MAXINE WELDON BELTS THE BLUES

Singer Maxine Weldon, like Louis Armstrong before her, is a jazz performer who doesn’t at all mind being called an entertainer.

Sunday night at the Vine St. Bar & Grill, Weldon made a convincing case for music as a celebration between performer and audience. A fine-boned woman with an open smile and lovely eyes, Weldon seems to genuinely revel in her interaction with her listeners.

She has a voice that is not particularly fashionable these days--big and brassy, a throwback to Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, with just a touch of Dinah Washington in her ballad interpretations. Her tendency to belt made her particularly effective on blues-based songs like “Your Place or Mine,” “Before You Accuse Me” and “You Made Your Move Too Soon.”

But to her credit--as an entertainer and a communicator--she didn’t hesitate to sing ballads like “My Romance” and “Until It’s Time for Me to Go,” as well as the countryish “Born to Love Me.” And although songs like this tended to stretch her stylistic range a bit more than was comfortable, she always managed to find the heart of the lyrics. Weldon may be an intense storyteller, but she’s a good one.

She returns to the Vine St. on Sunday.