Very rarely have I gone to a show completely blind of any knowledge of an artist or band.  I was so involved with other things that I just never got around to research.  The headliner was a comedy lounge act and I figured the same would go for the opener.  Linnzi Zaorski walked on stage and I was not expecting one of the biggest surprises I’ve heard in a while.

     Dressed in a flowery pink dress, the blonde songbird looked like she just step out of a smoky lounge and joining her onstage was traditional three string jazz set—guitar, banjo, and slap bass.  They started off with a Billie Holiday cover of “Too Hot for Words.”  And that’s when I realized the gods had opened a portal to the 1940’s.  Zaorski and her band brought depression era swing with full throttle.  Her voice was very reminiscent of a young Ella Fitzgerald with a modern flare of Katharine Whalen.  Most of the current female jazz vocalists sing with an airy-prettiness, but Zaorski sings like the brassy, sassy broads of yesteryear.  I absolutely loved it!  Not many of today’s vocalists can repeat the same vox stylings as of those who created the swing scene.  And if they do, I don’t think can bring it with such vigor.

     Other songs performed were “Tomorrow is Another Day” made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies,” Xavier Cugat’s “Lady in Red,” and the Andrew Sisters “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen.”  Although most of the songs were covers of beloved jazz standards, Zaorski did include an original song “Better Off Dead” from her sophomore album Hotsy Totsy.  But nothing could be finer than closing the set with Ella Fitzgerald’s “When I Get Low, I Get High.”

     It was an awesome surprise and treat hearing Linnzi Zaorski.  What was old is new again except this time it’s way cooler.