Review: Burning Red by Isabel Sargon at The Ellington Jazz Club

Burning Red by Isabel Sargon at The Ellington Jazz Club
Monday, January 8, 2024

Christmas decorations hung past their use-by date across the stage’s back wall as sunset’s last light cracked through Ellington’s few windows. By nightfall, the room’s dim lighting really came into effect. With unassuming nods at each other, the ensemble consisting of Ricki Malet on trumpet, Alistair Peel on bass, Jackson Vanballegooyen on piano, and Ryan Daunt on drums awoke the room.

At the ensemble’s centre was Isabel Sargon; her red sequined dress illuminated the starkly lit room as if an extra stage light. A smile beamed across her face from the first note sung, with the same effect as the dress. Isabel’s facial expression added a Diana Ross-like sweetness to the mix of richness and sultryness. The opener, It Could Happen to You, was performed tastefully, albeit a little tentative, while the group settled into the unknown nuances that come with performing live in such a small, intimate setting.

The following two songs, Withering Sunshine and Save (both Sargon originals), added a hint of modern perspective against a more traditional musical landscape. By this point, the performers were negotiating the sound mix comfortably. In her lyrics, Sargon reflected on life as a modern jazz singer, in and out of love, and other troubles in the 2020s.

It was at this point that Izzy (as she’s known to friends and audience members) started to move away from the tablet propped on her mic stand, showing trust in her skills and memory. As if spurred on by the self-expression original music brings. How Insensitive showcased great musical awareness; the vocals blended perfectly with the instrumentalists. Whether by conscious choice or just sheer excitement, Isabel tastefully put less pressure on diction and more emphasis on tonal quality. At any given point in the show, great voice control and understanding of each individual song’s needs were displayed. Clarity in her voice increased during scat singing passages, turning the ‘do-bo-do’s into fine poetry.

Despite regular rounds of soloing from the musicians, precise and punchy phrasing kept attendees engaged. Jackson Vanballegooyen’s bouncing hands on the ivory’s coloured every chord and lick played. Directly behind the star of the show, Alistair Peel kept the show centred (figuratively and literally) while lovingly cradling his date, a curvy double  bass.During The Sunny Side of the Street, Ryan Daunt displayed what was more of a swinging space solo than a drum solo, the hardest of all drum solos. While on the Portuguese-titled Corcovado, he played with his most useful tool, his bare hands. The tapping sounds of the drum skins and shimmers of the cymbals added an exotic element to the backbeat. The group seemed to make a game of coming painfully close to losing the beat before snapping back right in time for the next bar. Almost as a way of saying, ‘hehe, scared ya, didn’t I?’

Isabel’s perfectly controlled voice rang through the second set with a held note beaming at the end of Never Will I Marry, with a fire and passion that would make one think twice about proposing. I Didn’t Know What Time It Was somehow was the perfect song for a Monday evening. Ricki Malet took a noticeable step back from his microphone and let the trumpet take on a distant, sombre tone, moaning behind the vocals.

Midway through Tea for Two, when the soloists’ game of musical chairs made it back piano ways, Jackson Vanballegooyen made it his own big finish. Playing with a fire that had clearly been building throughout the evening. Kicking out his stool from behind probably would’ve been justified, but he and his bandmates seem way too humble for such silly antics. Ryan Daunt even seemed slightly embarrassed to be given a second solo for the evening during the show’s closing number, Summertime, preferring the responsibility of the groove. Like a good drummer should.

While largely made up of songs performed by the likes of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, the show had an underlying sense of relevance. Isabel Sargon is almost a double act within herself: sultry and enchanting, with a voice to match during the song, and bubbly and quirky between songs, it gave the performance a sense of unique artistry. A show featuring more of her own work in the future would definitely be interesting to hear.

AJ MAHAR