Rhonda Denét Making a Name in Bloomfield

“I’ll be doing everything from Ella to Aretha,” said Rhonda Denét as she opened her show “From Jazz to Soul” at the . This time she was unfortunately flying solo, as part of her three-piece band was out sick. Luckily, for the cozy midday crowd Denét didn’t let that stop her from commanding the modest stage with her melodious voice.

Next to her simple electronic set up Denét launched into her first song, “The Lady is Tramp” by Ella Fitzgerald. She moved on to “Come Rain or Come Shine” by Billie Holiday (especially apt given the sporadic weather) and “I Wish You Love” by Nancy Wilson.

Denét really hit her stride with “My Baby Just Cares for Me” by Nina Simone, dropping her voice to match Simone’s low tenor and even doing a little shimmy dance on stage reminiscent of the late singer. Ella Fitzgerald’s “At Last” concluded the “Jazz” part of the show and she couldn’t have made a better choice. Who doesn’t get chills down their spine when that opening line is sung? Especially when a singer as rich and soulful as Denét is the one singing it.

The second half of the show included “Heatwave” by Martha & the Vandellas, “My Guy” by Mary Wells, and “Chain of Fools” by Aretha Franklin. The show closed with the Gladys Knight & The Pips’ standard “Midnight Train to Georgia”.

Although the dreary weather kept away most of the crowd, the steadfast music lovers that did make it to the performance thoroughly enjoyed themselves, clapping , singing and tapping their toes to every song.

“She sounded great. I might have to change my mind. I usually don’t like jazz,” said Lisa Cohn, the Librarian in charge of Programming. She said she was more used to instrumental jazz.

Denét continues to reach more people through her performances. The Washington, D.C. native has been playing for nearly 30 years and still remembers the time she saw a teen girl singing along to the jazz section of her show.

“That’s how I knew I was doing the right thing,” she said explaining that inspiring the next generation to appreciate the music of the past is of the utmost importance.

Denét and the Silver Fox Songs Trio will be playing private gigs while they get acclimated to New Jersey. To keep up with them visit www.silverfoxsongs.com. The Bloomfield Public Library will continue their concert series in September. Their upcoming events calendar can be viewed at www.bplnj.org.