All Denzal Sinclaire had to do was mention high school, not even Applewood Heights Secondary School by name, on Friday night and the crowd at the Living Arts centre went wild.
"I must have sung this a million times in high school," Sinclaire said, while he began to play Misty for us.
There was a wave of applause from the capacity crowd and a shout from one of the upper level balconies of, "I was your teacher."
It was old home night for Sinclaire, who lived here for 11 years as a teen and young adult before he headed out to become one of Canada's best male jazz singers.
Although he gave us a couple of blues-based numbers, Sinclaire delivered a lot of what he is best at, which is the sensitive interpretation of the great American songbook.
In his deceptively straightforward delivery of a ballad and his ability to let a song speak for itself, Sinclaire reminds me of no less a singer than Johnny Hartman, the superb American baritone whose genius only seemed to be recognized after he was gone.
Sinclaire has the same ability to be poignant without ever being sentimental and to sell a song on its own merits.
Of course, intelligent choice of material is a key to that kind of approach and on Friday, the Vancouver resident blessed us with well-known Gershwin (I Got Rhythm) lesser known but still stellar Gershwin (For You, For Me, For Evermore), some reinterpreted Johnny Nash (I Can See Clearly Now), Billie Holiday's What's New, and a breathtaking version of Jerome Kern's Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, which he stood to sing. That was appropriate as it became a kind of jazz anthem in his hands.
Sinclaire played several songs from his forthcoming CD including the title number, My One and Only Love. It's being released Jan. 24 on Verve.
Although he's made lots of solid CDs in the past, this one is something special. It's predominantly ballads and it has that quality that makes an album last, the feeling that each of the songs has been fashioned carefully from a thematic whole.
I can't recommend it highly enough.
Sinclaire even takes that old warhorse, Stardust, and makes it live anew.
Pick it up after Christmas as a present to yourself and enjoy. I can assure you it will leave you with more than one melody that haunts your reverie.