JAZZ REVIEW : Palao Puts Her Life Into Her Songs

Jazz singing has always had as much to do with life experience as it has with technique. The best jazz singers transcend the deadlines of melody and harmony by using the changing perspectives of their lives to gaze deep into the heart of their material.

On that basis alone, Jelsa Palao would seem to have what it takes to make a first-rate jazz artist. Her good-times, bad-times personal journey has taken her from the graffiti-ravaged Bronx to the sun-baked San Fernando Valley, with stops at every imaginable kind of show business venue in between.

But Palao’s performance at MK’s POV restaurant in Toluca Lake Thursday night also revealed musical skills to support the rich and varied life experience she brings to her music. Working with the sturdy support of the Marty Harris Trio, she sang a program of standards sparkling with the soaring melismas of a Sarah Vaughan and the crisp precision of a Carmen McRae.

Palao’s resonant, chesty contralto was particularly attractive on a beautifully phrased version of “Lover Man,” and her insightful reading of “The Masquerade Is Over” afforded clear testimony to the real-life viewpoint she brings to virtually every piece she sings.

The only thing missing from her program was a song or two of her own. Palao is a talented writer and would do well to season her collection of standards with a few of her unusual originals. Given the opportunity to explore her full creative range, Palao could be an important factor in returning the POV (the former Alfonse’s) to the stellar jazz level it once held.

Palao and the Marty Harris Trio continue at MK’s POV every Tuesday through Thursday.