Here we are again, not just back at Birdland, but back in the 20s and 30s with one of its greatest practitioners and flag wavers. Bryce Edwards plays at least six instruments per show. He sings in the nasal, megaphone-like, wah-wah and eef fashion popular then. (Eefing is a cross between scat singing and mouth trumpet, often sung in raspy falsetto.) The term was coined by Cliff “Ukulele” Edwards (no relation). “By the mid 1920s, the unique style spawned all kinds of imitators.”
Edwards dresses for the role, spikes stage patter with “gee” or “gosh,” and injects apt exclamations into songs. Scat is uniquely, fluently from another era. Eyebrows raised, book-ended by a “diddly- dow-dow and an aw-oh-wah,” the artist plays George and Ira Gershwin’s “Fascinating Rhythm” on a tiny ukulele. The tune just turned 100.
“Vo-Do-Do-De-O Blues” (Milton Ager/Jack Yellen 1927): Stop playing that crazy thing/Crazy words with
a crazy swing/I’ve got those/Vo do do de o blues…is unwittingly accompanied by a room full of foot tappers. Sax and cornet, as if at a playground – are joined by Edward’s swell banjo, while piano jazzes and bass sax “wrangles the beast” (undoubtedly reference to the large, unwieldy instrument).
A nod to then hugely popular Rudy Vallee, “a major heartthrob in the 1920s, sax under one arm, megaphone under the other,” arrives by way of “Deep Night” (Charles E. Henderson/ Rudy Vallee 1929). Edwards leads on melodic mandolin and, of course, megaphone. The ballad is an inviting break from up numbers. Charles N. Daniels’ 1926 “Song of the Wanderer” is a mid-tempo blues. Where shall I go when I go/Since you have sent me away? Banjo picks and sweeps. Edwards bounces. Vulnerability in bravado.
Bryce Edwards
“Broken Record” which repeats and repeats selected phrases, is played with the addition of both vocal back-up and kazoo masquerading as a songophone. It’s punched up and so catchy, the pianist bench-dances. “Help! –The Girls Are After Me” (Johnny Tucker/Al Sherman/Leslie Moore 1925) is a hoot. The poor man! Why must they always/Push me into hallways?! Edwards sings starting and stopping. They’re so reckless/They’ll even break my necklace! “Who says vaudeville is dead? I’m up here giving it the Heimlich as I speak!”
Guest vocalist/announced girlfriend Reilly Wilmot joins the artist on their signature “Button Up Your Overcoat” (Ray Henderson/B.G. DeSylva/Lew Brown 1928). “This is a song that might appeal to you if you have a sweetheart who wears clothes.” Ba-dump dump. A cute duet. And “Home in Pasadena” (Grant Clarke/Edgar Leslie/Harry Warren 1923), a thrum/thrum tune with longlined phrasing, nifty counterpoint duet, and light, precise piano.
Reilly Wilmot and Bryce Edwards
New to me, a grand medley of “Nautical (But Nice) Fantasia” i.e. novelty tunes, is introduced as “low brow,” prefaced for balance by Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas: Come Away, Fellow Sailors” (1688-
no kidding) It works! Slightly less nasal delivery is welcome. Surely not everyone performed in the same manner. “Minnie The Mermaid – A Love Song in Fish Time” (Bud DeSylva 1923 follows: Oh what a time I had with Minnie the Mermaid/ Down at the bottom of the sea;/I forgot my troubles,/There among the bubbles…
Next is “Forty-Seven Ginger-Headed Sailors” (Leslie Sarony 1928): Forty-seven ginger-headed sailors/You can bet you’re going to hear them when they hail us/An old maid down in Devon/Said my idea of heaven/Is forty-seven ginger-headed sailors!…They don’t write’m like that anymore. The second two songs intertwine aided and abetted by vocal back-up. A shamelessly exuberant parentheses. The bees’ knees. “Dip Your Brush In The Sunshine” (J.C. Johnson/Andy Razaf 1931) is a great way to close, sending us off with wide grins. The band is tight, talented and mutually appreciative, which is deliciously apparent.
My sole criticism is that the show has barely changed from its inception. I’ve seen four now. It’s time to overhaul completely so fans can return to fresh pleasures.
Conal Fowkes, Jay Rattman, Scott Ricketts, Ricky Alexander, Bryce Edwards
Photos by Alix Cohen
The Bryce Edwards Frivolity Hour
Bryce Edwards-Vocals, Banjo, Tenor Guitar, Mandolin, Songophone, Stro-ukulele
Scott Ricketts – Cornet
Ricky Alexander – Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Vocal Harmonies
Conal Fowkes – Piano, Vocal Harmonies
Jay Rattman – Bass Saxophone
Reilly Wilmet – Featured Vocalist and Songophonist
Birdland
315 West 44th Street
