Morning Melodies: Cottontail Trio and Supper Club

Morning Melodies at His Majesty’s Theatre are advertised as ‘Concerts for the Young at Heart’. As the name suggests, the concerts are over before lunch, so they attract retirees, and in they pour by the hundred for a one hour concert featuring some of Australia’s finest talent, followed by morning tea in the theatre foyer where they have the opportunity to meet the performers. All this for $27, with a light lunch available for a modest charge. And the Maj is on a winner!

The concerts are always very good indeed, and this one was one of the most entertaining I’ve seen. The nine performers (Cottontail Trio providing vocals and The Supper Club supplying, with just six players, something approaching the big band sound of the 1930s) melded into an extremely polished ensemble. Not a beat was missed, not a step or scat fluffed.

Cottontail’s forte is reincarnating the darlings of the 30s and 40s: the Andrews Sisters. Lead singer, soprano Jessie Gordon, is Maxene, contralto Alissa Claessens is Patty and mezzo Amy Rosato is LaVerne. Collectively, they sound more like the Andrews Sisters than any ’tribute’ trio has a right to sound. They even look a bit like their heroines!

But the talents of this trio don’t stop with the Andrews girls. They can also channel the Boswell Sisters, an earlier close-harmony group that had a strong influence on the Andrews Sisters: in fact the latter group started out as Boswell imitators. Songs from both groups are still popular today, and Cottontail rendered a fair selection. The most famous, repertoired by both the Boswells and the Andrews, was ‘Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy’. It was delivered with gusto, as were many other beloved numbers including ‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’, ‘Java Jive’ and ‘Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree’. Other fine offerings included an a capella performance of the lovely gospel song ‘Don’t You Weep, Little Baby’ and ‘One place to Be’ in crooner style, with excellent complex harmonies.

Variety was sustained not only by the diverse repertoire, but also by variations in the numbers on stage. The first half was brought to a rousing conclusion with ‘When the Saints Come Marching In’ from the band, which gave the horn section chance to shine individually and collectively. Jessie Gordon’s solo rendition of ‘All of Me’ featured impressive breaks by the wind players and some particularly fine scat singing as well.

Mention must also be made of the ladies’ dancing ability. ‘Every leg alike’ could be their motto, and not only in your common-or-garden step-kick. Some of the routines were intricate and choreographically quite difficult, to say nothing of pretty strenuous for people who are singing at the same time!

Watch out for these versatile performers – you might catch Gordon fronting The Darling Buds of May or Rosato performing with local soul and motown band Stratosfunk. Not only are they all fans of swing: Claessens even teaches swing dancing. The same can be said for The Supper Club – all six instrumentalists can be found playing in various groups around Perth. With such wide-ranging abilities and an obvious capacity for sheer hard work, all nine stand a good chance of being on the scene for many years to come.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5