BETTY BRYANT

NOTHIN’ BETTER TO DO

City Hall Records

Betty Bryant, piano/vocals/composer; Robert Kyle, soprano & tenor saxophone/flute/guiro/ producer; Richard Simon & Hussain Jiffy, bass; Kevin Winard & Aaron Serfaty, drums; Kleber Jorge, guitar; Tony Guerrero, trumpet; Luanne Homzy, violin & viola; Niall Taro, cello.

When I see the name Betty Bryant printed across an album cover, I know in advance I’m in for a treat. She brings seven decades of swinging piano playing, unpretentious singing and unforgettable composing to every project. Her lyrics are born from a well-lived life. Betty is ninety-six years old and still going strong.

She brings tunes forward that have been hiding in the jazz archives and sings them alive, making each one brand new, always with interesting lyrics and great storytelling. Bryant opens with “You Are Not My First Love” arranged in a slow swing with a provocative story that the singer delivers like a whispered conversation to a close friends.  Betty Bryant makes us feel comfortable, being vulnerable and honest with her words and music.

This is followed by “I Can’t See For Lookin,’” a phrase I often heard my grandmother use years ago. This story unfolds like pages from a diary, sung with believability and emotional honesty. The same holds true for the blues standard “He May Be Your Man (But he Comes to See Me Sometime).” Bryant brings that Kansas City blues touch to her piano playing. She knows how to set the mood, play the groove, and sell the song.

Betty Bryant’s music draws me in like quicksand. The tune that inspired this album titled (I Haven’t got Anything Better To Do) was penned by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance in 1969.  I remember it was originally recorded and released by Brazilian bossa nova vocalist, Astrud Gilberto. Betty makes it her own, adding strings to this arrangement that features Luanne Homzy on violin and Niall Taro on cello. I also enjoyed the guitar solo of Kleber Jorge. This song may have a double entendre meaning.  Although it is a love song, the words also apply to this talented nonagenarian’s life in music. Betty is blasé and unassuming when she takes to the stage or when she chats with you at the bar. There is an air about Betty Bryant that says, I do what I love and I love what I do.  So, the title of her album capsulizes that concept. It explains her continual turn- out of creative music, as well as her soulful delivery of songs that reflect lessons of life and living. She couldn’t say it any more precisely than what her album cover states, “Nothin’ Better To Do.” 

Betty’s memory of Kansas City speakeasies and/or after-hours-places is captured in her original composition called “Mama Sue.”  The story unfolds like poetry or ‘rap,’ recapturing a time of live music, alcohol and mouth-watering bar-b-que that made “Mama Sue’s” place the spot to be.

Her producer, sax man and close friend, Robert Kyle, has contributed a down-home blues tune to the project called “OWrite Then.”  He plays a mean tenor saxophone during this presentation and Betty Bryant gets to strut her fingers across the 88-keys, bringing that blues she learned to play from Jay McShann to the forefront. Seasoned veteran and educator, Richard Simon brings his big, bad, double bass into the spotlight, to offer an engaging solo, while Kevin Winard pushes the tune forward with his power drums.

The Cool Miss B has been sharing her talents, her songwriting, piano playing and singing to California audiences since 1955. Before that, she was a working musician in Kansas City. Bryant has travelled the world, sharing her very personal music as far away as Oman, a country bordering Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates. She has performed in Brazil and for years performed at the Tableaux Lounge in Tokyo, Japan.  In 1987, her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri gave her the keys to the city and a famous photo of Betty with Jay McShann hangs in the lobby of the Kansas City American Jazz Museum.  She has released 14 critically acclaimed albums. At ninety-six years old, Betty Bryant’s singing and piano playing haven’t lost a beat!

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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