DRUNK WITH LOVE: Press

In the most dedicated and triumphant case of identity theft in a long time, Terese Genecco hits the bullseye in saluting the object of her affection, the brassy and irreverent saloon singer Frances Faye (1912-1991). The ebullient and emboldened Terese has a warmer and sunnier sound than her idol, and that just makes things all the more joyful. The Faye way fits her like a second skin as she comfortably takes on or refers to the late entertainer's sassy way with a song and a quip.

Arrangements and phrasing have been studiously recreated, but sound fresh and natural rather than warmed over or timidly, tepidly copied. Her blaring, sizzling band is rough and tough and up to snuff. She strikes up the band and they strike up a relationship that finds them feeding off each other's energy. This goes from from the sung greeting, "good eeee-vening, ladies and gentlemen, how do you do" and high-voltage, quick-tempo "The Man I Love" with its asides to a fabulous finish with the Faye finale, her trademark "Frances and Her Friends" and a goodbye to a sated, gratefully cheering audience.

The act was recorded live at New York's Metropolitan Room, the club that is celebrating its one-year anniversary this week. I was there during this engagement and frankly wondered if the electric chemistry between performer and audience (and performer and band) could be captured on CD. I need not have worried; the mutual admiration society is in full evidence, with just enough of the talk kept in to give the sense of the devilish good spirits.

Radiating good humor and reveling in the company of the band, the audience and the channeled spirit of Frances, Terese sings with abandon, wailing and belting. During the rare moments when she slows down, in "Drunk with Love" and "Purple Wine," she reveals a capacity for unguarded emotional emotional singing. Otherwise, don't go looking for drama or storytelling through lyrics: this is entertainment, pure and simple and smashing, with artistic license taken with lyrics a la Faye with an eye to be provocative. Mostly it's a pulse-racing romp through material like Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and "Unchain My Heart" that feels like an intravenous dose of caffeine and adrenalin with pounding percussion and blaring brass. There are some playful winks at material such as "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" and little throwaways like a couple of lines of "If I Were a Rich Man."

Listening to some old Frances Faye records in between exposures to Terese's Bistro Award-winning tribute made me appreciate again how refreshing this work is, and also how studiously the singer did her homework. The style and substance are recycled with relish, and the brazen, in-your-face but teasing attitude that sounds so off the cuff with Terese were all etched in vinyl. One need not be a student of the Faye heyday to appreciate the pure entertainment value of Terese Genecco and her very hot and swinging "little big band." She sometimes plays piano herself, and at other times leaves the keyboard in the very capable hands of Barry Lloyd who musical directs many acts in San Francisco, where both are based.

Terese is spending May 31-June 9 at The Plush Room in San Francisco, alternating between this show and her new one, a tribute to composer Arthur Schwartz which I also enjoyed when she premiered it in New York a few weeks ago. She is no one-trick pony, just a rollicking reincarnation of a rambunctious, rhythmic rebel.

Frances Faye (1912-1991) was a brilliant and bawdy cabaret and show tune singer and pianist who is espirited back on stage by the equally funny and talented Terese Genecco, winner of multiple show and cabaret awards. Channelling the best of Frances Faye, complete with Genecco's "little big band," she pulls in the most jaded of audiences and banters through gab old school songs including a swinging Beatle's medley. Recorded live at New York's The Metropolitan Room you are transported back into a time when lady singers were no ladies at all and Terese brings a wink and a nod to some old gems well worth hearing again. This is easily a cross-generational thrill that many artists simply don't pull off that well. My picks: "The Man I Love," "Tonight You Belong To Me," "I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate," "Should I Strip," "Night and Day," "Drunk With Love," "Mister Rogers," "St James Infirmary," "Purple Wine" and "Finale (Frances & Her Friends)." Gig alert! Wallow in retro goodness with Terese Genecco and her little big band at San Francisco's Hotel Nikko, Saturday nights through May.

Red-hot and invigorating, Terese Genecco's sensational debut CD is a live recording of her super-high-spirited act, channeling and saluting the late iconoclastic nightclub entertainer Frances Faye. Brash, belty and bombastic, Terese comes out of the starting gate at a pace and energy some singers never even build up to, and she rarely slows down. With pulse-racing, smashing arrangements for a top-drawer band blaring away, they feed off each other, and the bravura celebration is truly exciting - and there's humor, too, in the offhand, cocky humor too, a Faye trademark. Some of her one-liners and asides are in the patter. Terese has soaked up the raw style and "let's have fun" attitude, and it's contagious goodwill and good singing. This performance of "Drunk With Love" took place at The Metropolitan Room where she returned a few months ago for the "sequel," with more splashy material from the Faye heyday. The CD is a triumph.

The following CDs were chosen as the Top 10 Cabaret CDs of 2007 by 2007-2008 members of Cabaret Hotline Online:

DRUNK WITH LOVE: TERESE GENECCO

Blues In The Night: Ann Hampton Callaway

If I Knew Now (What I Knew Then): Cynthia Crane

Winter Warm: Sophia Bilides

Brandon Cutrell: Brandon Cutrell

Plain And Simple: John De Marco

Timber: Ritt Henn

Long As You're Living: LInda Kosut

Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans: Barbara Lea

At Last: Marcus Simeone

Terese Genecco was also named one of the TOP TEN FAVORITE PERFORMERS of 2007 by the members of Cabaret Hotline Online.

Terese Genecco's debut CD, "DRUNK WITH LOVE" is nominated for a 2008 MAC AWARD! The membership will vote for the winner, to be announced at the MAC Awards show and and ceremony on May 6, 2008 at B.B. King's Blues Club in NYC. Also nominated in the Best Recording category are: Brandon Cutrell, Ritt Henn, Marieann Meringolo, and Jonathan Whitton.

Terese Genecco has also been nominated for a MAC Award for Best Female Vocalist.