Pioneering folk singer-songwriter Judy Collins returned to The Town Hall (where she first performed in 1964 and later helped Leonard Cohen play one of his first shows in 1967) to celebrate her ongoing 85th birthday tour on International Women’s Day with musical friends young & old and a raft of incredible stories that contextualize Collins as a civil rights activist, a dazzling musician and songwriter in her own right, and a peerless connector whose recordings buoyed the careers of Bob Dylan (while she hasn’t finished watching new Dylan film A Complete Unknown because “she lived it,” yes, she was present in 1964 when he was completing “Mr. Tambourine Man,” which Rickie Lee Jones sang during the show with her inimitable jazzy cadence), Joni Mitchell (a 3 am phone call from her friend Al Kooper in 1967 had her listening to Mitchell sing “Both Sides Now,” her live version still beguiles with distinct phrasing), Cohen (who downplayed his musical ability until she pointed out that his recitation of “Suzanne” was a song), and even Stephen Sondheim with her hit cover of “Send in the Clowns” in 1975 that earned him a 1976 Grammy win for Song of the Year, which she reprised in a bravura version that showed her magnificent soprano singing persists even at an age when most artists (if they are lucky to live so long) have lost significant vocal range.
With warm musical direction from producer/songwriter Russ Titelman and an overflow of talented guests, including once-paramour Stephen Stills (who joined for a touching duet of Crosby, Stills, & Nash’s “Helplessly Hoping,” which he had written during their breakup), Collins, who picked up her gift for gab from her radio host father, basically co-hosted with superfan Sophie B. Hawkins, who also played a fine version of Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust,” written about Baez’s relationship with Dylan and which Collins sang at Baez’s 75th birthday show.
Collins also gave up the spotlight for individual performances of her compositions by Beth Nielsen Chapman (a wonderful “Since You Asked”), Paula Cole (a moving “My Father”), Justin Vivian Bond (a cabaret romp of Collin’s medley of songs from the 1966 Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Marat/Sade), Martha Redbone (a stunning a Cappella rendition of sadly still-relevant 2018 protest song “Dreamers”), and young Norwegian sisters & tour openers Oakland Rain (heavenly harmonizing on “Girl from Colorado”).
Extra special highlights included when Collins brought out Broadway musical composer/lyricist legend Stephen Schwartz for a misty duet of “Over the Rainbow,” Fairport Convention co-founder Richard Thompson for a wistful duet of Sandy Denny’s “Who Knows Where the Time Goes?” (first recorded by Collins in 1968 after hearing Denny’s demo and which Thompson, in preparation, sang solo at his February 21 White Eagle Hall show), and NYC singer-songwriter Ari Hest for a piercing “Strangers Again” from their 2016 Grammy-nominated LP Silver Skies Blue.
Collins also displayed her virtuoso classically-trained piano skills on her song “The Blizzard” and encouraged short crowd singalongs during story asides, remarking that planning this show for the enthused audience was what has kept her going since she lost her longtime husband, the industrial designer Louis Nelson in December.
Even though the group finale of Still’s classic heartbreak ode “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” fizzled as Stills didn’t step up to lead the verse singing and Collins had occasional pitch glides during a few high notes on several songs, the vibrational highs of seeing and hearing her living history in still formidable form is an experience that everyone should seek while Collins is still shining bright.
