Christene Fisher in performance. - Dennis Coke3 DEEP POETZ presented a night that was more than knee deep in jazz and poetry at the Grog Shoppe at Devon House on Tuesday night. While the poetry was great listening, however, there was no doubt that Christine Fisher's performance simple stole the show.
Ms. Fisher took the stage in the latter part of the presentation, after the audience had been listening to Harold Fisher and Friends perform on their own as well as supporting the three poets Gina Rey Forest, Rodney Campbell and guest poet Duane Francis.
In attempting to give an introduction to Ms. Fisher, Rodney asked Harold to describe her. Mr. Fisher stated: "Every time mi hear har sing, di hair dem inna mi neck back stan up." This statement had the audience in stitches. "Which hair?" one woman asked. Harold Fisher is quite bald.
The instant she hit the first note Christine Fisher had the crowd (forgive the cliché) eating out of the palms of her hands. The numbers she performed ranged in feel and topic, but never varied in quality. Her performance included a very jazzy version of Blessed Assurance, which had the audience awed.
She also performed Peggy Lee's Fever, Nina Simone's My Baby Don't Care and Aretha Franklin's Natural Woman. Her finale piece was Sade's Taboo. As she ended her segment, the crowd broke out in what can only be described as thunderous applause. In fact, a few persons saw it fit to get to their feet to show their appreciation.
Fortunately for the audience, Rodney Campbell asked her to give just a "tupps more". Ms. Fisher complied and gave a wonderful rendition of Billie Holiday's God Bless The Child.
The night appeared to have been quite a success for both the audience and the performers. Additionally, as Rodney Campbell was quick to point out, the show began promptly at 8 o'clock. Mr. Campbell stated that the group is making it their business to start on time. Commendable as that is, quite a bit of the audience had not caught on to this non-Jamaican trend toward punctuality, as they were late in arriving.
Nonetheless, late or early a good time was had by all.
