SANDRA REAVES IN CONCERT -- January 27 and 28 -- City Hall.

Acclaimed blues and jazz singer Sandra Reaves last night took a City Hall audience from the depths of loneliness to heaven and back with a performance that few will ever forget.

In her first local performance and musical tribute to The Late Great Ladies of Blues and Jazz -- Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, and Mahalia Jackson -- Reaves brought the initially-conservative audience from the hand-clapping, feet-tapping posture to their feet.

The award-winning singer and actress did this by capturing what made the legendary singers icons in the first place, and with the help of the five-piece All-Star Jazz Band.

Opening the two-hour show with the swinging hit "Take the A Train'' and "Sweet Georgia Brown'', the band warmed up the packed theatre for Reaves.

By the time she came on, dressed in silver and black, it was clear that those attending were hungry for some good, down-home funky blues and classic jazz.

Reaves, who was born in Mullins, South Carolina, and sang in the church choir, started with her own "Blues Lament''. But it is her second song, "Take Me as I Am'' that sets the tone for the the show.

From her impersonation of the "mother of the blues'', Ma Rainey, to her remarkable portrayal of the late gospel great Mahalia Jackson, Reaves leaves no room for audience distraction.

Strutting her stuff to Ma Rainey's "Strut Miss Lizzie'' and "C.C. Rider'', she describes the hard times on the touring circuit in the 1920s.

With a quick costume change and different lighting, the audience is taken to a swinging party where Reaves becomes the "empress of the blues'', Bessie Smith.

Performing "Gimme a Pigfoot'', Reaves gives the audience a sense of Bessie's battle with alcohol.

Then smoothly -- toying with the audience -- she moves into "I Need a Little Sugar in my Bowl'', "Put it Right Here'', and finishing the brief routine is the bluesy, boozy "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out''.

After a brief pause, Reaves is back as Ethel Waters shaking her "thang'' to the blues singer's "Shake That Thing''.

Attempting to arouse audience participation, Reaves craftily tests the musical talents of one section of the audience against the other by asking them to repeat "shake that thing'' after her.

Reaves skillfully changes the mood of the routine by noting that despite Waters' fame, she was lonely and desperately in need of affection from her mother.

She then performs Waters' "Stormy Weather'', "St. Louis Blues'', and "His Eye is on the Sparrow''.

After a 15-minute intermission, Reaves portrays "one of the world's greatest singers'' Billie Holiday or "Lady Day'' as she was affectionately known.

Reaves wisely makes no attempt to impersonate Lady Day in her prime. But she eloquently captures Holiday's sound toward the end of her career.

Reaves performs "Solitude'', "Good Morning Heartache'', "Them There Eyes'', and "God Bless the Child'' to perfection.

In the blink of an eye, Reaves is back, sporting a big blonde wig as the sassy jazz "queen'' Dinah Washington.

She wraps up the show as Mahalia Jackson, fuelled by the solid rolling gospel piano of Peter Zak.

Beginning with "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands'', Reaves keeps picking up the tempo until she brings the house down with "When the Saints Go Marching In''.

Expressing her gratitude to Bermuda and individuals who have made her first visit to "paradise'' unforgettable, Reaves last night left the mesmerised audience standing and swaying to the theme song of the movie Lean On Me in which she starred and sang the title song.

Reaves, who made her Carnegie Hall debut in Cavalcade of Stars'', has toured throughout North America and Europe with her show.

CAROL PARKER SANDRA REAVES -- performed in Bermuda for the first time last night before a packed house at City Hall.

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