less than genius. My subsequent article concentrated mostly on “his" artistry, and that expletive was Mike’s way of saying thank you for the “shout out”. Quite frankly, I would have thought someone of his musical elegance would express himself more eloquently, but Mike Renzi had little tolerance for anything insincere in music or words. In fact, his email address was “NOBADCHORDS@gmail.com.” My keyboard curiosity being aroused, I reached out to Tedd Firth and asked him “What it was like to breathe life into the charts of Mike Renzi?” which I was imagining must have been sparse and left many areas for improvisation. His response was… ”Nicolas made it clear that he didn’t want me to constantly be trying to sound like Mike on these dates, but, rather, find some moments in the songs where I can pay homage to Mike’s accompaniment style and how he approached these various arrangements. It’s been really fun for me to take an even deeper look at the work of someone who’s been a role model for me as an accompanist for a very long time and to do it with a singer as gifted as Nicolas who had such a close relationship with Mike.”
In my opinion, if the maestro was looking down and listening last night he would be the first to report…”Tonight, there were NOBADCHORDS.”
Learn more about the artist on his website at officialnicolasking.com
Find more upcoming shows at 54 Below on their website here.
Gabrielle Stravelli & Nicolas King
Gabrielle Stravelli & Nicolas King
Gabrielle Stravelli & Nicolas King
Livestream
Mike Renzi Chart
Richard Jay-Alexander & Nicolas King
Steven Reineke, Richard Jay-Alexander, Eric Gabbard
Eda Sorokoff, Nicolas King, Stephen Sorokoff
Richard Jay-Alexander, Billy Stritch, Nicolas King, Gabarelle Stravelli, Lee Roy Reams
Billy Stritch, Nicolas King, Gabrielle Stravelli
Richard Jay Alexander & Donna McKechnie
Donna McKechnie & Eda Sorokoff
Lorna Dallas-Brown & Lee Roy Reams
Mardie Millit
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