It’s easy to get excited about some certain events. Chick Singer Night at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Massachusetts last Saturday evening was a successful concert, wowing the audience with some of Boston’s most winsome singers. Not only did each lady vocalist have the kind of impressive pipes that make you sit up and take notice, each did so in her own unique style, offering the crowd as much variety as quality.
First up was Boston’s popular young singer-songwriter Danielle Miraglia. Miraglia opened with her original “You Make Everything Better,” supported by a simple acoustic guitar line with her voice above alternating from sweet to husky. Miraglia handled herself confidently and gracefully while the sound man made some adjustments during her first number. She found her stride in her second number “Mean Mean Woman.” Her voice sounded out like a perfectly played instrument. Listening to her ride the range of her high husky alto to its most fibrous point was a treat, as she sang every word with unusual power and smoothness.
Miraglia’s gentle slide notes created a forlorn melancholy feeling for her number “Home.” She sang over it with sincere consideration, switching gears to up-tempo assertions. Giving just enough emphasis kept the song’s feeling alive in the vocals. Next, Miraglia called up the Chick Singer Night band to deliver a sultry rendition of her song “Choir,” her beautiful belt making the song reach emotional heights.
Berklee College Of Music professor Nichelle Mungo cane up to show all that she has to offer, and she offers a lot. On “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” recorded originally by Bonnie Raitt, her voice was pretty, pure, smooth, drawing serious attention to herself as she made all of her exceptional vocal notes reach up to the stratosphere. Mungo lead the band into a soulful version of “Summertime.” Her bursts of high notes may have redefined the standard for soul singers. Mungo also went into a call and response with the CSN band saxophone player, Jason Macres, trading off on her melody line. Voice and sax played a sweet dance of challenging phrases and dynamics.
CSN co-director Marcia Macres came out to deliver her own rocking renditions of crowd favorites. She sang Krista Marie’s country rock number “Tomboy” with a smooth flowing energy. The band rocked it with bombastic flair while Macres sang over their fire with exuberance and eloquence. Macres’s breathy delivery of Rene Marie’s “Black Lace Freudian Slip” played out with a slinky swaggering appeal. A sly sax line insinuated the drama as much as Macres teased it out with an easeful vocal whisper. Macres turned on a dime with the song’s sudden jump into an urgency of purpose. Bass player Justin Kolack kept a fulsome and necessary low end beneath Macres. Macres finished her set singing a soulful version of Whitney Houston’s “I’m Your Baby Tonight.”
The other CSN co-director, Jennifer Truesdale, rocked the crowd with her own “Take A Trip Inside My Mind,” bringing everybody along on her smooth transitions from verse to verse. Keeping it tuneful and wildly up-tempo, Truesdale gave a taste of what true musicality is all about. Her voice easefully reached over the multi-colored range of instrumentation and tone. Truesdale delivered Adele’s “One And Only” with a svelte phrasing that made one take note of how well she targets her timbre and range and stays there with strength and stamina. Truesdale closed out her set with Stephen Stills’ classic rock era “Love The One You’re With.” The CSN band had Andrew Beckman’s organ swirls stirring pleasant memories of that one while Truesdale finessed the heck out of its verses, handling the song’s sudden ending with fantastic control.
Vikki Vox, who was the original co-director of CSN with Truesdale, played what was likely her final set with her Vikki Vox Band. Drummer Greg Alison recently moved to Canada, and it’s not on Vox’s agenda to find another drummer when she’s knee deep teaching at The Real School Of Music. As it was their last time together, Vox and her band mates made it a strong set, giving it their all. Vox displayed her punchy rhythmic belt on Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round In Circles.” She fit the song like a glove, while keyboardist Dave Osoff soloed with powerful organ bursts and bassist Justin Kolach kept that funky groove going strong.
Vox carried through choruses with tricky vocal gymnastics, gliding over fulsome grooves. She also belted through a few while making them colorful in their wild abandon. Vox closed out her set with Sly And The Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again).” She lead the band through all of their colorful funk injections, especially bass man Justin Kolack who kept everyone afloat with his muscular funk.
Michelle Willson, the Bullseye- Rounder label blues mama who returned to the scene this past year, came out to strut her stuff with some classy standards. Willson’s edgy vocal caressed the vocal melody on Abby Lincoln’s “The Music Is The Magic.” With beautiful phrasing and tasteful finesse, Willson showed in her carefully measured assertions that she truly has pipes. Her power was on full display crooning about the “raging storm.” She sang Ray Charles’s “Hallelujah, I Love Him So” with an upbeat persistence as she made her vocal swing and sway over the old time musical swells. Saxophonist Ririka Tokushige, a chick sax player, breathed additional life into the Charles tune with her colorful phrasing. Willson used a Leonard Feather tune to showcase what she can do with a slow boil blues number. Her vocal percolated over blues organ swirls and weepy brittle guitar notes that perfectly augmented what was going on in her story song. Guitarist Joe Musella played some fancy lines as Willson hammered her song home with vivid colorful life. She finessed an Effie Smith classic, entertaining with the song’s merry lyrics before closing out with the Ray Charles classic “Hit The Road, Jack.”
Porch Party Mamas came out last to play their inspiring roots music on fiddle, accordion, acoustic guitars, recorder, electric bass and a minimalist drum set. A music fan has to see this five piece lady outfit to believe all of the sounds they come up with using traditional instruments. Their five part vocal harmony wrapped warmly around the soft to edgy notes coming from fiddle and accordion. Accordion notes swirled beautifully around the sonic landscape created by the fiddle while their percussionist moved it along with personal aplomb.
In other moments, forlorn recorder notes and lilting vocal notes made one feel the magic in their song. Lush vocals were offered through out their set and the percussionist drummed out a rhythmic pattern that couldn’t be beat. When these ladies locked into a groove, there was no stopping them. They brought each of their roots numbers to three dimensional life with their inventive uses of their traditional instruments. They closed out their set with a speedy reel. A racing fiddle phrase lead the band through their mesh of natural sounds, milking each rustic note for what it was worth.
All of the chick singers came up on stage to close out with Aretha Franklin’s timeless empowerment theme, “Respect.” It was a triumphant roar of voices during this grand finale and chick sax player Ririka Tokushige knocked it out of the ball park a second time last Saturday night with her huge phrasing.
Berklee College Of Music student Frances Possieri warmed up the crowd pre-show with her pretty, practiced vocalizing and charming ukulele skills.
Chick Singer Night has grown by leaps and bounds in the ten years the Boston chapter has been around. New England music fans have caught on that women are the new primal force in music these days, and Chick Singer Night showed, with their selected artists and fine presentation, that they have their finger on the pulse of this exciting new trend.
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