Sunny Sumter at the Kennedy Center, March 6, 2000

by Alan Greenblatt

Sunny Sumter is a local jazz singer I've never been overwhelmed by -that is, until this past Monday at the Kennedy Center Terrace

Theater, when she sang a version of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Dindi" that alone was worth the price of admission. The song was perfectly suited to her style, a strong melody that needed little embellishment.

Sumter has a clear alto voice with virtually no vibrato. She sings some songs with a slight twist; for instance, she opened with a mid-tempo, slighly off-kilter "Getting to Know You." But she engages in almost no improvisation. Like Diana Krall, a popular singer she mentioned admiringly, she finds her version of a song and then she sticks with it.

Sumter was a last-minute replacement for Teri Thornton as the guest of Billy Taylor. Taylor hosts about a dozen of these concerts a year at the Kennedy Center for taping of a public radio show. Sumter was not so strong on the conversational aspect of the show. Taylor would prompt her to tell some anecdote that she'd obviously shared with his producer, and she would giggle and say, in so many words, oh, that one.

The song then talk then another song format makes it tough to get a musical groove going, and Sumter began quite hesitantly. Maybe she was too conscious of this being a big break, her major previous media appearance having been on "Good Morning Russia." I don't know whether she will win over legions of fans via the radio waves, but the crowd at the Kennedy Center certainly embraced. She is a singer with great potential gifts and if she picks up a few more tricks (I don't think she'll ever have the instinctive musical intelligence of a Teri Thornton) she'll be worth keeping up with.

As for Taylor, he played with more gusto than is his usual wont, including a terrific, bluesy "Love for Sale."