McCURDY DOES GERSHWIN PROUD

12-07-2007

IT'S THE PHRASING and jubilant tempo-shifting that allowed the Ron McCurdy Quartet's performance of "The Love Songs of Gershwin" to be more than just a Gershwin symposium. McCurdy, who presented a sterling performance of "The Langston Hughes Project (Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz)" at the Columbia Museum of Art in April, returned Nov. 29 for the Gershwin premiere. "Our Love is Here to Stay" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me," two Gershwin standards, were given hard-bopping, riverboat rumbles. The quartet took the theatrical sheen off the love songs, rendering them as contemporary, though with a city-as-spirit feel.

McCurdy, who sang, recited and played trumpet in his April show, left the singing to Rachel Lauren this time. She channels soul ghosts like, say, Amy Winehouse, which is to say, her vocal flurries come from her gut. Her version of "Summertime" was graceful. Especially entertaining was "My Man is Gone," which began at a chompy, piano-driven pace before sliding after a few bars into something less muscular. The pace then increased, only to yield to another harmonic, full-band slide. The frequent tempo-shifting kept the music giddy.

McCurdy's bandmates, Tim Archer (bass), Brian Carmody (drums) and Hiroe Sekine (piano), were poised for the sweetly jostled arrangements. The Gershwin show, while extremely pleasant, was merely a solid performance compared to "The Langston Hughes Project," which was majestic performance art, something one would expect to see at Spoleto in Charleston.

The museum's crowd was older (it was good there was an attentive audience at all), but the lack of youth was disheartening. The MP3 generation shouldn't forget the greats -- and those who interpret and expand on great creations. "Everyone loves Gershwin, don't they," McCurdy rhetorically asked the audience. When presented like this, what's not to love?