The burgeoning tap revival owes a big debt to Gregory Hines, who single-handedly carried the flame in the 1970s and ’80s and who served the younger generation as idol and sometimes mentor.
If today’s tappers are hip-hop, Hines reigned supreme in the smooth jazz style of the middle part of the century. Employing Sinatra-like vocals in song, Hines is tap’s cool cat in motion, riffing with undulating grace and an informal, easy-going, improvisational command. He has an almost tailored laid-back manner often sliced with sharp, almost caustic humor.
His show Sunday at the Auditorium Theatre boasted that breezy informality. There were no costumes or hint of a formal game plan, just a sizable jazz combo, two back-up singers and Hines at the mike, conducting a party as much as a performance. He strolled through the audience, nightclub-fashion, improvising jokes about patrons’ clothing or girth. He performed a half-dozen songs, though much of the tap came in long sets to silence or percussion.
But all that and Hines’ mock-prickly banter (“If I fall in that orchestra pit, I’ll die”) belies the fact that here is one of the form’s great masters still at the top of his game. His singing is smooth but powerful, whether in an old standard such as “When I Fall in Love” or Huey Lewis’ more recent “Power of Love.”
But Hines the tapper is one kinetic surprise after another, in terms of speed, vocabulary and unpredictable gesture, sliding a sly foot across the floor as a coda in one set or tossing in a few quick turns to end another.
The concert would have been memorable even if he didn’t turn it unexpectedly into a brief showcase for local tappers, inviting eight young dancers who brought their shoes to the show to join him on stage.
They ranged from promising to spectacular, including a fierce soloist named Marina, a young man named Jake and the two-man Chicago team known as Steppin’ Out, who also performed in the lobby prior to the curtain.
Hines generously wove them into the program in a way that wasn’t corny or condescending, but a testament to the tap revival that clearly warms his heart. Sure, he plugged his TV show (which he said is moving to Fridays) and his Chicago-born co-star, who was in the audience.
But he also graciously saluted “Tap Dogs,” “Riverdance” and “Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk,” suggesting tap’s long spell in the wilderness bred brotherhood as well as talent.
