With mixed results, there has been a trend over recent years for some cabaret artists to record their shows and later re-lease them on a CD that fans can enjoy. Some of those albums are top drawer. Such is the case with Baby Jane Dexter’s latest CD, The Real World, recorded live at the Metropolitan Room. While not all shows are worth preserving, Dexter has released a loving memory that will live on as one of the better albums to come out of a club setting.
Blues empress Ma Rainey said, “I can’t tell my future, so I’m going to tell my past.” Those words might have been uttered by Dexter as she put together this daring show. She paints a mixed narrative of emotions on a wide canvas. And, it’s all here on one disk. In many ways, this album is better than seeing the show, because the listener catches every nuance and special moment that made this one of Dexter’s most impressive cabaret outings to date.

With Ross Patterson at the piano, Dexter dives so deep, she almost drowns in a sea of emotions that revolves around serious topics. There are so many highlights, it’s hard to single out a few. Of particular note are readings of the haunting Roy Orbison/Jeff Lynne “A Love So Beautiful” and John Sebastian’s beauty, “I Had a Dream.” Both are sung with heartfelt expression that makes each definitive and wrenching. “Reckless Blues” is a fun romp—worthy of her inner red-hot mama—that sizzles. And, the album’s title cut should not be overlooked just because it opens the CD. Sung with conviction and stealth, the song sets up what is to follow. Occasionally, well-chosen opening numbers are forgotten in the shuffle as a show unfolds. Not so here. This image-filled prophecy is a beauty that not only sets the stage, but lingers magically throughout. And, it’s Dexter magic at its best—captured on an unforgettable disk.

John Hoglund
Cabaret Scenes
July 2011

if
Live at the Metropolitan Room

Recorded November 2008
Release May 2009

Vocals, Baby Jane Dexter
Piano, Ross Patterson
Bass, Boots Maleson

Video

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.Her mid-set reading of South Pacific’s Ordinary Couple and This Nearly Was Mine is the heartbreaking centerpiece to an evening that also includes a riveting version of Harry Nilsson’s Remember and a thrilling reading of REM’s Everybody Hurts.

Ethel Merman, Judy Garland, Bette Midler, and Sophie Tucker come to mind, as Baby Jane plows through soft and swinging renditions of great old chestnuts and newly shaped pop tunes. Her anecdotally rich, playfully rambling introductions are almost as much fun as her singing, and that’s saying something. This is cabaret singing at its best.Joseph Blake, Go News, British Columbia, August, 2009

Baby Jane Dexter has always had a spellbinding effect on her audiences, perhaps never more than in her last turn at the Metropolitan Room. Now, giving new meaning to the term, "by popular demand," Dexter has just released the live recording of that wildly successful show, If... on Quannacut Records. Containing show-stopping paeans to life such as "Remember," "Long Road Home" and "This Nearly Was Mine," the album captures the magic that filled the room leaving her fans laughing and crying out loud. Read more>
John Hoglund, Cabaret Scenes, May, 2009

There's another take on "If I Ruled the World" on Baby Jane Dexter's just-released CD. She's nominated in the Major Artist category for her live shows, and this is a live recording of her latest act. With the exception of her first recording, all of Baby Jane's albums are recorded live in clubs where one gets a sense of her connection with audiences and outsized personality, often seeming a steamroller at full steam. Something new and refreshingly mature and more disciplined has characterized her recent work, quite evident in her new show/CD, If. For those who like singing on the bombastic and boisterousness side, this bluesy diva has always found fans in a long career. Now, there's much more and, though she still has her hurricane moments, it's not always that approach as a matter of course (or coarse) and there is, yes, subtlety, but it's so much more than a wild ride on a one-trick pony. And it's all more in control. Read more>
Rob Lester, Talkin' Broadway, May 2009

"In her exceptional show at Arci's Place, Baby Jane Dexter takes you on a vivid emotional journey. It's a wonderful show."
Chip Deffaa, New York Post

"Ms. Dexter is Mother Nature incarnate. She is a no nonsense singer that sings with the power of an erupting volcano and the sincerity of a street-wise earth mother that's been there, done that. Her Alto voice grabs each note and doesn't let go until she's sure that you've listened to her, damnit!...When she sings, I Want More, you better get it for her, no matter what it is that she wants more of. One of Ms. Dexter's signature tunes is “You Don't Know What Love Is. It's included here as a medley with Billy Strayhorn's gem of a tune, Something to Live For. This is where Ms. Dexter lays it all on the line through her raw, bare and sentimental renditions of these ballads. A word of warning to many of you cabaret music aficionados who like your music like wallpaper, Ms. Dexter must be listened to. Even through her recordings, she will disrupt your dinner party. She takes us back to the days when voices were distinct and unique. This CD almost feels like seeing her live. She's great."
William Gregory, Midwest Ursine

"When God took Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Ruth Etting, Helen Morgan...he gave us Baby Jane Dexter in return. If you doubt it, go hear what she does, just for one hair-raising instance...with the song that's the pivot of her current pile-driving 'intimate opera,' Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin's great old standard, 'Until The Real Thing Comes Along'."
The Villager

"If you want to hear songs that haven't been done to death by everyone else, sung by a powerhouse whose belief in her material feels unshakeable, savor Baby Jane Dexter."
Chip Deffaa, New York Post