Join SOhO Restaurant & Music Club for a night of jazz, wine and food on Monday during “Tales From the Diva Den.”
Wine tasting by Oreana will be from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The cost is $5, or free with paid admission. A meet-and-greet with the jazz divas will be at 7 p.m., and is free with paid admission The Diva Den show will begin at 7:30 p.m. The cost is $15, or $13 with dinner reservations. In addition, there will be Jazz Monday 2-for-1 House Specials all night long.
“Tales From the Diva Den” delivers even more than the title implies. Although at first glimpse, the “Diva Den” singers — Kristin Korb, Inga Swearingen and Kathleen Grace — might also be labeled (paraphrasing the well-known theater piece) “Three White Chicks Standing Around and Swinging,” the performances, individually and collectively, were the stuff of imaginative talent on the rise.
Korb, who assembled the group, is a first-rate jazz bassist and an exceptional singer. Everything she touches — including “You Stepped Out of a Dream” and “I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good)” — has a seamlessly blended voice, instrument and arrangement. Often framing her vocals in utterly unexpected settings, accompanying herself with propulsive bass lines, she consistently finds transformative elements in each interpretation.
Grace brings warmth, inventiveness and humor to her offerings. She uses the collective vocal textures as a launching pad for her own free-flying improvisations.
Swearingen applies compositional insights to soaring vocals, with her original “April” — a duet with Grace — a compelling blend of lyrical melody and dark harmonies. She spontaneously leads a swinging duet with Korb on “All of Me,” renders “Stompin’ at the Savoy” with fast-paced flexibility and illuminated the standard “Skylark” with a bass line from Chick Corea’s “Children’s Song.”
As if all that wasn’t enough, the trio is equally intriguing as a vocal ensemble, their similar timbres blending perfectly on a briskly swinging “Route 66,” a whimsical “I Feel Pretty” and a beautifully harmonized a cappella version of Tom Waits’ “The Briar and the Rose.”
Dinner reservations ensure priority seating. Call 805.962.7776 for reservations.
— Heather Luikart is an assistant music booker for SOhO Restaurant & Music Club.