Wynne Alexander brings her ‘bouquet of refined sophistication’ to Odette’s.
By: Susan Van Dongen
The most honest critics and loyal fans, according to writer/composer Wynne Alexander, are animals, babies and children. She managed to mesmerize a friend’s cat when she sat down to play which slightly miffed the owner, who said her own music never appealed to the feline.
"I had a dog named Cecil B. who would come and listen to my music," says Ms. Alexander, speaking from her home in Merion, Pa. "I always told people that I knew it was a good song if Cecil would sit and listen. Same thing with babies and children. They’re a fabulous secret barometer. If you can get an animal or a 2-year-old to be still, you know you’ve got something."
Because she’s a woman who loves words as much as music, an intimate evening of song promises to be a singular experience full of humor, history and artfulness.
Ms. Alexander will be at Odette’s in New Hope, Pa., May 7, accompanying herself on piano with a sackful of originals, as well as gems from Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, maybe even Sam & Dave. Reviewers have conjured such names as Bonnie Raitt, Kate Bush, Alanis Morissette and Leon Russell as influences, but Ms. Alexander is a performer who defies categorization.
She grew up in a musical household: her mother sang opera and her grandfather quizzed her on overtures and arias, playing a kind of a classical "name that tune."
"He’d hum the overture and I’d name the opera," Ms. Alexander says. "By age 5, I knew about 14 overtures and so he started to expand it to major arias."
Her schooling in classical forms provided some unusual opportunities to show her knowledge. For example, she was able to identify Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ "I Put a Spell on You" as a waltz.
And why would a little girl studying opera have a Screamin’ Jay Hawkins record in the first place? Because the flipside of her classical education was an immersion in the seminal R&B of the ’60s and ’70s. Her father was the founding general manager of WDAS, a pioneering radio station in Philadelphia’s African-American community, one that attained national prominence both musically and socio-politically.
WDAS not only "broke" now-legendary acts like Marvin Gaye and the Jackson Five, but also played a key role in the struggle for civil rights, supporting both Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.
"We were Dr. King’s northern office, but we also embraced Malcolm and there isn’t a station in the country that could make that claim," Ms. Alexander says. "Even though the station only had three news reporters, WDAS sent a reporter to Little Rock in 1957 to cover the riots. We also sent people to Birmingham in 1963.
"This was in addition to the fabulous music," she continues. "These guys (introduced) records when breaking records meant something. There were no consultants they had an ear, they picked great records and the public agreed. For example, Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ nobody was playing it, but ‘Butterball’ (legendary disc jockey Joe Tamburro) believed in the record."
The combination of classical piano lessons, ear training and music appreciation merged with an enthusiasm for R&B, blues and soul. Pretty soon Aretha Franklin, Sly Stone, B.B. King and Parliament-Funkadelic were competing for turntable time with Mozart and Puccini. Ms. Alexander’s songs display both the symphonic scope and raw immediacy of the music that initially inspired her.
"I’m grateful for the musical education that was given to me from many different sources," she says.
Ms. Alexander seems to go back and forth between projects in music, writing, history and journalism she was a newsperson for WDAS at the tender age of 19. Behind all of this, however, she always seemed to be pursuing a piano career.
"I started writing music when I was 8 or 9," she says. "I wrote a variation on my lesson piece and never stopped writing. And I didn’t throw away much, so it’s all come in handy."
Her grandmother started her on the piano when Ms. Alexander was about 4. Formal lessons came later, around age 7. She went through an accelerated program in high school, skipping her senior year to study at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. However, the pedagogy in American music leaned toward contemporary atonal composers, and Ms. Alexander’s heart was more into American treasures like Duke Ellington and George Gershwin, "…so I taught myself," she says. "I also wrote a lot of plays when I was younger I was always writing or producing something. Cabaret has really embraced me, but the truth is I’m more than that. It’s like saying David Bowie is a rock musician. He’s so much more. I call what I do cosmopolitan rock, the kind of sophisticated brand of rock ‘n’roll Annie Lennox does.
"Although I don’t have the resources to do it live, I write with an orchestra in mind," Ms. Alexander continues. "I believe that’s the future of music and that’s what is special about rock. You add as much as you can and create a new (kind of music)."
Ms. Alexander’s intelligence, musicality and Garbo-esque looks have caught the attention of critics nationally and internationally. Part of their love at first sight came from looking at Ms. Alexander’s high cheekbones, aquiline nose and sultry eyes, in a shot of the singer dressed in her grandfather’s smoking jacket.
In fact, "Butterball" Tamburro has said, "if Greta Garbo could sing, she’d sound like Wynne Alexander."
"I have an older European face," she says. "We’re a nation of hybrids and many of our ethnic features are smoother, but mine are more chiseled than we’re used to. I’m Jewish from a place that switched hands between Russia, Poland and Germany but with my red hair, I’ve been mistaken for Irish all my life."
Maximillien de Lafayette, a French journalist writing for World Art Celebrities Journal, was especially worshipful. "Wynne calls her music ‘Cosmopolitan Rock,’ but I call it a rosary of glittering beads of virtuosity, warmth, elegance and beauty," Mr. de Lafayette gushes. "Human, very human. Celestial in its musical evocation, yet down to earth and explosive in its delivery. Her style is a bouquet of refined sophistication and a mad volcano of emotions and daring intimacy. I have never seen Ms. Alexander performing on stage. However, I have the precognitive feeling that this lady will embellish, revolutionize, caress, mesmerize the stage and will run with it."
Wynne Alexander will perform at Odette’s, 274 S. River Road, New Hope, Pa., May 7, 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15.50, $10 food and beverage minimum. Reservations encouraged. For information, call (215) 862-2432. On the Web: www.odettes.com. Wynne Alexander on the Web: www.wynnealexander.com