JAZZ REVIEW : Sweet Baby: Truly Blue at Vine St.

The singer with the peculiar name, Sweet Baby J’ai (French for “I have”) opened her set at the Vine St. Bar & Grill by declaring “I love the blues!”--and the comment was borne out in no uncertain terms by her performance. Of her nine songs, seven were actual blues or blues-related ballads.

Too much of a good thing? Not necessarily; master craftsmen such as Joe Williams have shown how a heavily blues-dominated set can be leavened with touches of humor (“Happy Blues” is not a contradiction in terms) and contrasts of tempo. Sweet Baby J’ai offered neither on Friday night.

The problem here is a failure to vary the material. Seldom has so much negativity been expressed in a single show. Titles such as “Take the Bitter With the Sweet” and “What Is This Madness?” involved references to crack dealers, Somalia, Bosnia and a general air of misery.

If the set had run 10 minutes longer we would no doubt have heard “Gloomy Sunday” and “Stormy Monday.”

J’ai has a strong sound and delivers the material with conviction, though her occasional use of a growl effect seemed anachronistic. Still, there is nothing wrong with Sweet Baby J’ai--backed by a heavily R&B-oriented; five-piece band--that some serious advice about how to put together a set could not remedy.