Pop Reviews : Rain Doesn’t Put Damper on Carr

What’s a little rain to Vikki Carr? Not much.

Especially when she’s making her first appearance at the Greek Theatre in more than 20 years. And doubly so when the concert benefits her own Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation.

The intermittent drizzle that fell Saturday night did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of either Carr or her audience. Dividing her repertoire fairly equally between Spanish-language pieces (many of which were recorded during her second career in Mexico in the ‘80s) and a collection of pop tunes, she sang with the warm tone and hard-hitting style characteristic of her work since the early ‘60s.

An opening set, in which Carr was accompanied by Mariachi Sol de Mexico, featured such Spanish-language numbers as “Total.” In the program’s extended second half, she managed to include tributes to Nat King Cole and Gloria Estefan, a couple of Grammy-winning songs and a medley of Carr hits that climaxed with 1967’s “It Must Be Him.”

It was a far-ranging, mixed bag of material, but one that Carr handled easily. At 53, with an international following and a Grammy award as recently as last year, she still has the stylish bravura of a first-class pop music entertainer.