Annie Reiner at the Catalina



By Harrison Held

Super singer and eclectic Songstress Annie Reiner presented a very lovely and lively show this past week at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. This very talented and accomplished Renaissance woman wears many hats ranging from playwright to poet, painter and psychoanalyst.

Ms. Reiner comes from a family of hyphenates - her father comedy legend Carl Reiner is a writer/actor/producer/director and her mother Estelle Reiner was a talented painter, domestic engineer and accomplished jazz singer. Her father proudly refers to her as the world's greatest singing psychoanalyst, but as she points out he has yet to prove this.

Since Barbra Streisand only played a psychoanalyst in "Prince of Tides," I think the award should rightfully go to Annie. Annie's colorful repertoire ranged from jazz to blues to pop, with show tunes and songs from Leonard Cohen thrown into the mix.

It was great hearing a woman beautifully sing "I'm Your Man" and other male orientated Cohen tunes and it was fun to have family friend Mel Brooks in the audience playfully heckling Annie that she should have done some Cole Porter... only in Hollywood.

The fun show included "You're Beautiful As You Feel," "I'm a Woman," "In My Secret Life," "For What It's Worth (Stop Hey What's That Sound)," "If It Be Your Will," "It Don't Mean A Thing," "Who Could Ask for Anything More" and "Find Out What He Likes." It was fun hearing Ms. Reiner share her anecdotes about seeing Janis Joplin live right after graduating from high school, witnessing her star turning performance at Monterey Park and then spying the late great rock star naked in a pool at the Landmark Hotel kissing another woman... once again, only in Hollywood.

Ms. Reiner was accompanied by the talented Charlie Harrison and Combo with back up singers Alice Manning and Judy Nagy. Her CD Blues & Other Hues is now available on Amazon. Ms. Reiner also keeps active on the global speakers circuit with an appearance coming up next in Israel. I look forward to hearing about that at her next show.


Posted By Discover Hollywood on December 15, 2017 04:52 pm | Permalink