Pop Music Review : Jones’ Fine Voice at Arm’s Length

Marti Jones is an exceptional singer, but she hasn’t found a distinctive on-stage context for her talent, an attention-grabbing persona that would transform her from an engaging voice into a memorable personality.

At the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on Tuesday, Jones never failed to impress with a voice that was sweet and plaintive, yet with a fine, woody grain running through it to lend fullness and warmth. Still, something was missing: a sense that the Ohio resident with the flowing, straight blonde hair can relate an outlook that is her own, and project herself on stage in a way that commands interest.

Jones ran up against some obstacles that were out of her control. Early in the 90-minute set, her voice was crowded by her four-man band, which included her husband, the classy singer-producer Don Dixon, on bass. The chattering audience was another problem.

Jones ignored the talkers and exhibited a dry sense of humor in her asides to fans. Contrasting as it did with the open-hearted emoting in her songs, Jones’ irony was more distancing than engaging. It’s not unreasonable to want to be taken into the confidence of a singer whose great subject is romantic strife, rather than to be left at arm’s length.

That sense of uncertainty or diffidence about reaching out prevented Jones’ concert from taking the shape of a story or a dialogue. An intimate stretch of quiet songs at mid-set provided a closer fix on Jones than her mid-tempo rock material allowed. But for the most part, the concert remained a sequence of well-sung but unrevealing songs.