Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NEW YORK, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Cleo Laine is the most versatile of jazz singers, having brought her talents as a vocalist and actress to the stage, television and concert halls and currently to Feinstein's at the Regency, a prime venue for cabaret artists where she is appearing with her husband, instrumentalist John Dankworth. British by birth, Laine has fashioned a career on both sides of the Atlantic since making a name for herself as soloist with the John Dankworth Big Band in the early 1950s. She and Dankworth became a musical team and man-and-wife in real life, and they are appearing together at Feinstein's in a show called "The Dame Takes Manhattan" through Saturday. Dankworth plays the clarinet and saxophone. Advertisement "The Dame" refers to the title accorded Laine by Queen Elizabeth and is equivalent to "Sir" for men and the rank of knighthood. Few popular women singers have ever been accorded this honor, and few have deserved it more than Dame Cleo, daughter of a Jamaican father and English mother who has traveled from obscurity in a London suburb to fame throughout the English-speaking world. Advertisement Laine can boast without fear of contradiction that she is the only popular singer of our day who has also played the title role in Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler," one of the most challenging dramatic roles. She did it in London to great acclaim. Laine is a powerhouse in a small package, colorfully gowned in a silk coat of many colors. Her hands are as expressive as her face, which has an exotic cast and is framed by a corona of frizzed hair that give her the appearance of the be-wigged entertainers in ancient Egypt as portrayed in sculptured reliefs and papyrus paintings. There is nothing ancient about this dame's vocal style, however. She slips easily from blues to scat, from torch to romantic ballad. Her high register shimmers with coloratura effects, and her lower register is rich and growling. Her enunciation is perfect, as is her phrasing. She is a phenomenal musical artist, able to give a unique dramatic twist to each song in her repertory. Laine and Dankworth are inclined to musical conceits that have reference to classical music and drama. In their show they perform "Turkish Delight," a jazzy play on Mozartian melodies entwined with Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If You Don't Have That Swing)." They also perform two of Dankworth's settings of Shakespeare themes, "Winter" and "You Spotted Snakes," as well as Ellington's Shakespearian "Take All My Love." Advertisement She is at her best in a Cole Porter medley that includes "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," "Love for Sale," "Don't Fence Me in," Easy to Love," and "Ridin'High," Kurt Weill's "Speak Low," W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues," and "Just Once More," a torch song for which she wrote the lyrics. Burton Lane, a composer all too often overlooked these days, gets Laine's attention with renditions of "On a Clear Day" and "The One I Love." The final number, "It Always Hurts to Say Goodbye," has lyrics by Laine and music by Dankworth, a wonderful example of their ability to harmonize their talents. Although much of Laine's career has been spent in Britain, she has spent more time on projects in the United States than is generally remembered. She originated the role of Princess Puffer in the Broadway hit musical, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," and also appeared in Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" and a revival of "The Merry Widow." She also starred in the Houston Ballet's production of "Lady in Waiting," an opera-ballet by Dankworth and several associate composers. In Los Angeles, she played the witch in a production of Sondheim's "Into the Woods." Last season she and Dankworth gave a concert in New York's Carnegie Hall to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut there, a recording of which will be released later this year under the title "Cleo Laine: Live in Manhattan." Advertisement Television has also been an important outlet for Laine. She is appearing in PBS' current series, "The Great Love Songs," and last summer the "Cleo Laine Birthday Special" was filmed for BBC television. She has been a featured performer on the classic British television show, "That Was the Week That Was," and recently performed with the London Symphony Orchestra in a concert version of the Leonard Bernstein musical "On the Town" which was filmed for television and CD. Laine's latest RCA Victor recording is "The Very Best of Cleo Laine," a double-disc package featuring 34 of her classic hits. RCA also has re-released a CD version of her Grammy Award-winning recording, "Cleo at Carnegie 10th Anniversary." Her other top RCA recordings are "Cleo Sings Sondheim" and "Woman to Woman," with songs and words written only by women. For those who want to know more about the woman who has been called "The Queen of Jazz," her Simon & Schuster autobiography, "Cleo," is recommended.
