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| Vocalist Ursula Walker |
The jazz club Cliff Bell’s in downtown
Detroit has never been a vocalist friendly venue. Saturday, the club’s busiest
night, the noise can be unbearable for patrons there to enjoy live music from top
regional and mid-west jazz acts. Bell’s doesn’t ask that patrons keep talking
to a minimum during performances like the jazz club the Dirty Dog Jazz Café
demands. Occasionally, however, Cliff Bell’s books veteran jazz musicians and
vocalists who know how to tame a noisy audience. One such vocalist graced Cliff
Bell’s bandstand Saturday night for two sets. The vocalist was Ursula Walker, who’s
been a mainstay on Detroit’s jazz scene over five decades, performing mostly
with her husband the jazz pianist and arranger Buddy Budson. Although Walker is
in her mid-seventies and she only performs occasionally, she remains of
excellent voice and amazingly embodies
the stagecraft of a global pop star. Cliff Bell’s was packed and very noisy Saturday, but when Walker hit the
bandstand backed by Budson’s quintet trumpeter Dwight Adams, saxophonist Marcus
Elliot, drummer Dave Taylor, and bassist Jeff Halsey, Walker had the audience’s undivided attention after her first
song. For the past two years, one of
Walker and Budson’s pet projects has been writing lyrics for well-known jazz
classics by jazz greats such as Wayne Shorter, and Horace Silver. Walker sang
of a handful of those gems such as
“Footprints,” and “Sister Sadie,” and a few Motown favorites slipped in for
good measure. The audience was most attentive while Walker re-worked Smokey Robison’s
hit “Shop Around.” Walker is a caretaker
of songs. She treats the material she performs as if it’s freshly minted. Her
voice is lovely and soothing, so much so when she’s in the throes of a love
song, for example, you want to curl up in her lap. Walker was the featured
attraction, but she wasn’t shy about putting the zoom lens on her bandmates.
There was wonderful soloing by Dwight Adams and Marcus Elliot. Elliot was the
youngest band member. In recent years,
he’s graduated from a young lion to a bona fide commodity on Detroit’s jazz
scene. Elliot could easily be considered the late saxophonist Joe Henderson’s
heir apparent. Like Henderson, Elliot has
an elegant and expansive tone, and he fits nicely into any musical situation he
finds himself in. He’s like the star player who makes his teammates better. Cliff
Bell’s wasn’t the best venue to experience a jazz vocalist of Walker’s depth and allure, but like any well-experienced performer, Walker made
do.
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