Aretha And Me - Review

The Pheasantry, London

*****

Patti Boulaye

Patti Boulaye’s cabaret Aretha And Me, is as much a glimpse into Boulaye’s own life story as it is a tribute to one of soul music’s most astounding singers. Offering us glimpses into a childhood that saw her bear witness to the horrors of the Biafran War , through to her teenage arrival into London and a whirlwind entry into musical theatre and then a recording career, Boulaye’s journey is a testament to both faith and talent. Her faith is important to her, but so too is the bedrock of her conservative family values and the respect and love that she shows, not just for her familial roots but in her manifest pride in her husband, children and grandchildren, runs through her cabaret patter like a stick of rock.

Notwithstanding Boulaye’s personal strengths, the evening is of course about classic songs, sung to perfection and if Aretha Franklin was the Queen Of Soul then Patti Boulaye is her heir apparent. She takes some of Franklin’s most memorable musical highlights – and one or two lesser know gems including a spine-tingling Nessun Dorma – and delivers them with a consistent level of flair and genius, that it is impossible to fault her singing. Boulaye gets the evening going with some crackers including Think, I Say A Little Prayer and Son Of A Preacher Man and with a mixture of pre-recorded backing tracks and live piano accompaniment, Alan Rogers her musical director, provides impressive support.

But it is in her soul interpretations that Boulaye holds us all in the palm of her hand. Her take on Amazing Grace and Etta James’ signature recording At Last (of course covered by Aretha) leave one moved way beyond expectation – while her second act opener of the Habanera from Carmen Jones is quite simply a delight.

Boulaye is taking her show on the road throughout the autumn – Go see her, you will not find a finer voice touring the land!

For tickets for the tour click here

Billie and Me: Patti Boulaye Live at Zedel - Review

Live at Zedel, London,

****

Patti Boulaye

It's nigh on forty years since this reviewer first clapped eyes on Patti Boulaye. Her braided hair in tight plaits, Boulaye lit up our TV screens on a Saturday evening, becoming the only competitor in six series of the New Faces talent show to get a maximum 120 from the four judges (but Les Dennis got 119!).

Heaven knows what she sang, but you simply couldn't take your eyes off her and yet she had stumbled into show business almost by accident. Arriving in London from Nigeria at 16, Boulaye thought she was standing in a queue for tickets for Madame Tussaud's, only to discover it was the line for auditions for Hair that was then playing in the West End. Having waited so long, she figured she might just as well have a go, and thus landed her first part.

New Faces later gave her national exposure but although she got some good work – including the lead in Carmen Jones at the Old Vic in the early 1990s - Boulaye never really made the big time that someone with her stunning talent and fabulous voice deserved.

She reminded us of her vocal scope when she launched into Dat's Love from Carmen Jones and although she dealt movingly with the big Holiday numbers (the notorious Strange Fruit, made more notorious for being banned by some radio stations!) God Bless The Child and Lover Man, there was a lot more than Billie in Boulaye's joyous hour and half.

Her own composition In My Memory, a love song to her family, was simple and gorgeous while the raunchy songs of those blues greats, Bessie Smith and Alberta Hunter, with their rude double entendres, The Kitchen Man with his impressive "sausage meat" and Rough and Ready Man had her audience in stitches. They certainly don't write ‘em like that any more, nor the Etta James classic At Last, beautifully achieved by the dazzlingly dressed Boulaye - shimmering black for the first half changing to starry silver for the later numbers.

Boulaye even gave My Way a new depth, justifying its inclusion because Sinatra had always said how much of an influence Billie Holiday had been on him. Mike Moran's musical direction was impeccable.

Reviewed by Jeremy Chapman