Passion for entertainment lives at off-Strip venues

It was the time a Las Vegas graybeard unveiled his gray beard.

“I needed to take a year off, so I could let myself go gray,” Clint Holmes deadpanned to a sold-out show at Notoriety Live on Saturday afternoon.

We have noted Holmes’ new image previously, but it is a significant indication of where we are in the COVID time horizon. The show turned into a lovefest and a reunion of dozens of Vegas entertainment scenesters, many of whom last saw Holmes with an entirely different look. The past 14 months has added gray to many heads, but the city’s entertainment community presses forward, finding a way to deliver passion onstage.

Holmes’ performance was the second in his monthly “Regeneration” series, which runs at 3 p.m. on select Saturdays at Ken Henderson’s cool hang. The next “Regeneration” show is May 8, a day before Holmes’ 75th birthday.

The show also kicked off a powerful weekend of regeneration across the city. That night it was the incomparable Jane Monheit outdoors at DW Bistro at The Gramercy. Sunday was a return to that courtyard space and an epic performance of Skye Dee Miles’ Gospel Brunch.

In leading this holy triumvirate, Holmes is using “Regeneration” to revisit music he has not investigated until his pandemic down time. The concept of reshaping familiar music might not be new, of course. Scott Bradlee has turned that process into an art form with Postmodern Jukebox.

As always, Holmes makes the format his own, digging deep, slowing the tempo and dialing down the volume in his renditions. His delivery of such a recognizable piece of music as Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” especially, emphasized the song’s gripping lyrics.

Holmes has the right collection of musicians backing him in these shows. Jazz-piano great Tom Schuman of Spyro Gyra is behind the keys, Dave Ostrem (music director of “Baz” for a time, and a frequent Holmes collaborator) is on bass. The musicians don’t so much read music as read each other.

Holmes later dueted with his 18-year-old granddaughter Asia on Billie Eilish’s “Ocean Eyes.” He also brought up UNLV trumpet virtuoso Keller Remington, a senior at Las Vegas Academy, and lead trumpeter and soloist of the Las Vegas Youth Orchestra. This kid kills it. In an unannounced moment, Donny Thompson and Gary Cordell of the Jazz Outreach Initiative took the stage to present the talented musician the Richard Salvatore Soranno Memorial Scholarship for Jazz.

The award is named for the late, gifted piano player who died at age 18, almost a year ago to the day. Remington is now reviewing higher-ed options, among them The New School in New York or the Peabody Conservatory for Music. He’s terrific, and was a righteous fit with the other seasoned musicians onstage.

Later it was a reunion with Monheit. I’ve twice seen her at Myron’s Cabaret Jazz at the Smith Center. I admit to melting during her performances. I’d been told of Monheit’s captivating talent just before her debut at the Smith Center in 2012. You have to see her. “My Funny Valentine,” especially, was unreal. I showed a clip of her singing for a friend who is also a very talented singer, but not familiar with Monheit. Within moments, the response: “Wow. Great interpretation.”

There were tears in that DW crowd, including from Las Vegas’ First Lady of Jazz Michelle Johnson, who has appeared onstage herself with Monheit at Cab Jazz. Around the room were Vegas vocal faves Rita Lim, Chadwick Johnson, Jonathan Karrant and (because this is Vegas) Elvis tribute artist Justin Shandor. He’s about to unveil his own wide range non-Elvis material with Holmes’ longtime friend and music director Bill Fayne at The Vegas Room on Thursday through Saturday.

Monheit’s show was occasionally interrupted by cheers from Pinches Tacos, across the courtyard, where the tavern crowd was watching the UCLA-Gonzaga Final Four matchup. Between numbers, an especially rowdy roar went up, as the Zags’ Jalen Suggs’ hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer.

I ordered the frittata, then this breaks out ... JR Beatbox and Kenji Igus @skyedva @DWBistro #GospelBrunch #RJNow @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/FTllRObagU

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) April 4, 2021

Monheit heard this, turned to the noise and said, “Is that cheering for me? We have jazz fans! That’s so sweet!’

The crowd could have just camped out for Miles’ show the next day. Boy-howdy, even those who know the woman who calls herself “Black Sunshine” couldn’t have expected the tour de force on Easter Sunday.

How we start it @skyedva @DWBistro #GospelBrunch ... #RJNow @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/D0uMiugNIR

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) April 4, 2021

Miles was feeling it. She is still re-setting herself after the recent death of her mother, Carmen Jones, in her hometown of Boonville, Missouri. She took the Sunday crowd to church, backed by the Friends of Gospel choir under the direction of Sharon Scott Wilson. Guests included Aretha Harden (Gospel Brunch at House of Blues), Mikalah Gordon (late of Rose. Rabbit. Lie. at the Cosmopolitan), Bobby Black (Las Vegas Tenors), LaShonda Reese (Mayfair Supper Club at Bellagio), Jon Morgan (of the gondolier program at the Venetian and a Cork & Thorn/Piazza lounge at Tuscany Suites regular), Ken Young (the singing, 30-year captain of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police force) and Savannah Lynx (Rose. Rabbit. Lie.).

How we start it @skyedva @DWBistro #GospelBrunch ... #RJNow @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/D0uMiugNIR

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) April 4, 2021

By the time Jay R Beatbox performed behind tap-dance master Kenji Igus, returning to their Rose. Rabbit. Lie. act, the crowd was about beat. Jassen Allen of The Vegas Room and Mayfair, who along with Gordon visited Miles in Missouri after her mother’s passing, summoned the choir once more in a show-closing “Happy.”

I ordered the frittata, then this breaks out ... JR Beatbox and Kenji Igus @skyedva @DWBistro #GospelBrunch #RJNow @reviewjournal pic.twitter.com/FTllRObagU

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) April 4, 2021

Big ups to DW Bistro owner Bryce Krausman, whose brought those back-to-back adventures to his haunt, which in the backdrop celebrated its 11th anniversary. Krausman’s business has stayed buoyant, barely, with locals’ support, and he had a host of friends in the mix Sunday.

Krausman says the next Gospel Brunch won’t be until October. Too far off? Not really. We need time to recover.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.