JAZZ REVIEW : SHELLY LAVIN AT ALLEYCAT BISTRO

The Alleycat Bistro, a restaurant on Overland at Washington in Culver City, has been making good headway with its musical policy, devoted primarily to singers Wednesdays through Saturdays, with the occasional instrumental evening by a jazz combo.

Wednesday’s incumbent was Shelly Lavin. Like most of the attractions here, she was billed as “Jazz Vocalist.” The arguments about where the borderlines for that genre begin and end have been chewing up newsprint since Bing Crosby’s early days. (Was he or wasn’t he?) In Lavin’s case, it might fairly be said that this seems to be one of her objectives.

“I’m really a torch singer,” she declared in the lead-in rap for Leslie Briscusse’s “When I Look in Your Eyes.” Well, yes, and in such songs as this and the breathily intoned “I Loves You Porgy” she seems reasonably relaxed and in control.

Much of the set, though, was given over to standards of the “Cheek to Cheek” and “I Get a Kick Out of You” variety, delivered with a touch too much extroversion at the cost, now and then, of accurate intonation.

Lavin is, in fact, a conventional performer who needs strong and challenging material to bring out her virtues. Her tone quality lent itself well to the sardonic lyrics of Dave Frishberg’s “Peel Me a Grape.” Jeremy Lubbock’s “Not Like This,” popularized by Al Jarreau, illustrated her ability to deal convincingly with contemporary tunes.

Her accompanists--Gregg Kanakas, piano; Steve Samuel, drums, and Jack Daro, bass--all had a solo workout during “The More I See You” in addition to playing a couple of luke-warmup numbers on their own.