Betty Bryant: “Lotta Livin'”

Gerry Geddes
We live in an age when octogenarians and nonagenarians in the music industry are delivering performances in recordings and concerts, in cabarets and jazz clubs that are equal (and at times superior) to their younger counterparts. Near the top of any list of these remarkable musical artists, would appear the name Betty Bryant.  She is...

Marc Jordan: “Waiting for the Sun to Rise”

Gerry Geddes
I often long for the golden age of albums in which the recording was a cohesive artistic statement into which thought, passion, art, and craft were poured, resulting in work that was substantially more than the sum of its tracks. It was the time of singers and producers and creative musicians like The Beatles, Joni...

Linda Kahn “Wait ‘Til You See What’s Next”

Gerry Geddes
Sometimes, the minute you hear a singer you know that they are (in sound, in temperament, and in style) born to be a recording artist. Such is the case with Linda Kahn and her stunning new album, Wait Till You See What’s Next. After having abandoned performing for many years, Kahn made a return to...

CD Review: Hannah Gill’s “Everybody Loves a Lover”

Gerry Geddes
Sometimes it’s a simple, refreshing delight when a singer records an album that is not out to re-invent the wheel but to honor the great legacy of American pop and the Swing era, embracing them with an emotional hug that allows listeners to luxuriate and lose themselves in the sweet journey that a well-crafted and...

Anya Turner and Robert Grusecki’s “Mid-Century Modern”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
An appealing new studio recording of ten original songs co-written and performed by vocalist Anya Turner and pianist Robert Grusecki, Mid-Century Modern is pleasingly unified by the prettiness, warmth, and intimacy of all of its selections. Within its line-up of impressively-devised songs, it also offers entertaining stylistic variety.  Delivered in simple, voice-and-piano arrangements—with Turner doing...

Maud Hixson’s “Permanent Moonlight—Songs of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett”

Gerry Geddes
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett was a man of many sides—a renowned composer of opera, film scores, jazz and pop, a lyricist of wit and depth, a cook, a mean scrabble master, a poker player, a superb pianist and interpreter of the Great American Songbook, a perfect accompanist and arranger, a dream audience, and a caustic...

Chloé Jean’s “Fairy Tale Fail”

Gerry Geddes
Sometimes when you listen to a new recording, in the first seconds you are captivated by a fresh sound, personal delivery, perfect instrumentation and immaculate production; you just sit back, smile, and enjoy an exciting and refreshing new voice on the scene. Such was my response to Fairy Tale Fail, the new album by Chloé...

Wilma Baan’s “Look at Me Now!”

Gerry Geddes
A few years ago, when the world in general and the cabaret world in particular were ravaged by quarantines and lockdowns, BistroAwards.com began to review related CDs and recordings (and the occasional virtual event).  One of the earliest reviews I wrote in those pandemic days was for the terrific debut album of singer Wilma Baan,...

Album Review: Ben Cassara’s “What a Way to Go!”

Gerry Geddes
As we come to the end of the hottest month in the history of recorded temperatures (aren’t we lucky that there is "no such thing" as climate change?), one sure fire antidote to the incessant heat is the cool sound of Ben Cassara’s latest CD release, What a Way to Go!, produced by the great...

CD Review: Mary Foster Conklin’s “These Precious Days”

Gerry Geddes
When one goes to a Mary Foster Conklin show, there are certain givens—intriguing repertoire, musical mastery, exquisite phrasing, wit, wisdom, and damn fine singing. All those attributes are on full display in her new (and to my mind, best) recording, These Precious Days, which she produced with her music director/pianist John Di Martino.  As the...