*I have loved Miki Howard’s music since her first song, “Come Share My Love,” so when she came to the Catalina Jazz Club this past April, I jumped at the chance to see her. Guess what? I even paid for the tickets; no media privilege. I loved the show.
When I saw Miki was coming back to the Catalina for three shows: one on August 23 and two on August 24, it was a no-brainer. I was also going back. I decided to take in the Saturday/8:30 pm show and I definitely enjoyed the experience just as much the second time around.
Comedian Lewis Dix started the evening off and I believe he is funnier now than in his earlier years. I liked him and if the fact that everyone was laughing is any indication, I believe everyone else liked him as well. I would definitely go to a Lewis Dix show.
Lewis introduced Miki, who was waiting on the side of the stage in a fly white pantsuit. She came dancing onto the stage to “Always There,” a popular song from her former group, Side Effect. Miki then went into, “Ain’t Nobody Like You,” but not before mentioning she recorded the song when she was cute. Let’s get it straight, Miki Howard is still cute!
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Since Miki had performed the night before, I’ll admit I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as if her voice would be the one I enjoyed so much the last time I saw her, or if it would be strained from singing the previous night. It took about a nanosecond for me to discover the answer. Miki’s voice was as crisp, clear and as powerful as usual, as she belted out all my Miki favorites, as well as songs made famous by other artists. Let’s see, for the first portion of the show, she performed “Baby Be Mine,” a snippet of “That’s What Love Is,” “Come Share My Love,” Aretha’s, “Until You Come Back to Me,” and Sylvia’s “Pillow Talk.” She then headed into what she called the jazz portion of the show, where she did Norman Brown and Billie Holliday proud. “Release Me,” “Love Under New Management” and “Which Way is Up” completed the show and she could have gone longer, but it was already 10:00 pm and she had another show at 10:30 pm. I was more than satisfied with what I experienced and I’m sure I was not alone. Miki said it best during her performance when she said, “If ya’ll didn’t like it, you would have left by now.” I did not see anyone leave early.
I love everything about Miki Howard: her voice, her quirkiness, her vibe, her spirit, her straightforwardness and the fact that she is super down to earth. How down to earth you may ask. How about her mentioning performing without eyelashes because she couldn’t find them. How about mentioning being celibate because, “nobody wants it anymore.” She mentioned how people do not hold their tongue and that someone recently called her broke. She told us, “I may be broke, but I’m not broken.” I had to chuckle when she referred to the people who were chomping at the bit to hear her perform “Love Under New Management” as “one song people” and told them, “I’m excited to be on stage. I only get to be on stage every now and then. Let me do my thing.” And did her thing she did.
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Miki could not have pulled it off without her band, The Miki Howard New Best Band and background singers, who are the absolute business! She has a female drummer, Brandi, who was hitting those licks and I had to do a couple of double-takes at the sounds coming from her background singers, Tommy, Bobby and Abduel.
As Miki mentioned, she does not perform much, which is a shame, because she puts on a good show and is very much worth seeing. If you are lucky enough to have her perform in your city, do not miss out! Whenever Miki Howard comes to Los Angeles, I will be putting her on my schedule (and you should to if she hits up your town). I already know it will be worth it.
Marilyn Smith is a Los Angeles based writer/reviewer. Contact her via [email protected].
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