Singer Paula West leaves Nikko audience wanting more

Veteran performers know that one key to a successful show is to leave an audience wanting more.

[...] no jazz singer on the scene kindles musical desire with the promiscuous abandon of San Francisco’s Paula West.

Originally scheduled for a monthlong run, she opened a condensed two-week stand at Feinstein’s at the Nikko on Thursday with the kind of eclectic program that’s become her calling card.

[...] almost every number begged for an entire show dedicated to the songsmith’s work, starting with her briskly swinging take on the gorgeous Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer standard “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home.”

Granted, a savvy jazz singer inspiring a yen for more Arlen and Mercer isn’t a high bar, but West was equally effective interpreting Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” gracefully navigating the tangled lyrics.

Switching gears with the dexterity of an Indy 500 driver, she followed John Lennon’s dismayingly topical plea with a buoyantly swinging “Put on a Happy Face.”

The evening’s only misfire was a rollicking rendition of the 1974 Carl Carlton hit “Everlasting Love,” a song beyond even Barth’s alchemy, though West’s belting earned some of the set’s more spirited applause.