Sultry but Slow

Two-time Grammy winner Cassandra Wilson performed in Hong Kong

This April 7 marks the 100th anniversary of Billie Holiday's birth and jazz singer Cassandra Wilson has a new album marking the vocal legend's birthday called Coming Forth by Day: A Tribute to Billie Holiday.

And at the suggestion of YTSL we went to see Wilson perform tonight at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall as part of the 43rd Hong Kong International Arts Festival.

"I've been in love with Billie Holiday's voice since the moment I heard it, and she has inspired me throughout my career," Wilson said in the program notes.

The first of the two-night concert was already sold out so we settled for the second one, that was almost full. Unlike the other night with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Wilson's band took up centre stage, with a piano and keyboard, drums, guitar, bass, woodwinds, and electric violin.

The all-male band warmed up the crowd until Wilson made her appearance in a black sequin sleeveless gown with a slit down the side, and pointy heels. She started off by singing The Way You Look Tonight, Don't Explain and What A Little Moonlight Can Do, before taking off her shoes and going barefoot the rest of the evening.

Her latest album pays tribute to Billie Holiday

Her voice is so sultry, and if it had to have a food reference it would be buttery smooth with the sweetness of caramel. However her pacing was very slow, as YTSL remarked, as if Wilson were performing in an intimate nightclub setting.

But we were in a formal concert hall with a few thousand people and surely she could regulate the pacing of the show to be a bit fast here, a bit slow there, eventually building to a strong finish.

Instead we were stuck on the slow song side. During You Go To My Head, Wilson walked off stage and says to the band she'll be back later... and we're left with the band trying to entertain us when we've come to see her. Some people in the audience even get up to leave, which seemed strange, but perhaps they had other things to do than watch the 59-year-old Wilson give her interpretation of Holiday's songs?

Eventually she comes back, and at one point we wonder if she was nursing a hangover, since she mentioned they were hanging out in some hotel last night...

Nevertheless the individual band members were fantastic together and as soloists. There was a lot of kudos for Robby Marshall, the young tall guy who played the saxophone, oboe and flute, as well as for guitarist Kevin Breit. Pianist Jon Cowherd kept everything in check, with his own noodling.

After about 70 minutes, she sang another slow number, The Last Song, followed by Everything A Good Man Needs that seemed to pick up the pace of the concert. But alas, it really was the last song, and she and the musicians left the stage!

Following some energetic clapping, the band finally came back, and after they started playing, Wilson also returned to the stage to sing I'll Be Seeing You -- another slow one.

For some, Wilson's performance seemed muted, and fell short of expectations, but as someone watching her for the first time, I quite enjoyed her sultry singing, though would have appreciated a few more songs to round out the evening.

Cassandra Wilson

Coming Forth By Day: A Celebration of Billie Holiday

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

March 21-22

Songs performed in order:

The Way You Look Tonight

Don't Explain

What A Little Moonlight Can Do

Crazy He Calls Me

You Go To My Head

All of Me

Good Morning Heartache

These Foolish Things

The Last Song

Everything A Good Man Needs

I'll Be Seeing You (encore)

Getting the Dudamel Treatment

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel (centre) getting lots of love from the audience

Over two years ago I went to Los Angeles and visited the Walt Disney Concert Hall, a massive steel structure that looks like massive pages from a musical score. We got to have a peek inside, though the Los Angeles Philharmonic wasn't inside, nor its musical director, Gustavo Dudamel.

The 34-year-old is quite the sensation. He received his musical education through the El Sistema system, where children learn instruments and how to perform together several hours a day -- for free.

It's given Venezuela, that was ruled by Hugo Chavez until his death in 2013, an opportunity to prove the state can do good things for the arts, and Dudamel is that poster boy.

Perhaps that's why he is very humble on stage, thanking practically each and every one of the musicians on stage with him tonight, after they performed Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 6 in A minor at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall as part of the 43rd Hong Kong Arts Festival.

When I found out he was coming to perform here, I tried to order a ticket right away, and was told the cheaper ones were all gone and had to buy the more expensive ones at just over HK$1,000 ($129) a pop! It was a lot to swallow, but I felt this may be my only chance to see the musical wunderkind who once broke one of Leonard Bernstein's batons while conducting the New York Philharmonic back in 2007.

It was practically a full house tonight, as everyone there was as excited as I was to see Dudamel do his musical magic. When we entered the concert hall we were told there would be no intermission -- four movements straight through for an hour and a half.

To be honest I don't know much about Mahler and his music, but this piece was palatable and pleasant to listen to, with periodic punctuations from the various percussion instruments from a gong to xylophone, and even using a wooden mallet to hit a block of wood very loudly -- twice! Some percussionists had to leave the stage to play cowbells in the distance!

There was a very full orchestra on stage, where the double bass sat on the left side of the stage, perhaps to make room for the two harpists and two harpsichordists? We could not tell from our angle what kind of keyboards they are, but they weren't upright pianos.

When Dudamel made his way to the podium, it was even more impressive to see there was no stand for his music, as he had memorized the entire score! He is apparently a Mahler aficionado -- he won the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra's prestigious Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in 2004.

Dudamel also completed his Gustav Mahler Project in 2012 -- conducting all nine symphonies (including the unfinished 10th) by alternating between the LA Phil and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela that he still leads.

While he knew the score off by heart, the LA Phil players were well versed in the music and played very well. By the end of the 90 minutes, many in the audience jumped to their feet to applaud him and the orchestra. Near me were two people holding up the Venezuelan flag and it seemed like he saw it too.

We clapped non stop for several minutes as Dudamel came out several times to bow and get each of the players who performed solo parts to get their recognition. However there was no chance of an encore when the lights went up and Dudamel asked the orchestra members to leave the stage.

Boo.

Nevertheless it was neat to see a young person leading an orchestra with players that were almost twice his age. He was keen for them to get as much of the accolades as him. Very classy.

Gustavo Dudamel & the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall

March 19, 2014

Gustav Mahler Symphony No 6 in A minor

Allegro energico, ma non troppo; Heftig, aber markig

Andante moderato

Scherzo: Wuchtig

Finale: Sostenuto -- Allegro moderato -- Allegro energico