By Howard Reich | Tribune critic
February 16, 2008

Strangely, the passing years seem to improve Karen Mason's voice rather than deteriorate it.
Perhaps that's because she always commanded more sound than she needed. Now that some softness has crept into her high notes and a radiance of tone has emerged elsewhere in her instrument, she sounds gentler than her longtime listeners might have expected.

Or at least that was the case Thursday evening at Davenport's, where Mason unveiled a new show – exuberantly titled "Love Love Love" – to a sold-out house.

No doubt the Valentine's Day holiday had something to do with Mason's tender manner. If past performances have shown the sharply acerbic and darkly dramatic facets of her work, this time the theme was high-flying romance. Yet Mason managed to put a novel spin on extremely familiar repertory.

Nobody is going to call Mason a jazz singer, but her saucy, rhythmically strutting version of the age-old "Just in Time" certainly veered toward a jazz sensibility – and was all the more persuasive for it.

If Mason borrowed from Tony Bennett's songbook by dipping into "Watch What Happens," she paid little heed to his famously expansive interpretation. Instead, she moved briskly through the tune, yet with a degree of delicacy and understatement one does not typically associate with her.

And anyone who can strip away the treacle from the Disney anthem "A Whole New World" deserves a round of applause (which Mason received). Until this evening, at least one listener would not have believed that so many layers of meaning and nuance could be mined from the thing.

But "Love Love Love" showed a little edge, too, in the form of the classic "Murder, He Says." Mason dispatched Frank Loesser's wickedly clever lyrics with relish. In fact, she brought to the tune double-entendres that Loesser may not have foreseen.

In virtually every show, Mason pays homage to the late songwriter-accompanist Brian Lasser, who was practically her alter ego until his death from AIDS in 1992 at age 40. His hauntingly beautiful "I Made a New Friend" reminded the audience of the scope of his talent.

This time around, Mason – a former Chicagoan who long has lived in New York – was accompanied by pianist Beckie Menzie, who practically has become indispensable to Chicago cabaret.

Certainly she was on this occasion.

hreich@tribune.com

Karen Mason performs "Love Love Love" at 8 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday at Davenport's, 1383 N. Milwaukee Ave.; $30-$35; 773-278-1830.