Natasha Miller: Press

Natasha Miller sings 'I Had a Feelin'': The music of Bobby Sharp

(excerpts)

Special doesn't begin to capture Natasha Miller's performance Sunday evening. The joint was literally jumpin' once the singer closed the first half with "the hit" - "Unchain My Heart" - after having sung "A Real Swinging Affair," Bobby Sharp's "I Had a Feelin'," a lovely arrangement of "My Favorite Things," and the first song of Sharp's she'd listened to over a year ago, "My Magic Tower," even before the idea of an album became a reality. This song featured Rob Roth on tenor saxophone.

... Miller's expressive bare arms, bright smile, engaging banter, tickled presence and at times husky voice with a hint Barbara Streisand in the higher octaves made the 90 minutes whiz by at the swanky York Hotel's "Empire Plush Room."

The jazz standard "Route 66" dipped into blues territory ? the bebop cadence clipping at what seemed breakneck speed. Girlfriend was workin' the audience - middle class, probably a never-missed-a-meal crowd listening to a Sharp song about hard times ?"Things Are Breakin' Like Rocks." Natasha left the stage after that. The lights came up as she then walked among us listening to the audience's chorus as Sharp sang the lead in a song about Black men doing time for no other reason than they're a source of cheap labor.

"Summertime," yes, another song that would have knocked my socks off if I hadn't worn lace up shoes, was - oh my goodness - stellar. Natasha knows how to work a song. Perhaps it's her classical background, years in show business or a theatrical flair? Whatever it is, it works!