When jazz vocalist Wenonah Brooks takes the stage at Off-Broadstreet Theatre April 13 at 7 p.m., she will be doing her 25th annual show at the venue.
Each year’s concert has had a theme, and this year’s is “Herstory.” Brooks said there will be an autobiographical element to the show as she takes the audience through the years of her career in general and her years at Off-Broadstreet Theatre in particular.
The Hopewell native is from a large family, and her mother, Evelyn Brooks, who just turned 93, has attended every concert at the theater at 5 S. Greenwood Ave. save one. She expects to see her mother this year as well.
“She’s very supportive. At the shows, people kind of look for her to get up and dance,” Brooks said with a laugh.
Brooks has six sisters, two of whom also sing professionally. She says it’s a “mandate” that they all do gospel singing, but she has made a name for herself as a jazz singer. On her website, she describes her style as “a synthesis of standard material — from (Count) Basie, (Cole) Porter, (Lorenz) Hart (Thelonious) Monk, Paul Simon etc. and her personal style of subtle interpretation.”
Over the years she has performed with, among others, Stanley Jordan, Shirley Horn, Winard Harper, Richie Cole, Denis DiBlasio, Cecil Brooks III and Houston Person. Person, a noted tenor saxophonist, will be on stage with her this month in Hopewell.
“I can’t remember the first year he began coming down (from New York), but can’t be more than eight–nine years he’s been coming down as my special guest,” Brooks said. “He’s much more famous than I’ll ever be, but he refuses to make it about him. He says, ‘I’m not going to stand on the stage beside you. I should be behind you.’”
Brooks said she likes the way he plays. “He sings with his saxophone,” she said. “But to me he’s also a good accompanist.”
Also scheduled to be part of her band on April 13 are pianist Aaron Graves, bassist Matthew Parish and drummer Joe Brown, Jr. Of Brown she said, “He’s an awesome kid — a kid to me, he’s not a kid — he’s really an old soul. I like the way he drums, but he doesn’t go bamming all out. Whoever’s standing out front, he’s about supporting them.”
Brooks, 71, said she’s put out the word to the greater jazz community in the area about the show and hopes some of her friends will drop by with their instruments to sit in with the band. She can’t say yet whether there will be any special guests, but she’s hopeful.
She also had kind words for Off-Broadstreet Theatre’s owners, Bob and Julia Thick.
“Bob and Julia have always been very good to me,” she said. “When I came to them initially with the idea, they were very receptive. I’ve never had a bad show.”
The theater serves coffee, tea and dessert, and attendees can bring wine or beer. Tickets are $30. To purchase them, call (908) 249-3403. More information about Wenonah Brooks is online at notesfromnona.com. More information about Off-Broadstreet Theatre is at off-broadstreet.com.
–Joe Emanski
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