Album Review: Victor & Penny- Electricity

Erin McGrane was one of the most engaging performers in Kansas City as a member of Alacartoona during the previous decade.  Equal parts Cyd Charisse and Eartha Kitt, McGrane played the role of a riveting femme fatale. 

She's assumed an entirely different persona as half of the “antique pop” duo Victor & Penny.  The recent release Electricity is by far and away the duo’s best release.

As I suggested in a review of the 2015 album Live at the Living Room Theatre, the bygone premise of Victor & Penny would be intolerably precious if not for the outstanding musicianship of the ensemble. 

Jeff Freling, the other half of the duo, plays guitar like Eddie Van Halen on a Django Reinhardt bender.  The supporting Loose Change Orchestra- James Isaac, Rick Willoughby and Kyle Dahlquist- adds complementary spice.

Electricity indicates that Victor & Penny can hold its own with like-minded acts that have achieved international renown including the Hot Sardines and the Hot Club of Cowtown.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

Album Review: Victor & Penny and Their Loose Change Orchestra- Live at the Living Room Theatre

My initial reaction when I first encountered Victor & Penny at The Brick four or five years ago was crass.

“I could sell that,” I thought.

I knew that the beautiful woman and the extraordinary guitarist performing the Great American Songbook would appeal to the moneyed country club set and to young fans of folk revivalists like Mumford & Sons.

The new album Live at the Living Room Theatre showcases an expanded version of the ensemble.  Saxophonist James Isaac and bassist Rick Willoughby, men admired for their contributions to Kansas City’s jazz community, join Erin McGrane and Jeff Frelin under the banner of the “Loose Change Orchestra.”

The core duo doesn’t categorize its music as jazz.  Instead, they’ve deftly sidestepped the issue of genre by using the term “antique pop.” It makes sense- Victor & Penny apply the same Tin Pan Alley treatment to contemporary material like Howard Iceberg’s “Indiscreet” as they give to Cole Porter’s “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To.”

The premise would be overly cute if the musicians weren’t outstanding. Frelin and Isaac are virtuosos.

The new album isn’t the work that’s going to make Victor & Penny stars, but it’s an excellent calling card that should allow the ambitious duo to advance its career.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)