It’s a loud night.  Randy Oxford’s music set a scene, and that scene is vibrating with excitement, loud excitement.



Then the first singer hits the stage, and says “Hi!”



The crowd says hi back halfheartedly.



She calls them on it.



“I didn’t hear you!” she shouts, and the crowd responds in full volume.

And then “little Lisa” Lisa Leigh Cayo opens her mouth to sing, and the talking ceases.  A few mouths open in shock.  Her first song, “Son of a Preacher Man,” holds wistful yearning and seems almost age-appropriate out of her mouth.  Her rendition of “Me and Bobby McGee” holds the crowd entranced, amazed that such perfect pitch and soul can come out of such a small body. 



The only problem is the songs are too short.



The crowd wants more, and in true Jazzbones form, they’re loud about their appreciation.

For her first encore, she sings about riding her bicycle and roller skating.  “Brand New Key” is a song tailor-made for the petite 10-year-old with an amazing range. She follows it with “Misty Blue,” the first song she learned.



Cayo is amazingly self-assured on stage, comfortable with the mic and bantering as though she were born to it.



Even though she’s been singing in the car since early days (Grandma taught her the pre-Pearl Jam “Last Kiss” years ago), it wasn’t until about four months ago that she began singing at Jazzbones during Randy Oxford’s Blues Theatre jams. 



Her stepfather, Rodney Rodrigues, whom she calls Dad, always encouraged her to sing and had some musicality going on with his sons, as well.  One of them was due to possibly be on “American Idol” as Cayo was performing. Another son passed on, a fact that brings tears to Rodrigues’ eyes.  The dutiful Cayo grabs her dad a Kleenex, and they explain part of Cayo’s motivation to perform.



“My son passed on … I didn’t really push him,” admits Rodrigues.



Yet, it’s not as though Cayo is being pushed. 



“If she doesn’t want to do something, she won’t do it; there’s really no ‘pushing,’” explains her mom, Angela Cayo.



It’s obvious from little Lisa’s performance that she loves what she’s doing. Throughout her whole set, the only hint that she might harbor just a mote of nervousness lays in the way she strokes her hair every now and again.



On stage, as off, when she talks her face is alight.  The gymnast/good student/amazing songstress shows a love for the stage that shines through the songs she sings.

In terms of her future plans?



“I want be like Gladys Knight,” she dreams aloud.



For now, it’s Jazzbones, about which she says, “I feel comfortable here.  They cheer me on.”



[Jazzbones, Randy Oxford’s Blues Theatre with Maia Santell and Al Alto, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m., all ages, no cover, 2803 Sixth Ave.,

Tacoma, 253.396.9169]