A very worthy tribute occasionally marred by audience caterwauling.

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It has been over six years since Whitney Houston tragically died. Idolised for the sheer clarity, depth, and power of her singing, Houston still represents the gold-standard of female pop/R&B vocals. When I saw that the Jazz Cafe was hosting ‘a night of Whitney’ in honour of her legacy my immediate response was both scepticism and interest. Certainly, there was the possibility of karaoke disaster. However, having witnessed the VOX Collective deliver an excellent performance of Carole King’s seminal Tapestry album at the Jazz Cafe, I trusted that the venue would find quality musicians to do justice to Houston’s greatest hits.

Fortunately, my faith in the venue paid off. Shanay Holmes, a former cast member of the London production of The Bodyguard musical, performed the night’s tribute with a live band behind her. Charismatic, confident, and vocally-talented, Shanay fully committed herself to honouring Miss Houston. While no one has the voice of Whitney Houston, Shanay’s pop/R&B vocal chops were put to good use: she nailed the tricky syncopation of ‘I’m Your Baby Tonight’, added her own inflections to ‘Queen Of The Night’, and injected a manic energy into the climax of ‘All The Man That I Need’.

Pleasingly, Shanay and her band deviated from imitative renderings of Houston’s hit songs. A call-and-response segment was added to ‘Saving All My Love For You’, the reggae influence in ‘My Love Is Your Love’ was amplified, and the saxophone riff in ‘I Will Always Love You’ was replaced with electric guitar. The arrangements, devoid of 1980s production stylings, had a less-refined and heavier sound too – even modernising these 1980s/90s hits somewhat. While the sound mix could have given more weight to the backing vocalists, and while there were a handful of missed cues, Shanay and her band gave a valiant, respectable tribute – completely averting the potential disaster that the night could have been.

If there was any disaster on the night, it was the audience. Of course, crowd-pleasing numbers such as ‘I’m Every Woman’, ‘How Will I Know’, and ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ would inevitably elicit frenzied audience participation. Yet tuneless shouting throughout ruined the ballads of the evening. It was even at times a battle between Shanay and the audience for volume. Moreover, Shanay’s tweaks to the material and subtle differences in phrasing were seemingly lost on the audience whose singing jarred rhythmically with Shanay and the band. Her beautiful delivery of the delicate acapella introduction to ‘I Will Always Love You’ fell victim to this.

However, the band seemed thrilled by the audience response. Maybe it’s just me.

(Image taken from Jazz Cafe website with permission)