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Wakin 20: "A Night of Love, Passion and
Memories" |
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"Say You Love Me"...Introducing Ms. Patti Austin! |
Patti
Austin's appearance onstage with Wakin placed a giant
exclamation point on the whole evening. Admittedly,
I knew very little about Ms. Austin prior to the show,
primarily because I have always been more of a folk and
rock-and-roll girl than I have been a jazz baby, so her
arena is virtually unknown to me. But apparently I
have really been missing out--Ms. Austin is amazing.
If anyone is worthy of sharing a stage with Wakin, she
definitely is!
Her
set began really with Wakin singing a beautiful song in Mandarin--"I
Have a Love Story (Wo Yo Yi Tuan Ching)". (Thanks
to Carole and Cheryl for finding the title!)
It was a slightly sad, haunting melody.
Then in the middle of his song, he suddenly brought her
onstage! When she came out, the crowd was very
enthusiastic, but Wakin was even more so! He was
clearly delighted that she was there, and when she
started singing in English the same song he had just
been singing in Mandarin, it wasn't hard to see why.
Ms. Austin has a wonderful clear, sultry voice, and her
version of the song was so gorgeous! The audience
was immediately enraptured.
What
followed was a beautiful duet, in which both of them
simultaneously sang the same song they had previously
sung alone--the effect was a blend of both Mandarin and
English being sung together at once, both languages
overlapping in a gorgeous, complex blend of counterpoint
harmony. It was stunning. The audience just
erupted into thunderous applause as they kept singing in
this impossibly complicated and yet perfectly executed
mix...how either of them kept focused on their own part
with the other one singing I'll never know. But
wow...it was amazing. Everybody in the room was
just breathless when it was over!
After
that, Wakin and Ms. Austin started talking--in English!
[Yay! hahaha...] He thanked her for her appreciation of
the Chinese culture and the far East, where she
frequently tours. He also complimented her on her
beautiful voice, saying her voice was "as free as a
bird," because her range is so wide she can go from
contralto to soprano and anywhere in between, as
effortlessly as a bird soars through the air. Very
well put, actually, because she can!
Some
of their conversation was very funny, especially as they compared
their language skills. Wakin described his English
as being "poor" [AS IF!] and lightheartedly
lamented that he could "only use his poor English to
talk to these rich people," indicating the VIP section!
Ms. Austin quipped that "it would be better than [her]
English," so he could go ahead. They were really
cute bantering back and forth this way, as Wakin sort of
corrected her, like "you mean your Chinese." And
she said, "Oh, my Chinese is nonexistent!" She
also stated that her new favorite thing was to sing with
him onstage, revealing that she was not only a woman of
prodigious talent, but also of tremendously good taste!
After
that, Wakin left the stage. Ms. Austin, after
stating that her Chinese was "nonexistent", proceeded
then to sing "Wang Bu Liao (Unforgettable)" flawlessly in Mandarin! The
audience love it--the rafters positively shook
from the appreciative applause! She followed that song
with one of her own greatest hits--"Say You Love Me",
which is a cute, catchy jazz tune complete with scat
singing. It was awesome! (In fact, after long
searching on iTunes I finally found it, and have it now
in my iPod! YES!)
When
she was finished, I was ready for Wakin to come back on
stage and for them to sing together some more! But
alas, her set was over. I hope though, that maybe
in the future Wakin and Ms. Austin will team up again
sometime--perhaps to record that gorgeous duet?
(Pretty Pleeeeease?) They really had great
on-stage chemistry together, and Ms. Austin's talents so
well compliment Wakin's! She was really a
wonderful addition to the evening, and I'm so glad that
she was there and I had the privilege of hearing her
sing!
(By
the way, many of Patti Austin's songs and albums are
available at iTunes for download, including her newest
and highly celebrated album,, Avant-Gershwin.)
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