Rene Marie
JZBrat July 26, 2005
Rene Marie—vocals
Takana Miyamoto—piano
Kenji Shimada--bass
Tommy Campbell--drums
Many singers' vanity leads them to come onstage after their backing band has warmed up for a couple numbers; but Rene Marie is just the opposite. She comes out alone to connect with the audience—and connect she does. Walking out and picking up the microphone, her charisma immediately took over the club, and when she began "Smile," a capella, the evening's engaging, lovely drama had begun.
The second number, "Waltz For Debby" was heartbreaking. Rene (she feels so close, it's impossible just to call her anything else) knows how to deliver lines with feeling and enunciation. You hear the notes, but also the meaning, all together as a whole. That ability to blend sound with meaning with feeling is what makes Rene Marie's singing so special. Her emotion is deeply entwined with the words, unlike so many singers who deliver standards as if they are just filling in the blanks.
Of course, it helps that she has tremendous support from her long-time collaborator and pianist Takana Miyamoto. Miyamoto is one of those pianists who always look at the rest of the band—not for support, but for chances to interact all the more tightly. Her telepathic communication with Rene was already set, but she also connected to Shimada and Campbell right away. Campbell is the kind of the drummer who fits easily with any group, but he has an uncanny knack for backing singers. His melodic sense of drumming keeps the flow without getting in the way of the vocal lines.
On bass, Shimada had a great time. His funky bass line on "I Only Have Eyes for You," meshed with Rene's vocals to turn the often-too-sweet classic into a burning, sexy statement of passion. His tough, bluesy bass on the Beatles' classic "Blackbird" also nicely counterpoised Rene's husky voice. In Rene's arrangements, these two songs sounded fresh and reclaimed. "Blackbird" stripped away the harmonies (Miyamoto sat out) and left a sad, sinewy blues that really ached.
A duet with singer Michiko Suzuki, who helped bring Rene over to Japan, was dynamite. They both dug down into their own style of phrasing and offered up great takes on "God Bless the Child." The band was completely into soloing by that point and the spotlight flowed naturally around to everyone.
For an encore, though, Rene and Miyamoto did something even more special. Just the two of them played a lovely, Japanese-inflected piece Miyamoto wrote when she was just in high school. Rene, unbelievably, sang it in flawless Japanese. The beautiful tune was a fitting finale to a captivating evening. The fans lined up during the break to ask for her signature on their CDs and to say a few words with a singer that they, along with this reviewer, clearly loved.