The Hollis Penfield Quintet - at Pizza On the Park, London 12th of March

How do you describe what took place at Pizza on the Park on Sunday 12th March. The Hollis Penfield Quintet played to a capacity audience breaking all records for a Sunday night performance - it was impossible to book a seat - and for those lucky enough to have secured a ticket she didn't disappoint.

Billed as this San Franciscan jazz/cabaret singer who would take you on a rollercoaster of emotions with a breath of Garland, a hint of Midler and Peggy Lee and a love of Sinatra she delivered exactly that.

She started with "The Glory Of Love" and ended with "Everything's Coming Up Roses" and when the audience shouted for more she encored with "La Vie en Rose" and finally ended with "Diamonds Are AGirl's Best Friend".

Her unique Jazz/Cabaret style had the audience tapping and clapping to "I've Got Rhythm", had them entranced by "People", on stage through "Cabaret" and hypnotized as she perched on a table top as she did the most incredible rendition of "The Man Who Got Away".

The Hollis Penfield experience changes a jazz night where an audience watches the stage, to an evening when everyone feels special - she runs into her dressing room to bring out glitter powder to sprinkle on members of the audience and yet everyone thinks that it must be fairy dust as we all feel touched by magic.

This performance takes a huge amount of energy, and her table top, crop/whip carrying antics only work because she has talent and a voice that barely without a breath can leap from the Minute Waltz to Fever.

This is a singer who genuinely loves people, supported by a band who obviously love her - Gunther Kuermayr on piano, Dave Jones on bass, Pete Cater on drums and Ian Ritchie on sexaphone as Hollis so cheekily describes it.

We can only hope that we get the opportunity to see the Hollis Penfield Quintet again at this kind of venue, so that more people can have the opportunity to not only hear a great singer but to see a performer and to experience the rollercoaster of emotions she'll undoubtedly take you on.

by T. E. Chantler ( reviewed for Absolute Jazz magazine )