Jazz Review : Betty Bryant Turns the Tables on a Cocktail Crowd

At a time when martini lounges and coffeehouses host bevies of song stylists and wanna-be divas, Betty Bryant is the real thing.

The veteran vocalist and pianist showed Tuesday at her Spaghettini appearance just what it takes to win over a crowd intent on hobnob and conversation. Her warm, narrative vocal style and smart ways at the keyboard were all it took to turn the assembled from their cocktails and conversation toward the melodious stories she offered.

Bryant has had plenty of experience at this kind of thing. She spent the past several years as a regular at Bob Burns in Santa Monica while making frequent appearances in Los Angeles jazz clubs. Her appearance a few years back at the San Juan Capistrano Library, where no drinks were served and the audience hung on her every note, transformed the facility’s La Sala performance space into an intimate, club-like setting.

At Spaghettini, she had to struggle for that kind of attention. But not too hard.

And that’s one of Bryant’s great attractions. She’s at ease no matter how loud the competing din. Eyes closed and smiling, she scats along in unison, sometimes just off mike, with her piano lead, or croons easily while revealing a lyric’s deepest content.

Tuesday’s appearance was a reunion of sorts, finding the singer paired after a year’s hiatus with a longtime partner, bassist Greg Eicher, who first met Bryant when both were regulars on the Kansas City club scene.

It was as if there’d never been an interruption in their teaming, as the two proceeded to complement each other in almost telepathic terms.

Their reading of “Willow Weep for Me” played on the tune’s obvious blues foundations, with Bryant giving wide spacing to a series of chords on the chorus before Eicher gave a glistening, bowed solo.

Her voice was playful and vibrant on “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” with a few spoken phrases for emphasis. “It Could Happen to You” was done in a deliberate style, a technique that carried a feeling of joy when she reached the chorus. She sang “Quiet Nights” in melodious Portuguese.

During the second set, Bryant showcased some of her own tunes: the novelty number “Put a Lid On It” (“When it comes to blabbermouths / You’re No. 1 . . . “), the light ditty “Come and Laugh With Me” and the moving ballad “Whatever Happened to You” (“Though you’re here beside me / I know you’re gone . . . “). All are fine efforts in the standard tradition and serve as swell vehicles for Bryant’s intimate delivery.

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As a pianist, Bryant offered just enough technique to be impressive, while staying more to a tune’s melodic attractions. As with her vocal phrasing, she likes to play with the pacing, opening up the rhythms by trailing behind the beat or waiting until the last moment to close a phrase. Better yet, she has an ear for inserting blues touches at just the right point.

Though her style, especially her piano playing, is more dense than the spare delivery of Shirley Horn, Bryant seems of Horn’s caliber, and aspiring young vocalists cluttering the scene would do well to give her a listen. She’ll return to Spaghettini on June 21 and again on June 28.