Ai Kago meets Jazz

I'm a huge fan of Ai Kago and I regret to say that I missed the performance that Mozenator describes in his review on this page, although I did get to see her in a later public appearance that same weekend. Luckily, however, both Mozenator and I, joined by a third East Coast fan, got to see Kago perform on Monday night, June 7, 2010, at Birdland in Manhattan's theater district. She sang "How High the Moon," the first song on this album, and she wowed the sold-out crowd, which included some veteran Broadway performers and songwriters. And she looked fantastic in a satin cheongsam dress. (You can see the clip of her on YouTube under the title, "Ai Kago sings 'How High the Moon' at Birdland in NYC") I love this album. I grew up hearing these standards, whether in films or TV shows, on the radio or on albums by some of my favorite singers. Now, granted, Aibon may not have the vocal power or the range of the great singers who popularized these songs (e.g. Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald)--and I might ask, who does today?--but she brings something else to them. Her own interpretation. She clearly loves these songs and wants to sing them and she puts all her heart into them. I was familiar with the doo-wop version of "Blue Moon" but had never heard it sung the way Aibon does it here. And I just melt when I hear her sing, so sweetly, "You'd be so nice to come home to..." and "All of me, why not take all of me..." Why not, indeed? And given all her tribulations in Japan following her "scandal" and dismissal from Hello! Project, there's a special poignance to her reading of "Someone to Watch Over Me." She needed someone to watch over her during her darkest days and it continues to pain me that there wasn't anybody. Aibon has a nice voice and sharp instincts and her vocalization of material like this is only going to get better the more she practices and performs. Her performance of "How High the Moon" at Birdland was even better than the one on this album. After her performance, I managed to get a chance to tell her how much I liked this album and her response (she made a face) indicates that she may be her own worst critic, not an uncommon trait among creative types. Still, I can honestly say I genuinely enjoy this album and recommend it to fans of hers. And if she releases another one in a year, even if it's got the same songs, I'll get that one, too.

I was very very lucky to get notice that the lovely Miss Ai Kago would be performing at a very small bar on the lower east side of Manhattan in New York City last November. That picture above is from that night at the bar. I was literally right in front of her, as the basement level of this bar had a "performance space" that could fit about 20 people tops! As you can tell she looked amazing. She sang, to my surprise, to Jazz standards in English: "Fly Me to the Moon" and "Someone to Watch Over Me". I got to meet her and speak with her and she was tiny, gracious, enagaing and lovely! Support Kago-chan!!!