JAZZ REVIEW : Paula Kelly: Dancing Her Way Through a Vocal Performance

Paula Kelly is spectacular--visually, aurally, any which way you choose. This willowy, striking woman, now appearing every Thursday at the Gardenia in Hollywood, has all the requirements for a perfect vocal performance.

Walking in singing from the back of the room, she opened with “Moody’s Mood for Love,” the lyricized sax solo by James Moody that has become, as she explained, a sort of jazz national anthem.

Once best known as a dancer, Kelly makes her sinuous movements an integral part of her charm. And her material consists almost entirely of the unexpected--an old Nat Cole song called “Meet Me at No Special Place (And I’ll Be There at No Particular Time),” and a version of “Take the A Train” borrowed from a Betty Roche vocal on an old Duke Ellington record.

Her ballads are exquisite. Seated atop the piano, with Gerald Wiggins offering splendid accompaniment, she sang “La Vie en Rose” in flawless French, then segued to a poignant reading of “Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe.”

An unlikely choice was “Chocolate Shake,” from the Ellington show “Jump for Joy,” for which she simply danced her way through the second chorus. Jerry Fielding’s “Birming-Alabama-Ham” was another surprise. Kelly then brought on pianist George Gaffney to back her in a song he taught her, Jimmy Rowles’ nostalgic “Looking Back.” Rowles himself then came on to sing a number, proving only that nobody could follow Paula Kelly.