|
Shelton
and van Deusen Reunited…and It Feels So Good
“I think Bob realized that together we’re a lot more powerful than apart,” Shelton says. “He’s been so supportive and positive. Whenever I’m down, he says, ‘Baby, you just need to sing!’” The charismatic pianist ran into Shelton—“a lovely, talented, vivacious person,” van Deusen calls her—by chance and they started doing some gigs in Pensacola, where both live with their respective spouses and families. “As you can see, she can get a whole room of people right in her hand,” he says. “If you love your audience, they’ll love you back. She is a pleasure to work with, and she listens exquisitely. It’s great fun. I enjoy every minute of playing with her. I’ve been playing professionally for 29 years, and I’ve never met anybody like her. Ever.” Philadelphia-born van Deusen took to the piano at a very young age, listening to everything from Beethoven and Stan Kenton. “My classical influences were varied,” he says. “But I always dug the schmaltzy stuff—Chopin, Brahms, any romantic composer. I was eight years old when I heard Rhapsody in Blue and thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.” Determined to play the Gershwin masterpiece in its entirety—“18 minutes and change”—van Deusen learned the piece, which led to his winning a young musician’s competition at age 11. “From then on, I set my sights on long pieces, piano concertos—big forms.” You can hear those influences in van Deusen’s improvisations. His classical career comes full circle this October when he performs the complete Rhapsody in Blue with the Atlanta Symphonic Band. During high school, the self-described “natural born hambone” played music nonstop. Immediately after graduating, he set his sights on music school. “Then the late ‘70s came along, and I discovered that the people who were attracted to my Franz Liszt and Beethoven and Brahms were not as cooperative as the people who were into Elton John and the Stones.” By the 1980s, Van Deusen was on the road with Sammy Davis, Jr. working clubs all over the Midwest. “I was on my way. Then I started my spiral downward into a bout with alcoholism that damn near killed me.” van Deusen says he literally lived on the street from about 1985 to 1990. “Then I got sober. And ever since then it’s been a rocket ship.” He spent five years performing in New Orleans and another four traveling aboard the Delta Queen steamboat. “I called it ‘traveling the United States from the inside out. We did 16 states, and it was a hoot.” A steady gig at the Hilton Sandestin’s Seagar’s restaurant followed, then some more time out on the road. For the past year, van Deusen has built up a well-deserved following at Connie Niehaus’ Cafe Provence. Shelton joined the act a couple months ago. “There’s millions of female vocalists out there, but only one Holly,” van Deusen says. “She needs to be out in front of an audience working. What’s that great line from The Blues Brothers? ‘She’s on a mission from God!’” The tall, blond, attractive singer is often compared to Diana Krall, although Ella Fitzgerald’s strong influence takes precedence once you’ve listened to Shelton’s winning vocal stylings. “She’s the number one tops, always will be. No one can beat her,” Shelton says of Fitzgerald. “My mother had an incredible voice and did shows all over the country, so it’s hard to get around the fact that she influenced me tremendously. The guys, too—Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, and, of course, Frank. Frank and Ella just did whatever the hell they wanted to.” Considering that many of the old standards have been overdone by not just the greats but ‘70s rock stars like Rod Stewart and Carly Simon looking to reinvent themselves, how does Shelton manage to make these songs sound so fresh? “Just because a color is blue, it may look like a different shade of blue to me,” Shelton explains. “I see what the song is about, what it means to me, and make it my own. I also go for the songs that have great stories.” Shelton sees herself as a storyteller first and foremost. She certainly has plenty of great stories to share, especially concerning the time she spent in the early 1980s as a “floater” at Warner Brothers in Hollywood. “I worked every job in the studio from the mail room to creating their mail-order catalogue which is huge now.” A casting stint led to a meeting with Clint Eastwood, whose love of music might have inspired him to give Shelton the role of a struggling jazz singer in his 1986 film Heartbreak Ridge. These days, van Deusen says he tries to keep the songbook as varied as possible. He and Shelton are always looking for contemporary material to include, but adds, “We still want to be able to take the stage at a jazz festival and kick ass. “Jazz musicians play because we can’t find outlets for our passions anywhere else,” van Deusen commented. “We have to play or we’ll go crazy!” In addition to the Saturday nightspot at Cafe Provence, van Deusen keeps his sanity in check by playing some gigs in Pensacola and doing live radio work with the University of West Florida. van Deusen’s 2003 recording The Naked Piano-Trio is comprised of spirited performances from NPR’s Radio Live program. “I’ve worked with them for about 18 years.” The talented van Deusen also hopes to re-release Errand Girl for Rhythm, the swing and Dixieland influenced album he and Shelton recorded years ago. “We’re gonna go back in the studio and do one from the ground up,” he promises. “I think the maturity and communication and love we have for each other that has transcended the years will be very apparent.” It already is. SIDEBAR: WHO? Holly
Shelton—vocals; Bobby van Deusen—keyboards. |
||
Having
sampled only a small portion of their repertoire at Cafe
Provence—along with some of the most exceptional food on
Earth, and The Beachcomber’s resident gourmet will back
me up on that—I’m not sure if pianist Bobby van Deusen
and vocalist Holly Shelton do the old Buck Owens tune Together
Again. But it would make an appropriate theme song, since the
two just recently reunited to make richly entertaining music together
after a 10-year separation.Copyright © The Beachcomber, Inc. 2003 - 2010. All rights reserved.