Oct. 16, 1971: An encore visit with Diane Taber
Oct. 16,
1971
Diane Taber
Singing Better Than Ever
If
advertising is supposed to raise curiosity, then the signs at the corner of
A
look at the petite, auburn-haired vocalist reveals that the exuberance of 1½
years ago is blooming with a bit of elegant maturity – ease and confidence in a
long-sleeved floor-length dress.
Her
second show begins with a subdued but urgent version of “Get Ready” with the
Bill Maggio Trio bumping and thumping and not quite jumping into the forbidden
frenzy of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a real test of their convictions.
* * *
NOW THAT
clubs are bandwagoned with cocktail rock and high-powered show groups, it’s
refreshing to hear a little breeze of cocktail jazz again. And pianist Bill
Maggio is a master of the idiom.
It’s most effective on the Carole King songs. The “Tapestry”
songbook is on the piano and the set is heavy with them.
A more appropriate song might be one from the first Carole King
album, “Going Back.” Not that Diane sounds like Carole King. No, Diane
resonates with mistier memories, 15 or 20 years back.
She seems to have rounded the edges off her voice. Now it’s
softer and fuller than before, like the crooners had. Which ‘50s singer does
she remind you of? Jo Stafford? Jaye P. Morgan?
And she takes real old-fashioned command from the stage.
She’s not afraid to smile at the front table or the back of the room. When was
the last time someone looked you right in the eye and delivered a lyric as if
she were singing it just for you?
* * *
PHOTOGRAPHER
Joe Bongi Jr., her energetic husband, manager and promoter, is there after the
set with a Diane Taber fact sheet. Among other things, it says she’s at The
Cloister,
“I was on a radio talk show the other day,” Diane says, “and
nobody knew what to say so the guy just started reading down the list – my
weight and everything. I’m glad my measurements aren’t there.”
* * *
THEY BECAME Mr.
and Mrs. Bongi a year ago last month, but instead of taking the New England
honeymoon they planned, they rushed to
“The producer came into town two weeks before we got married
to make arrangements for Ch. 4 to start carrying the show,” Joe says, “and he
was staying at the Holiday Inn out by the airport. Diane was singing there and
he stopped down to hear her. He listened to two songs …”
“I had a strep throat that night,” Diane puts in.
“… and gave us a date for taping. We told him we were getting
married and he said change your honeymoon. The next night he came back and
listened the whole night.”
“I was on the show with Sally Kellerman, Buddy Rich and Dr.
David Reuben,” Diane says. “We had a great time.”
“Except Dr. Reuben talked so much he cut out her last song,”
Joe notes.
* * *
DIANE’S
going back for another Virginia Graham shot soon. Also in the works are
appearances on two syndicated
Since the honeymoon, the two of them have set up a cozy
apartment on
Despite being across the hall from Joe’s studio, Diane thinks
they see less of each other “than normal people do.” He may be taking pictures
or making prints while she’s busy working on songs.
* * *
RECENTLY
she’s reached back for some of the old ballads she loved and sang when she
started her career at the Big Apple in
“I’m not going to forget about what’s current,” she says. “A
lot of rock tunes are really great, but nobody ever hears the words. I’m just
going to do them in my own style and get rid of the stuff that isn’t me.”
* * *
CREDIT for
the difference in Diane’s voice goes to the year of lessons she’s taken from
former opera singer Vince Mattina, who was recommended to her by the girl who
designs her dresses.
“He’s a real vocalist himself from the old school,” she says.
“Before we started, he came to the club to hear what I was doing. The first
thing we worked on was strengthening my breath control. He also helped me get
the phrasing for the record.
“Vocal exercises? I’ve got a bookful. My day starts with some
of the weirdest sounds I’ve ever heard. It’s made a difference in the little
things. I can hold a note, I know when to breathe in the middle of a phrase.”
Now, she adds proudly, she’s getting to where she can think
like a musician. And she’s learned to sing softer.
“I finally realized you can achieve a great deal more quality
if you cut off the volume of your own voice and work on intonation and peaks,”
Diane says.
“Shading is the thing that a good musician does and to become
a good vocalist you’ve got to do the same thing with your voice. I always
believe my voice was an instrument, but it was like I was a beginner on piano.”
* * *
HER OTHER
musical mentor is Bill Maggio, who’s accompanied her for more than two years.
He works with her tirelessly, even after a full day at his regular job.
Because of that job, the group can perform only three nights
a week. But Diane feels she accomplishes more in those three nights than she
could in six nights with another band.
“To me, the lyrics mean so much,” she says. “To Bill, the
music means so much. And it has to blend. It has to satisfy the two of us
first.”
* * *
THE THING
she misses from TV and the record release is the audience response. There’s no
way of knowing how she went over.
“I’d prefer working in clubs to even a concert situation,”
she says, “because those people are not coming solely to hear me. You’ve got a
lot of competition there you don’t have in a concert hall or a TV studio.
“But if I can get them to sit there and listen to a good lyric, then I feel I’ve accomplished something. And that’s the only way you can see you’ve won them.”
The box/sidebar:
Waiting for the Disc Returns
At the moment, there’s an avalanche of people releasing
Michel LeGrand’s theme from the movie “Summer of ’42.”
She got the head start with the help of
“I sent him a tape of a lot of different tunes,” her husband
and manager, Joe Bongi Jr., says, “and one of them was LeGrand’s ‘What Are You
doing the Rest of Your Life?’ His manager is in the same building as GP.”
“Michel LeGrand heard how I did it,” Diane adds, “and he said
let’s give her first crack at it. They didn’t even have words for it when we
started learning it.”
* * *
BOTH “The
Summer Knows” and the flip side, “I Don’t Want to Need You Any More,” were recorded
in an astoundingly easy afternoon session in August in Jerry Meyers’ Act-One
Studios with Joe, a former movie sound engineer, running the eight-track tape.
Bill Maggio did piano and electric piano. Regular drummer
Phil Valenti was there, as was veteran session guitarist Ray Chamberlain and
the group’s former bass guitarist, Link Lackey, son of Niagara Falls Mayor E.
Dent Lackey (since succeeded by 18-year-old Bob Stabell of
“The Summer Knows” came on the third take. The flip side
needed only one. And Diane came back with a breath-for-breath one-take overdub
on “Summer.”
* * *
JOE AND
Diane’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Tabor, put up the production money. Since
the release, all have been like politicians on election night, waiting for the
returns to come in.
They’ve sent promotion copies and reply cards to disc jockeys
across the country. WOR in
Response on the cards has been gratifying, if not a little
enthusiastic. A
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE: As
you may recall, Diane Taber made a previous appearance in Pause on July 11,
1970, when she was singing six nights a week, conquering crowds in clubs like
Gabriel’s Gate. Bill Maggio already was on board as her pianist then, with different
guys on drums and bass.
Currently she’s back in
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