Grand Dame

Local club legend Barbara Trent rings in the New Year at Il Sol Tuscan Grill in Newtown, Pa.

By: Matt Smith
   Barbara Trent has been putting smiles on the faces of local
club-goers for about 40 years — holding court in a series of intimate rooms
in Bucks and Mercer counties, including an 11½-year run at the late, great
Blue Ram in Washington Crossing, Pa. Up until this week, the pianist and vocalist
could fill nearly every request, save one — a CD of her music to take home
at the end of the night.
   "People have been asking me forever," says Ms. Trent, who will
turn 66 on Dec. 29.
   The independently released effort, My Signature Album,
was recorded at a small studio in Bordentown with an audience of Ms. Trent’s longtime
fans.
   "It felt like I just sat down in my living room and a few friends
dropped in and I decided to entertain them," she says. "And that’s how it feels
most nights when I perform, because I usually have a place that feels like home
to me."
   Ms. Trent has been gigging at Il Sol Tuscan Grill for the past
few months, and will perform at the Newtown, Pa., restaurant Christmas Eve and
New Year’s Eve. She’ll be sure to provide her usual mix of standards, show tunes
and gospel numbers, each of which are fully represented on the new CD.
   Highlights of My Signature Album include songs such as
"Someone to Watch Over Me" and "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You." The latter
was a last-minute addition. "I was going over the tunes the other night and I
had a question mark by it," Ms. Trent says, "and one of the guys who’s producing
it said to put it on. I said, ‘Well, I got a little carried away on that one,’
and he said, ‘Well, that’s what we love.’"
   A New York City native, Ms. Trent spent most of her childhood
in Lambertville and graduated from what was then Lambertville High School. After
studying elementary education at Wilmington College in Ohio, she taught in the
Buckeye State before returning to teach in the Trenton school system. On the evenings
and weekends, however, she was a fixture on the bustling 1960s Trenton club scene.
"In those days I made $10 a night," she says. "I realized I was making more money
at night than I was teaching."
   This past summer, Ms. Trent returned to the area after a 2½-year
stay in Orlando, Fla., with her younger son, Guy. She now lives in Morrisville,
Pa., with her older son, Scott. "It was nice but it’s not home," says Ms. Trent
of her Florida stay, which did include a series of lucrative engagements for Disney.
   Ms. Trent has been singing since age 2, when her Juilliard-trained
father taught her and her two older sisters to harmonize in the style of the Andrews
Sisters. By 5, she was playing chords on the piano. At age 8, "I could listen
to any tune on the radio and could go over (to the piano) and come up with a pretty
good facsimile," she says. "To this day, I trained my mind to memorize. Once I
commit a new song to my memory, I’ve got it for life."
   Growing up, Ms. Trent came to appreciate the likes of Frank
Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn. She’s also become a fan
of Elton John and Babs herself, Barbra Streisand.
   "I was riding along one day on Route 13 and I had never heard
‘Evergreen,’" Ms. Trent says. "All of a sudden I had to pull over — and there’s
hardly a (shoulder) on the side of the road — but I knew if I kept going
I was going to crash. I just started to cry and I couldn’t see. It was so beautiful."
   Surprisingly, Ms. Trent is not a huge blues fan. "I don’t like
blues because all the singers I grew up listening to killed themselves. If you
sing the blues all the time and really feel what you’re singing, one day you’re
going to slit your wrists." When she does perform the blues, "I have little twists
to them so everybody’s not falling over the bar."
   When it comes to piano, Ms. Trent says she plays "well" and
can easily arrange a song to suit her strengths. However, she limits the piano
interludes when she plays live, considering her work on the instrument more as
an extension of her performance. "When I sit down at the piano it becomes a part
of me and I forget I’m playing sometimes," she says.
   Ms. Trent says her voice has aged nicely over her four-decade-long
career. "It’s basically the same but I’ve gotten stronger. I’ve gained weight
and that helps… I was tiny when I first started out but I’m twice the woman
now, so that has a lot to do with it."
   Many of the songs in her repertoire are the same ones she was
performing years ago but Ms. Trent says she now sings them with more insight into
what they’re about.
   "Back in those days I was a young girl," she notes. "I loved
the lyrics but I hadn’t experienced any of it. But now I’m more into the music
because I’ve been through a lot of those experiences in 40 years. The songs affect
me more."
Barbara Trent will perform at Il Sol Tuscan Grill, 255 N. Sycamore St., Newtown,
Pa., Dec. 24 and Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m.-midnight. Dec. 24: free admission. New Year’s
Eve: $30 bar seating (includes appetizers/champagne toast), $50 6 p.m. dinner-only
seating, $75 9 p.m. dinner seating (includes champagne toast/party favors). For
information, call (215) 968-5880. On the Web: www.ilsoltuscangrill.com