Peter Calo- Singer/Songwriter

By Alix Cohen

Peter Calo has worked with such diverse artists as Dionne Warwick, Queen Latifah, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Leonard Bernstein, Lesley Gore, and The Platters. He spent years collaborating with Carly Simon. If not spot-lit by band inclusion, Calo should be on your radar as a singer/songwriter.

Aided and abetted by bassist Paul Alamy, the engaging musician tonight comes out from behind (personally branded) covers for a show almost entirely comprised of his own songs. Strumming, Plucking, tapping, palm muting, singing comfortably deep and slightly rough, he reveals prodigious versatility.

“Way Up on a Mountain” (Peter and Marianne Calo) is wholehearted and pithy, perhaps redolent of the small Canadian town from which the artist hails. Changing perspective seems a constant awareness.

“Where are you now?/Your laugh I’ll always miss/No one’s promised anything/ Tomorrow is a gift…” he sings with disarming sincerity. Fingering is terrific. It’s as if the instrument agrees to yield. Two guitars create a melodic waterfall. Calo takes us out with a tuneful howl. (“Tomorrow is a Gift”)

“Full Moon Tango” was written for the artist’s now wife, Marianne, when they first dated. “On my way to a gig, there was a full moon. Every stoplight I wrote a new line. When I got there, I had a song.” A beautiful Spanish-colored intro beckons. “You look exceptional this evening/Better than I was dreaming…” Eyes mostly closed, a growl finds its way to light. Alamy’s solo is sinuous, sexy. Calo’s tune turns and dips. Vocal slip/slides, elongates…directly into the razor rhythm of Sam Cooke’s sashaying “Bring It On Home.” Vocal climbs.

“Wired to the Moon” is “an ode to New York.” Classical influence comes to the fore. Lyrics surge theatrically parlando. It’s a poem, a coarse take, a cry in the night; blues.“Can’t you see/Somethin’s pullin’ at me/I’m just a victim of the crowded street/Wired to the moon…”

“I had a birthday in November. It was a biggie” prefaces “On My Way Up the Hill.” “As I’m standing still/On my way up the hill/I’m interviewing angels just in case…I need a smile from a friendly face” Which of us mid-life or older doesn’t relate to the uneasy ballad?

“Do I Love You Too Much?” is a rumba. Alamy plays low, evocative. “The symptoms are there/Don’t you mind my lizard stare…” Its unabashed, leather-jacketed soul, hot and cocky. Instrumental passages get under one’s skin. “…Am I that out of touch?/Am I losin’ my mind?/Or do I love you that much?”

Calo’s requested “doctoring” of a raw rendition of “Love You” (Bobby Hebb) has a back alley, downstairs, speakeasy sound. “Love” rolls around his mouth. The artist plays with it including lines from love songs by Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, and The Every Brothers. We all sing “dream.”

“I Can Dream” lands as an irrepressible, hard-handed thrum. “Dream” has five syllables. A mercurial scenario is created as a long pause elicits three chords, then a pick and tap. “Sometimes the silence hurts so much/I turn it up…so I can dream.” Think about that. It’s classic rock n’roll executed in patchwork- with more brains.

Folk, blues, rock, and classical inspiration fold into the evening, each as if it were Peter Calo’s primary style. An extensive array of scat forms and call-outs enhance tone and texture. Emotion is palpably authentic, musical authority earned. ‘A helluva good time.

All songs Peter Calo unless otherwise identified
Peter Calo https://petercalo.net/

Photos by Stephen Hanks

Peter Calo at Pangea
Paul Alamy- Bass
Pangea 178 2nd Ave at 11th Street
https://www.pangeanyc.com/