Jazz : Ann Weldon’s Downbeat Lasts the Whole Show

Ann Weldon, the TV and movie actress who still occasionally sings, made one of her local appearances Friday with a one-nighter at Lunaria’s.

Despite her visual charm and a strong, appealing voice, Weldon’s gig seemed like a classic example of being in the wrong place, with the wrong act, at the wrong time. Her attitude didn’t help: A couple of remarks indicated that she was not too happy to be here.

Ironically, Weldon offered substantially the same show that was reviewed favorably five years ago, but on this occasion nothing seemed to work; not even “I’m a Woman,” with which she has been known to elicit laughter and applause via the pre-feminist lyrics.

The ambience was that of a Las Vegas lounge act, an impression fortified by three backup singers, all cousins of Weldon, who sat perched on chairs doing nothing, except once in a while when they would clap hands or ooh and aah or echo her lines. Toward the end of the show, the trio took over for a number on its own. It didn’t help.

Weldon had a few superior songs for the small group of inattentive patrons: “Something Cool” and Duke Ellington’s “Tomorrow Mountain.”

But her Marvin Gaye medley, with its gloom-and-doom lyrics about radiation and other cheerless topics, fell flat, as did the next number, which she introduced with a preamble about a friend who was murdered and someone else who was paralyzed from the neck down. (No, she did not follow this up with “Strange Fruit.”)

The backing by pianist Andy Howe on keyboards, Kevin Brandon on electric bass and Tony Lewis on drums accentuated the downbeat mood.

Still in the act are James Taylor’s “Don’t Let Me Be Lonesome Tonight” and Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty.” The latter title seemed like a metaphor for most of this disheartening show.