Clint Holmes

The New York Times – A Bobby Short Tribute Is Exuberant and Reverent
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
What fragrance is “kinda young, kinda now, kinda free, kinda wow”? For those old enough to remember, that pitch from a 1970s TV commercial featuring Shelley Hack may unlock memories of a happy-go-lucky Bobby Short, who composed the jingle singing the praises of Charlie, the Revlon perfume for sophisticated on-the-go gals.

The Charlie commercial was the closest thing to a hit single for Short, recalled Clint Holmes, who performed it last week at the opening night of his show “Remembering Bobby Short,” at the Café Carlyle. He followed it with his bubbly rewrite, “Bobby.” However you feel about the fragrance, the jingle distilled the unquenchable joie de vivre that Short conveyed at the Café Carlyle, his stomping grounds for more than three decades until his death in 2005.

In his carefully constructed tribute, Mr. Holmes, an entertainment king in Las Vegas, approaches his subject with a cheerful reverence. What connects Mr. Holmes with his idol has little to do with musical style or vocal similarity and
everything to do with exuberance. What really matters is that the party go on and that its host keep its hi-de-ho spirits aloft with only one or two pauses for reflection. Mr. Holmes showed the heart and the stamina for the task.

The program consists almost entirely of songs favored by Short, including seven by Cole Porter and two by Rodgers and Hart. The musicians (Jeffrey Neiman on piano, Jay Leonhart on bass and Sherrie Maricle on drums) were supplemented midway in the show by John Eckert on trumpet, Mike Christianson on trombone and Patience Higgins on saxophone and flute, who help recreate the small-band sound of Short’s later years.

Mr. Holmes delicately negotiated the tricky matter of vocal imitation, often scaling back his lounge-singer swagger several notches to croon in a pure head voice with polished, if hesitant phrasing. This was most effective in the humorous Ivor Novello song “And Her Mother Came, Too,” which ends with a witty punch line. Here and there, he incorporated Short’s body language of a suave, smiling teddy bear throwing out his arms at the end of a number.

Most important, Mr. Holmes paid serious attention to lyrics. The most introspective moment was a medley of “It Never Entered My Mind” and “Losing My Mind,” whose narrator, blindsided by thwarted passion, regret and confusion, fearfully stumbles through the dark. Mr. Holmes sang as though he were conducting a ruthless self-examination in a mirror. That this hypergregarious entertainer could shuck his defenses was something of a shock: a welcome one.

 

Wall Street Journal – Clint Holmes: Remembering Bobby Short
By Will Friedwald

Bobby’s fans will not feel Short-changed. The British-born, Vegasbased entertainer Clint Holmes (known for his 1972 hit “Playground in My Mind”) is perhaps the last artist I would have fingered for a Short tribute, at the late icon’s home base no less, but that counterintuitive thinking is part of what makes the show so enjoyable. Endowed with strong chops and the warmth and smarts to go with them, Mr. Holmes is one of the rare showbiz types who make slickness seem like a real asset. Cole Porter is a running theme: only Porter could have written “I Happen to Like New York,” an anthem that is pugnacious, defensive and self-mocking. There are also freshly reconsidered renditions of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “Night and Day” along the way. Closing with “Every Time We Say Goodbye” may seem predictable, on paper at least, but there couldn’t be a more fitting finale.