Review: Wilson-Lewis performance anything but preprogrammed

But singer Nancy Wilson and pianist Ramsey Lewis presented an evening of music at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts Monday night that exuded both warmth and intelligence.

If much music today is like a simplistic film with an obvious plot and cardboard characters, then the music of Wilson and Lewis is like an fascinating film, with numerous, intricate storylines that intertwine, with three-dimensional characters you want to spend more time with.

The evening was equal parts play and equal parts mastery.

Both have outstanding, lengthy careers on their own, Wilson as an interpreter of standards and jazz, Lewis as a jazz pianist who mixes jazz, pop, soul and gospel.

Together, they're invincible.

The two have put out three albums together, the latest being "Simple Pleasures."

But while their performance together Monday night was highly pleasurable, it was anything but simple.

The two opened the show, performing together, with Wilson singing "Moondance." Wilson waved her arms as she sang, as though the music was coursing through her body and she had to move or else explode.

She was backed by the Ramsey Lewis Trio, which consists of bassist Larry Green, percussionist Leon Joyce and Lewis, and by Wilson's longtime accompanist, Llew Matthews.

Lewis had the spotlight for the middle of the show, performing a cover of "Wade in the Water," an early hit for him. He and Green and Joyce also performed "Ooh Child" and The Beatles' "In My Life," a couple of instrumentals from the recent "Simple Pleasures" CD. "In My Life" opened as a tender, slow exploration of the melody, like sweetly recalling a cherished memory.

The three then played an extended medley of hymns and spirituals, including "Amazing Grace," "Blessed Assurance" and "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," which was given a Dixieland, New Orleans treatment.

It was obvious the three of them were having fun, were playing with notes and rhythms and even silences. At times, Lewis would pause, looking at the keyboard as if to say: 'What do I want to play now?' He was like a writer, contemplating limitless possibilities, or a chess champion, considering the myriad moves he could make.

This wasn't preprogrammed music that's played the same way every concert; this was creative musical invention happening right on stage.

Wilson, a sophisticated, elegant figure in a long gown, came back to perform a number of songs, accompanied by Green, Joyce and Matthews. She sang some songs she'd recorded back in the early '60s with Cannonball Adderley, including "Never Will I Marry" and "The Masquerade is Over."

Her singing was like skipping stones; you were never quite sure when one of the notes would take an odd bounce to a different place. She could do wonders with a single word, such as singing "martini." She played so much with the words and rhythms that her lyrics often sounded like scat singing.

She didn't just blindly sing the lyrics but interpreted and then re-interpreted the songs.

She put her own mark on the classic "God Bless the Child," accompanied only by Lewis on piano. She sang with pain and disdain of fair-weather friends who only love you when you have money, and stingy relatives who offer you bread crusts and caution you not to take too much.

The two have an obvious rapport and urge each other to take risks on stage. Or, as Wilson explained it, "We have a musical romance. There's no reason for all this love to be wasted."

While Lewis' fingers danced over the keyboards, Wilson danced across the stage, obviously enjoying herself. And her wit was just as obvious in her introductions as in her music. She introduced "Guess Who I Saw Today," about a cheating husband, by saying she'd been performing the song since she was 15 and she wanted to thank the men in the audience for "keeping the song valid." She threw some verses of "Miss Otis Regrets" into the song, and later sang "My Funny Valentine."

Wilson and Lewis and company kept the audience in awe for the entire evening.

Wilson has been talking about retiring; here's hoping we're fortunate enough to see her perform again at the Phil before she does, because there is no one who can offer a song quite the way she and Lewis can.