December 15 | 8:30 pm | Blue Llama Jazz Club
There are few jazz vocalists more in demand than Stella Cole, an up-and-coming jazz singer from New York City who’s got as much glitz and glam as she’s got vocal chops. The Blue Llama Jazz Club welcomes her for the first time on the winter leg of her US tour.
Ms. Cole’s silky voice will surely transport you into a newly colorized film from the 1940s. With a sound reminiscent of The Golden Age of Hollywood, it’s no secret that Ms. Cole is an admirer of that aesthetic. The 25-year-old gained popularity during the pandemic singing jazz standards and Great American Songbook tunes on TikTok. Today, she boasts over 12 million likes on the app and nearly 770k followers on Instagram. Her debut single was released with Scott Bradlee’s Post Modern Jukebox in 2022, and now Ms. Cole has two studio albums: the newly released “Snow!” and the self-titled “Stella Cole”.
Her trio tonight included Michael Kanan (piano), Mikey Migliore (bass), and Henry Allen-Barfield (drums). She began her set with the Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer tune “I’m Old Fashioned,” which was a perfectly fitting introduction. Standards “The Boy Next Door” and “Get Happy” followed, plainly revealing her influence from the great Judy Garland.
There was no shortage of Christmas magic from Ms. Cole either. “White Christmas,” “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm,” and “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas” (to name a few) all made it into the set.
“I’m singing on the “Today” show later this week…” She said, introducing the next tune. “Is it ok if this is a practice run?” Audience members smiled, knowing they received a first glance at her solo version of “Snow!.”
Her set was modest, focusing primarily on her sumptuous vocalism as she performed an abundance of Great American Songbook tunes in a fairly traditional style. The Songbook tradition can be stifling to some modern jazz musicians, but Ms. Cole fully embraces the beauty and relevance of that tradition in her more “straight-ahead” performances.
The ghost of Judy Garland surely beams over Ms. Cole’s recordings of “The Boy Next Door” and “Over The Rainbow,” two of Garland’s most notable performances. Ms. Cole’s suggestive tribute made me consider the history of American music and its influence on our modern times—Songbook tunes pop up all over modern jazz records and are taught thoroughly in academia, and holiday songs released over 60 years ago play on the radio year after year. The pop music of America’s past carries into the future, thanks to its beautiful melodies and heartwarming lyricism, preserved through a modern dedication to tradition.
“So many people of my generation aren’t familiar with these songs, and I’m excited about the opportunity to introduce this timeless music to a new audience,” Ms. Cole says. There is an endurance behind jazz’s relevance, which Ms. Cole is clearly devoted to preserving.
Images thanks to The Blue Llama Jazz Club.
