JAZZ REVIEW : Blue Monday at Biltmore Bar

Monday is blues night at the Biltmore’s Grand Avenue Bar. This time around the incumbents were singers Barbara Morrison and Maurice Miller.

Morrison, an enthusiastic and personable woman who was once part of the Johnny Otis blues family, led off her set with two songs far removed from the blues. Steve Allen’s “This Could Be The Start of Something Big” is a fine opener for a cabaret singer, but it set the wrong mood for Blue Monday.

“A Sunday Kind of Love” was closer to the requisite spirit, but it was not until the lady moved into her Aretha Franklin bag that she commanded, and received, what she clearly wanted--respect, as a messenger of a grand tradition.

The rest of her selections were drawn from the song books of other women: “Since I Fell for You,” a long-ago blues/ballad by Ella Johnson, to which she brought the right indigo sensitivity; “Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On,” a raunchy leaf out of Jeannie Cheatham’s book; and the Dinah Washington hit “What a Difference a Day Made.”

The use of something borrowed for something blue can only take an artist just so far. Morrison needs to seek out material with which she can become personally identified; certainly her strong, compelling sound is an asset of which she should take full advantage.

Maurice Miller fronted a trio with Dwayne Smith, a somewhat florid pianist who now and then dug into the blues with the needed conviction; Laurence Bolden, who offered a twangy solo on electric bass; and Dennis Siewell on drums.

Miller moved around the bandstand as if a whole lot were happening. This visual proposition was belied by the aural facts, since his vocals--numbers such as B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone”--were somewhat too derivative. His best moments came during the finale with a parody of the indecipherable blues lyrics of Big Joe Turner. On this he was joined by Morrison as the two of them shook, rattled and rolled with true Kansas City abandon.