Natalie Cole with the Auckland Philharmonia at the Aotea Centre

By WILLIAM DART

There she was, Natalie Cole, survivor disco queen and latterday jazz diva, fronting the biggest band in town, guesting with the Auckland Philharmonia in the latest instalment of the orchestra's Telecom Pops series.

We had waited for 10 or more minutes for the lady to appear and perhaps a few in the audience were suspecting diva antics were afoot, but, no, on she sashayed, with a string of stylish standards that made up the first half of the concert.

The first was a creamy take on The Very Thought of You, the last, Cole Porter's Let There Be Love, which really took off when the singer started trading licks with the spunky trumpet of Jon Papenbrook.

She paid passing tributes to Ella Fitzgerald and made a carefully placed plug for her involvement in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely, introducing a soulful take on Every Time We Say Goodbye.

Inevitably, the video screen dropped from the ceiling, and she sang that duet with her father, crooning from another time and place. Unforgettable, indeed ... and a little spooky.

In this first half, one of the standouts was a band-only version of Route 66. After interval, when the material crept into the 70s and 80s, the orchestra, which had maintained an elegant presence so far, seemed increasingly marginalised, although they came up with some disco lashes to her 1976 hit Mr Melody that would have done the Biddu Orchestra proud.

This song was dedicated to "all the guys in the house", and more dedications followed. Women had their turn when she asked for "all the superladies in the house to raise your hands", occasioning a take on Leiber and Stoller's I'm a Woman, given the contemporary equivalent of a Pearl Bailey twist.

While Mr Melody inspired one fanatic to rush forward in a dancing frenzy, most fans chair-bopped, although a rousing version of Everlasting Love brought many to their feet

By the final of three encores, a rip-roaring cover of When Love Comes to Town, with her band really cooking behind her, the excitement was galvanic.