Featured artist: SOPHIE MILMAN
For the
first half of Sophie Milman’s concert at The Spectrum (Montreal),
I was seated in the back. But even from there, I couldn’t
help but notice the singer’s remarkable stage poise, the
kind you usually see in performers who have been in the limelight
since they were kids (Michael Jackson comes to mind). For the
second set, now seated in the second row, I could see that the
singer was very young (she’s only 23), and that her poise
comes from being able to handle with great ease and enjoyment
complex music that has already been handled by the best. If for
some performers, the stage is a wide open, scary space that would
be off limits if it weren’t for a ready supply of serenity
for sale, for Sophie, it’s her first home and refuge from
worlds where making it big and taking it home are all that matters.
Born
in Russia, bred in Israel and now residing in Toronto, Sophie
Milman is no stranger to dislocation and starting over again,
and meets the “are you experienced” criterion with
grace notes to spare. All of this and more comes through in her
love affair with song, served by a rich, soulful voice that is
as suitable for the soul genre as the standards she loves. People
are already asking, how good is this 23-year-old going on 30?
For the 2005 edition of the Juno awards, she was nudged out by
none other than Diana Krall for best female jazz vocalist, which
means, paraphrasing The Duke, “she’s already got it
good and that ain’t bad.”
Given
her international background, it's no surprise that Sophie sings
in several languages, including Russian, Portuguese and French.
In fact an evening with Sophie is a tour of world culture, guided
by a voice that rises to the occasion of husky and voluptuous
for songs such as “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” and
“My Baby Just Cares for Me,” and twilight smokey for
“La Vie en Rose.”
For the
most part, her repertoire is astutely chosen; in her wisdom she
stays away from the tough ballads. Interpretively, she manages
to find new ways of saying what has already been said -- and said
well. Sophie is fond of the lush, big band sound and succeeds
in bringing it out even in the context of a quartet. Her astonishingly
original, rhythmically arresting counterpoint rendering of the
Leon Russell classic “This Masquerade” is simply the
best I’ve ever heard.
Most
critics will tell you that the jazz voice doesn’t begin
to come into its own until the age of 40, when enough hurts and
damage have been accumulated so the singer’s entire repertoire
is steeped in it. Which means between now and then, we’ll
be waiting for a voice that is powerful enough to make the Urals
crumble, to make rain patter and leaves flutter, and for her many
influences to evolve into self-confluences so Sophie’s choices
will become Sophie’s songs and listeners’ first choices.
That said, at 23, this unmistakeable talent is already way ahead
of the game, on the uptempo of a learning curve that I’ll
be following with great interest.
