Jammin’ With Pops
Shows featuring early-20th-century African-American music–blues, jazz, and swing–almost can’t help being great. They also can’t help reminding us of the continuing impact of racial divisions on our society. If not for “urban renewal” projects on the south side, audiences might still be going there to hear brand-new music in those traditions. But the clubs our hipster grandparents frequented are long gone. And though it’s easy to giggle at the idea of the North Shore as a repository of black culture, in fact the efforts of theaters like Apple Tree and Northlight help keep the music alive.
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Four exceptional performers make these two loving re-creations of mainstream swing and early blues more than mere exercises in nostalgia–enjoyment doesn’t depend on recognizing the songs. Introducing them with great fidelity, the performers rise above impersonation to embody not just the artists but the periods from which they sprang.
Harman’s script is the usual bio drivel–“and then I played the Copa”–punctuated by laxative jokes and the occasional ill-fitting serious reflection on racism or sexual abuse. But Chuck Smith stages it briskly, and the music is so superb that the text really doesn’t matter.
If Lorraine is the show’s funny bone, Ernestine Jackson is its heart. Alternately playing the adult Hunter and Hunter’s mother–whom the singer supported throughout her life–she conveys wisdom as well as vulnerability only half concealed by cranky dignity. And her singing is the perfect vehicle for introducing Hunter’s music. Equally at home with a rocking blues and a folk ballad, Jackson lets the singer’s down-to-earth spirit shine through. Also wonderfully playful, she made an audience member feel so cheered and honored as the object of Hunter’s signature song “My Handy Man Ain’t Handy No More” that he took his own bow.
