Here’s a post I wrote last year after seeing Capathia Jenkins and Louis Rosen perform at Joe’s Pub.
ON MARCH 26th, 2006 at 7 p.m., the two are doing a benefit performance at The Old Stone House, a Park Slope museum and cultural venue. For reservations: (Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door, e-mail
He’s
in our midst. He looks just like everyone else. Drops his kid off at PS
321 and drinks coffee in the morning; he helps out with PTA activities
and does the Times’ crossword puzzle at the same table every day at
Starbucks.
Bu this man has another identity too. He’s a prodigiously talented
composer and songwriter. His work will make you swoon, laugh, even cry.
Just like I did. Lifted out of the every day, his work delivered me to
the worlds of Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and a white, Jewish guy
from the Southside of Chicago.
His name is Louis Rosen. And Sunday night at Joe’s Pub, Capathia
Jenkens, sang, among other things, a song-cycle he created based on the
sassy eloquence of Maya Angelou’s poetry. Rosen uses a variety of song
styles to bring the poet’s words to life – blues, jazz, musical
theater, classical – with suprising leaps of melody and harmony. His
music brings out the poet’s voice in a way that enhances and
enthralls.
Vocalist Capathia Jenkins is a discovery. Like Rosen, she deserves
to be a star. The songs, which were created expressly for her
multi-timbered voice, give life to Angelou’s women. And Capathia
becomes these characters in an instant – her stance, the way she holds
her microphone or moves her hand. In tiny theatrical ways, she embodies
these phenomenal women and stirs the room with virtuousic blues in a
deep alto-to-high soprano range. Her earthy emotionality belies a
sophisticated vocal control.
What a pair. Louis and Capathia: a handsome, skinny guy from
Chicago’s Southside and a ravishing, voluptuous black woman with a
voice that makes you laugh and cry.
The audience at Joe’s Pub was in their thrall Sunday night. Louis on
the piano singing an autobiographical song about growing up. Capathia
endearing herself to the crowd while taking us on a journey through a
universe of identities.
The room took them in with all the cabaret-attention it could
muster. Waitresses served, people ate from plates of delicious food,
drinks were a-plenty, but the audience was rapt and they applauded
ferociously after every song-poem, honored to be among the few to see
what was probably the best show in town.
Monday morning I saw Louis in the Slope but I didn’t say hello.
Feeling a little awed, a little shy, I watched to see if there was a
spring in his step after such a phenomenal night. He kissed his son
good bye in the lobby of PS 321 and found his usual table at the local
Starbucks.
Back to being a regular guy. Someone who looks just like everyone else.
For reservations and tickets, here’s what you need to do:
Make your check to The Old Stone House (tickets are $40 per person). Mail to:
The Old Stone House
PO Box 150613
Brooklyn, NY 11215
See you there.