Headed on down to Lydia's last night to catch the benefit show for Theresa. Lydia's is a small pub in the Broadway district, which is Saskatoon's version of the trendy/funky/boho bar/vintage clothing/repertory theatre district you can find in most cities. Each Sunday is jazz night at Lydia's, where the Jeff Morton trio plays, and for the last 8 months Theresa has been singing with them.

Got there around quarter to 8 for a 9:00 show, and it was a good thing we were early. All the normal tables were already full, but they were bringing some out from the back and we lucked into a very good table near the stage. By 9 the place was jammed completely full. Theresa was already there, just finishing up supper with family and friends and being very chummy with her boyfriend. My daughter had requested an autograph, so I had brought along one of her music theatre camp t-shirts. I introduced myself and my wife. She was very gracious, remembered me from a couple of emails I'd sent her, and of course signed the shirt for my daughter. In person she's much prettier than on TV, fairly tall and slim. "Willowy" was the word in the paper today, that covers it pretty well. She wore jeans and a kind of purplish hippieish smock shirt, with sandals. She had her glasses on, the hair is the same. She thanked us for all our support, and said she was headed back to Toronto on Monday. For those of you who find the gushing, girly voice thing to bug - you're in for more of it, that's just her, it's not an act. She's just the same in person, but comes off much more sincerely. She seems genuinely overwhelmed by all the support she is getting here in town.

The Jeff Morton Trio (plus one) came out first. Jeff plays piano with a bassist and a drummer, and tonight they had added a sax player ("plus one"). Small town - I happen to know the drummer and the sax player - they both also play for the Stone Frigate Band, a 14 piece swing band that some close friends of mine play in. I was there with those friends plus my sister, who sings and plays trombone with the Stone Frigate Band, so if you've seen that band you've seen DwarfSis. She's also rehearsed with the Jeff Morton Trio a couple of times, but had never heard Theresa so she was quite curious to hear her.

The Trio played a couple of jazz pieces and improvised very nicely. They're all quite young, early 20s I'd say, and very competent players. Then Theresa came out and introduced them. She made a couple of thank-yous and said that we would have to sit through a few hundred more thank-yous throughout the night, as she had so much support. They started off with Summertime. This version was much closer to the tempo that everyone is used to, but still identifiably Theresa's own take on it. I enjoyed it much more than her Idol performance, as she had more room to stretch with and of course had a really good four piece behind her. They traded solos around in jazz tradition, and when Theresa's came she scatted for a while. She doesn't scat for every piece, maybe only 3 songs the whole night, but when she does she's very very good. She never loses the melody and at all times sounds very warm and human - hard to describe, but some scatters just get lost in making cool noises, but she's still singing in there. Was interesting having DwarfSis there making comments from a singer's perspective. My beer-fogged memory forgets the exact tune, but one of the songs is also done by the Stone Frigate Band. DwarfSis commented on a particular note where Theresa's voice went a little weak, saying - "I hate that b-flat there. That sucker is hard to hit". Later on, Theresa hit the C above that easily, and DwarfSis commented that it's not only where you're going but where you're coming from that makes some notes hard to hit.

After a few more jazz pieces, the trio left the stage and Theresa was joined by "T-bone", a local disk jockey, on bongos. She played acoustic guitar (the same one with the dragonflies on it you can see in her profile piece from group 3). She sang a number of songs she wrote herself, plus covered Come Away with Me and a Sarah Harmer tune I didn't recognise. Her own music is very much in the jazz-folkie singer-songwriter style. One piece could have easily been an Edie Brickell song, others reminded me of Lisa Loeb or Jewel. They work a little better for her than the jazz numbers I feel, because she writes for her own range and they are personal to her, yet she still infuses that jazzy feel. The cover of Come Away with Me is probably the best version of that song I've ever heard. I may even prefer it to the original. As I said before, I wasn't familiar with the Harmer piece but it was a lovely song and I enjoyed it very much.

Looong break while she visited with family, friends and the crowd in general and then she was back with the trio for more jazz. By this point I was sensing that a couple of glasses of wine had been drunk. Already relaxed at the beginning of the evening, she got looser and better as the night went on. For this set, they were mostly just jamming. She commented on several of the pieces that she had never sung them before with the trio - they just opened up some sheet music, had a look at the chord changes and went to town. She did a very creditable job on Take the A Train, one of the unrehearsed pieces, although towards the end it did degenerate into a bit of noodling. The trio left the stage again and she hauled a couple of friends out of the audience to play with her for some more of her own stuff. I didn't catch who the guy on drums was, but the piano player was her boyfriend from 8 years ago (so, grade 10 I'm guessing). He is one hell of a piano player, and they went through some more of her own songs, all of which I enjoyed. The last piece of the set was Lean on Me, which she hadn't done with them before. The piano player was terrific on this piece, really propelling it forward and here was the missing thing of the evening - if I had to criticise one thing, it would be that she needs to play a few pieces with some guts behind them, most of her own work is pretty mellow. The first verse and chorus of Lean on Me was some of my favourite stuff of the evening - she should definitely do that one and Come Away with Me during the competition.

Overall analysis - Theresa doesn't have the best instrument I've ever heard. For one thing, she doesn't have a whole lot of range, I'd doubt she even covers two octaves. There's also not a lot of power behind it. Having said that, when she's in her range she's all about tone and musicality. Her bio says "musician" and that covers it nicely - there's a feeling for the music that she keeps when she's singing, and when she's scatting or riffiing she never loses sight of the melody and the overall feel of the piece. In this she's pretty much the anti-idol. If your vote goes to those who power-shout and glory-note their way through everything, Theresa is going to disappoint. But if you like music, give her a close listen. She's the real deal. My sister has more power and range (at 3 1/2 octaves, she's got more range than most) but her short summary at the end of the evening was: "well, she kicks my ass".

At the end of the evening they announced that they'd raised $1800 for her, so at $5 a head that was 360 people in that teeny pub - somebody was ignoring the firemarshall. Lydia's and HEL Music also got together and bought her a new guitar, a replica of the one she sold to raise money for her first Toronto trip.

Headed on down to Lydia's last night to catch the benefit show for Theresa. Lydia's is a small pub in the Broadway district, which is Saskatoon's version of the trendy/funky/boho bar/vintage clothing/repertory theatre district you can find in most cities. Each Sunday is jazz night at Lydia's, where the Jeff Morton trio plays, and for the last 8 months Theresa has been singing with them.

Got there around quarter to 8 for a 9:00 show, and it was a good thing we were early. All the normal tables were already full, but they were bringing some out from the back and we lucked into a very good table near the stage. By 9 the place was jammed completely full. Theresa was already there, just finishing up supper with family and friends and being very chummy with her boyfriend. My daughter had requested an autograph, so I had brought along one of her music theatre camp t-shirts. I introduced myself and my wife. She was very gracious, remembered me from a couple of emails I'd sent her, and of course signed the shirt for my daughter. In person she's much prettier than on TV, fairly tall and slim. "Willowy" was the word in the paper today, that covers it pretty well. She wore jeans and a kind of purplish hippieish smock shirt, with sandals. She had her glasses on, the hair is the same. She thanked us for all our support, and said she was headed back to Toronto on Monday. For those of you who find the gushing, girly voice thing to bug - you're in for more of it, that's just her, it's not an act. She's just the same in person, but comes off much more sincerely. She seems genuinely overwhelmed by all the support she is getting here in town.

The Jeff Morton Trio (plus one) came out first. Jeff plays piano with a bassist and a drummer, and tonight they had added a sax player ("plus one"). Small town - I happen to know the drummer and the sax player - they both also play for the Stone Frigate Band, a 14 piece swing band that some close friends of mine play in. I was there with those friends plus my sister, who sings and plays trombone with the Stone Frigate Band, so if you've seen that band you've seen DwarfSis. She's also rehearsed with the Jeff Morton Trio a couple of times, but had never heard Theresa so she was quite curious to hear her.

The Trio played a couple of jazz pieces and improvised very nicely. They're all quite young, early 20s I'd say, and very competent players. Then Theresa came out and introduced them. She made a couple of thank-yous and said that we would have to sit through a few hundred more thank-yous throughout the night, as she had so much support. They started off with Summertime. This version was much closer to the tempo that everyone is used to, but still identifiably Theresa's own take on it. I enjoyed it much more than her Idol performance, as she had more room to stretch with and of course had a really good four piece behind her. They traded solos around in jazz tradition, and when Theresa's came she scatted for a while. She doesn't scat for every piece, maybe only 3 songs the whole night, but when she does she's very very good. She never loses the melody and at all times sounds very warm and human - hard to describe, but some scatters just get lost in making cool noises, but she's still singing in there. Was interesting having DwarfSis there making comments from a singer's perspective. My beer-fogged memory forgets the exact tune, but one of the songs is also done by the Stone Frigate Band. DwarfSis commented on a particular note where Theresa's voice went a little weak, saying - "I hate that b-flat there. That sucker is hard to hit". Later on, Theresa hit the C above that easily, and DwarfSis commented that it's not only where you're going but where you're coming from that makes some notes hard to hit.

After a few more jazz pieces, the trio left the stage and Theresa was joined by "T-bone", a local disk jockey, on bongos. She played acoustic guitar (the same one with the dragonflies on it you can see in her profile piece from group 3). She sang a number of songs she wrote herself, plus covered Come Away with Me and a Sarah Harmer tune I didn't recognise. Her own music is very much in the jazz-folkie singer-songwriter style. One piece could have easily been an Edie Brickell song, others reminded me of Lisa Loeb or Jewel. They work a little better for her than the jazz numbers I feel, because she writes for her own range and they are personal to her, yet she still infuses that jazzy feel. The cover of Come Away with Me is probably the best version of that song I've ever heard. I may even prefer it to the original. As I said before, I wasn't familiar with the Harmer piece but it was a lovely song and I enjoyed it very much.

Looong break while she visited with family, friends and the crowd in general and then she was back with the trio for more jazz. By this point I was sensing that a couple of glasses of wine had been drunk. Already relaxed at the beginning of the evening, she got looser and better as the night went on. For this set, they were mostly just jamming. She commented on several of the pieces that she had never sung them before with the trio - they just opened up some sheet music, had a look at the chord changes and went to town. She did a very creditable job on Take the A Train, one of the unrehearsed pieces, although towards the end it did degenerate into a bit of noodling. The trio left the stage again and she hauled a couple of friends out of the audience to play with her for some more of her own stuff. I didn't catch who the guy on drums was, but the piano player was her boyfriend from 8 years ago (so, grade 10 I'm guessing). He is one hell of a piano player, and they went through some more of her own songs, all of which I enjoyed. The last piece of the set was Lean on Me, which she hadn't done with them before. The piano player was terrific on this piece, really propelling it forward and here was the missing thing of the evening - if I had to criticise one thing, it would be that she needs to play a few pieces with some guts behind them, most of her own work is pretty mellow. The first verse and chorus of Lean on Me was some of my favourite stuff of the evening - she should definitely do that one and Come Away with Me during the competition.

Overall analysis - Theresa doesn't have the best instrument I've ever heard. For one thing, she doesn't have a whole lot of range, I'd doubt she even covers two octaves. There's also not a lot of power behind it. Having said that, when she's in her range she's all about tone and musicality. Her bio says "musician" and that covers it nicely - there's a feeling for the music that she keeps when she's singing, and when she's scatting or riffiing she never loses sight of the melody and the overall feel of the piece. In this she's pretty much the anti-idol. If your vote goes to those who power-shout and glory-note their way through everything, Theresa is going to disappoint. But if you like music, give her a close listen. She's the real deal. My sister has more power and range (at 3 1/2 octaves, she's got more range than most) but her short summary at the end of the evening was: "well, she kicks my ass".

At the end of the evening they announced that they'd raised $1800 for her, so at $5 a head that was 360 people in that teeny pub - somebody was ignoring the firemarshall. Lydia's and HEL Music also got together and bought her a new guitar, a replica of the one she sold to raise money for her first Toronto trip.