Glitz, glamour and Gaga: ‘Jazz & Piano’ provides quintessential Vegas show experience
Lady Gaga’s “Jazz & Piano” residency, back in business at Park MGM for the first time since Las Vegas rang in New Year’s 2020, has it all. Song. Dance. Big Band sound. Glitz and glamour. Stories. And more.
The Academy Award and multi-grammy winner, suffice it to say, puts on what is the quintessential Las Vegas show.
For more than two hours Thursday, Gaga — backed by a full orchestra and the Brian Newman Quintet — entertained with standards from the Great American Songbook, including numbers from Cole Porter, Nat King Cole, Bart Howard and Frank Loesser. She also delivered stripped-down versions of four of her own hits — “Is anyone here a fan of my old records?” she asked shyly — including “Born This Way” and “Poker Face.”
“To be asked to sing jazz in Las Vegas, that’s a dream,” Gaga explained to the audience during one of the lulls between songs. Noting that some of the songs in the show were nearly 100 years old, “I feel honored to sing some of my hit songs” alongside them, she said.
And sing she did. The classically trained Gaga was mesmerizing all night, both behind the microphone and on the piano. On “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” she even dipped into a Satchmo-like Louis Armstrong voice.
Her accompaniment was spot-on too. Newman on trumpet, Daniel Foose on the stand-up bass, pianist Alex Smith, Steve Kortyka on saxophone and drummer Donald Barrett proved more than worthy backups for Gaga — especially Newman jamming on Cole’s “Orange Colored Sky” and Kortyka blasting away with Newman in a horn vs. horn battle during “Rags to Riches.”
There were multiple costume changes for the always-fashionable Gaga. Several of the outfits, according to the Hollywood Reporter, were designed by her sister, Natali Germanotta. One outfit, a sparkling tassel dress reminiscent of a 1920s flapper, gave Gaga the opportunity to shoot a quick buttshot to the audience during “Call Me Irresponsible.”
But Gaga was anything but irresponsible. She told story after story about her love for jazz and its history in America. And with that, she also heaped praise on her sometimes duet partner, Tony Bennett.
With the release of “Love for Sale,” their latest album occurring just weeks prior to the show, the 95-year-old crooner was definitely on Gaga’s mind. Bennett’s family earlier this year disclosed his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and Gaga didn’t hide her love for him.
“Everybody asks me about Tony, and they get real serious? ‘What’s it like singing with someone with Alzheimer’s?’
“I say, it’s Tony’s nature that is changing. Tony’s not changing,” she said.
Setlist
“Luck Be A Lady” (Frank Loesser, 1950) “Orange Colored Sky” (Nat King Cole, 1961)
“Love for Sale” (Cole Porter, 1930)
“Call Me Irresponsible” (Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, 1962)
“Poker Face” (2008)
“Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” (Sonny Bono, 1966)
“I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” (Django Reinhardt, 1936)
“Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)” (Cole Porter, 1928)
“Do I Love You” (Cole Porter, 1939)
“Born This Way” (2011)
“Rags to Riches” (Richard Adler and
Jerry Ross, 1953)
“Mambo Italian” (Bob Merrill, 1954) “Coquette” (Carmen Lombardo and Johnny Green, 1928)
“What a Difference a Day Makes” (Maria Grever, 1934)
“Paparazzi” (2007)
“La Vie en Rose” (Edith Piaf, 1945) “You’re the Top” (Cole Porter and John Mcglinn, 1934)
“Bad Romance” (2009)
“Fly Me to the Moon” (Bart Howard, 1954)
“Theme from New York, New York”
(John Kander and Fred Ebb, 1977)