“If Only for One Night,” Brenda Russell’s
seething pop-soul ballad of longing and desire,
is probably best remembered by Luther Vandross’s
ornate rendition on his 1985 album, “The Night I Fell in Love.”
On Tuesday evening at 54 Below it was resurrected by Darius de Haas
in a fiery, unabashedly abject interpretation whose desperate passion
eclipsed even that of Mr. Vandross, the so-called “Pavarotti of pop...”

The song title is also the name of Mr. de Haas’s show, a thrilling
demonstration that the pop-soul tradition to which he belongs
has not retreated to the margins of black mainstream music for lack
of voices. It may be a generational thing. Mr. de Haas, a Chicago-born
theater singer with deep roots in jazz and soul... and John Legend,
today’s ranking pop-soul balladeer [are from different generations].
But Mr. de Haas, whose style comes straight out of Stevie Wonder
and Donny Hathaway, can sing rings around Mr. Legend.

The quality that most distinguishes Mr. de Haas from his forerunners is
his unguarded emotionality and eagerness to dive deep into a song
and carry it as far as it will let him.”

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