JAZZ REVIEW : McNeil Mixes Sophistication, True Grit

Dee Dee McNeil, who opened a three-night stint at Monteleone’s West Thursday night, was impressive by virtue of her bell-clear voice, her abilities to swing the standards and belt the blues, and her stage persona--an amicable mix of high-style sophistication and down-home grit.

“I’ve been doin’ this for 18 years,” said jazz music’s most youthful-looking grandmother after her opening set. “I’m from Detroit, and I started out writing songs for the Four Tops and Diana Ross and Gladys Knight & the Pips and that whole Motown thing. But jazz is the best, and that’s what I’m doing.”

McNeil, who is a published poet, does jazz very well indeed and, during her two brief sets at the Tarzana restaurant, where the musical entertainment is treated as an afterthought to the hustling bar scene, she offered ample proof of her dedication to the forum.

A natural flair for the blues was evident in McNeil’s rendering of Alberta Hunter’s “A Working Man.” She was comfortable in the 12-bar format, as was her pianist Karen Hernandez, and the full range of her emotive abilities were displayed. Equally fitting were a pair of Latin-tinged songs, Jobim’s “Quiet Nights,” and the less substantial “Look of Love.”

McNeil spent most of her energies on medium-tempo swing tunes. Standards such as “Almost Like Being In Love,” “Our Love Is Here To Stay” and “A Foggy Day in London Town” proved to be worthy vehicles, whereas Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour” fell short as a swing tune.

Getting shorter shrift were the ballads. Only two were performed in her two sets with one, the gorgeous “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?,” indicating that the forum just might be McNeil’s strongest suit in a well-dealt hand.