HITTING THE RIGHT NOTE IN ‘MIDNIGHT’

NEW YORK —  Credit must go to . . . a superb acting cameo by newcomer Sandra Reaves-Phillips as (Dexter) Gordon’s watchdog-like friend.

--Peter Travers, People Magazine

Among the film’s many pleasurable moments is a . . . number by Reaves-Phillips, sung during a party scene.

--Janet Maslin, New York Times

“It must have been an instinct,” said singer Sandra Reaves-Phillips of her persistence in fighting for--and winning--the showcase role of Buttercup in Bertrand Tavernier’s heralded film homage to American jazz, “Round Midnight.” “I only knew the sketchiest details about the film, but from what I knew, I was convinced I could develop a performance that would show me to be an ‘actress’ as well as a singer.”

Reaves-Phillips, a veteran rhythm and blues singer, said she had been trying to break into acting for years, but few opportunities had come her way, and none to match the potential of Buttercup, the cranky, domineering companion of the film’s leading character, played by jazz musician Dexter Gordon.

When she heard about “Round Midnight,” she said she hounded a New York casting director into looking at an audition tape, even though the casting calls had already been held here while she was working in Europe.

“I guess this was one time when trying one more time worked,” she said.

Reaves-Phillips, who began singing in New York nightclubs at 15, is a major figure in jazz. She has appeared in such Broadway musicals as “Raisin” and “One Mo’ Time” and has toured the world with her one-woman show, “Ladies of Blues.”

But she considers Buttercup a big career move, and she credits Tavernier, the gifted French director with a soulful appreciation of American jazz, with guiding her through a performance that many critics have called a scene stealer.

“Tavernier encouraged me to develop and stretch (Buttercup),” Reaves-Phillips said of the character that screenwriter David Rayfiel based on the real-life wife of expatriate jazz musician Bud Powell, who lived together in Paris in the 1950s.

“I tried to use her positive and negative aspects to the greatest dramatic effect, so as not to make her too coarse or too soft. . . . You want to be as honest to the character as you can be, and yet you want people to know you were there (on screen) and not say later, ‘Was she in that film?’ Every actress’ dream is to be recognized for the role, no matter how small.”

Reaves-Phillips said that one of the toughest things about the role was following her character’s instincts instead of her own. There is one scene, for instance, where Gordon’s character strikes out at her and she does not strike back.

“In real life I would have reacted strongly myself, physically,” she said, “but in this particular scene, I knew I had to submit to him.”

Reaves-Phillips got an out-of-script bonus when in the midst of shooting, Tavernier decided to give her character her own musical number. She suggested Bessie Smith’s ‘Put It Right Here,’ and it became one of the film’s highlights.

“It was like a gift,” she said. “I felt I’d proven my work as an actress, and the director was allowing me to do more. . . . I felt fine being seen as a singer, because audiences would already have seen me as an actress.”

When she learned that her song was not being included in the sound-track album, Reaves-Phillips said she broke down and cried. It was the only bad moment in a good experience, she said, but it’s a pain that fades when she recalls her original objective and what she has achieved on screen.

“I understand Dexter Gordon is the star, and I’m happy to be part of a film that is a success.”

Since the release of “Round Midnight,” Reaves-Phillips said, she has been approached to discuss projects that would involve her as an actress. One is a possible feature about the life of Bessie Smith, the jazz great whose work is a major part of Reaves-Phillips’ nightclub act.

For now, Reaves-Phillips plans to continue touring “to pay bills, keep me visible and keep me in shape.” But she will persist, she said, in doing more acting.

“Being on my own since 15, I’ve learned that nothing’s going to get done for you unless you do it yourself.”