Evingson’s Fresh Frish

We are crazy about jazz singer Connie Evingson. Yesterday we attended the second of her two sold-out productions of Fresh Frish at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis. Following up on Connie’s disc Little Did I Dream, the show featured songs from the extensive catalog of St. Paul’s own Dave Frishberg. Frishberg didn’t make the show last night but he accompanied Connie on the recording. Last night Connie called on Jon Weber (piano), Gordon Johnson (bass), and Dave Karr (sax and flute). All were superb.

I would say of last night’s show exactly what the New York Times’s Stephen Holden said when Frishberg and Jessica Molaskey teamed up in 2006 at Feinstein’s at the Regency in New York. Holden reviewed the Frishberg/Molaskey show under the heading “Her voice, his tender, cruel songs.” As Holden said of Ms. Molaskey, I would say Connie “has the gift of being jazzy and deep at the same time.”

Among the highlights of last night’s show were two songs that Holden singled out in the 2006 Frishberg/Molaskey set: “My Attorney Bernie” (according to Frishberg himself, written for “Tim Brown’s party in Minneapolis”) and “Heart’s Desire” (written for Frishberg’s sons). Below is a video of Connie’s recording of “My Attorney Bernie” with Frishberg on piano and Karr on flute. The playing, the singing, the song all overflow with wit.

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