Leandra Lane: Girl on fire

We are having a visitor from New York. A cousin who has been living in the heart of Manhattan for the past 20 years and came to check out our lives in Singapore. Of course you do your best to find something special something truly Singaporean. Since I am more familiar with some parts of the music scene here than any other attractions, I of course dragged her to a gig at the Sing Jazz club in the Sultan Hotel, which in itself is a charmingly restored shop house complex and a true representation of typical Singapore.

So that for one was a good choice.  We got lucky in many ways with the feature at Sing jazz that evening.  The lead singer Leandra Lane is a daughter of an American father and a Eurasian/Dutch mother; a nice hotchpotch of cultures that is predominantly found in this region.

Her orientation was hits from almost any pop era, in a variety of genres, I vaguely remember Queen and Elvis, reggae, pop, soul and R&B, she did it all...with conviction and a strong sense of entertainment.

With eyes lashing out  (they are real) into the audience firing off jolts of fun, 

she quickly hit them in the heart. Many, as if re-animated, jumped to their feet to dance to the music of the swinging band.

 Sebastian Ho

G-Man

Jordan Wei

William Gathright

I can say many praising things about how Leandra managed to get almost all present to the dance floor. It grew and grew in size, by peoples’ initiative to move the furniture. Even G-Man, usually the animator, could sit back and relax most of this evening, 

because Leandra was in the driving seat.

A special note goes out to Sebastian, who regularly managed to sweep things up to a greater height by whipping up some cool guitar solos.

Willie, always a solid bass player came out fabulously well in some of my photos if I say so myself.

Jordan behind the piano, looked and sounded equally good, even though he was a bit tucked away in the darker corners of stage and sound.

The buzz at SingJazz that night that Leandra is the daughter of a Drifter, now that in itself is not unusual for any culture but in this case it is Drifter with a Capital DEE; the doo-wop band from the 50’s and beyond. 

Maybe to some that is a credential that is of value to fame for Leandra Lane, I don’t know if that holds true for the big bad world out there, but here in safe Singapore, Leandra can grab the lion by the ears and take entertainment at venues and events like Sing Jazz, on her own, until deep in the night… to a higher level!