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...
CD Review: Ann Kittredge’s “reIMAGINE”
Lisa Jo Sagolla
Even if its arrangements and vocal interpretations weren’t bursting with an inventiveness that leaves one awestruck, vocalist Ann Kittredge’s debut CD, reIMAGINE, would still be an irresistible musical treat. Kittredge possesses a beautiful, evocative instrument, and hearing her sing is pure pleasure in itself. Yet in this aptly titled 13-track album, she puts her voice...
CD Review: Sean Patrick Murtagh’s “The Mario 101! A Celebration of the Mario Lanza Songbook”
Lisa Jo Sagolla
While tenor Sean Patrick Murtagh’s debut album, The Mario 101! A Celebration of the Mario Lanza Songbook, is vocally magnificent, his singing style is not of the ilk typically relished by cabaret connoisseurs. With his warm, slender, operatic voice, Murtagh grasps the dramatic arc of a song and renders it musically, prioritizing the aural aesthetics...
CD Review: Celia Berk’s “Now That I Have Everything”
Lisa Jo Sagolla
A wondrous singer, Celia Berk provides the perfect autumn album with her new CD, Now That I Have Everything. Her handsome voice emits the warm beauty of fall colors, deep browns, rich reds, golden yellows, and bold orange. And her album’s beguiling musical selections, reflecting the many facets of romantic love, are rendered from a...
CD Review: Eleri Ward’s “Keep a Tender Distance”
Gerry Geddes
Sondheim tribute recordings and CDs have become a cottage industry in the music world. There have been many fine entries in the genre harkening back to Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Dame Cleo Laine, Jackie & Roy, Herbie Hancock, and Betty Buckley to name a few, not to mention the myriad concert and studio tributes by...
CD Review: Elizabeth Ward Land’s “Still Within the Sound of My Voice—The Songs of Linda Ronstadt
Gerry Geddes
It is a tricky proposition to make a studio recording of a cabaret show; there are so many elements to consider. Most of the people who hear the recording will not have seen the show and will have no frame of reference other than the audio. Tempos, keys, arrangements, and order might need to be...
CD Review: Patrisha Thomson’s “Wild is the Wind”
Gerry Geddes
Sometimes listening to the repertoire featured on a recording can be like slipping into a favorite old coat; the coat is well-made and provides comfort, warmth, and a dash of elegance, with few surprises other than in the quality of the craftsmanship. Wild is the Wind, the new release from singer Patrisha Thomson is just...
CD Review: Jeff Harnar’s “I Know Things Now—My Life in Sondheim’s Words”
Lisa Jo Sagolla
Award-winning nightclub and concert vocalist Jeff Harnar has been beguiling cabaret audiences since the late 1980s with his romantic voice and upbeat, boyish persona. On June 17, PS Classics released I Know Things Now—My Life in Sondheim’s Words, Harnar’s first solo album in 17 years—and it’s truly extraordinary. Based on the singer’s sung-through stage show,...
CD Review: Beverley Church Hogan’s “Sweet Invitation”
Gerry Geddes
In an era where Marilyn Maye, Petula Clark, Sheila Jordan, and Shirley Bassey are still going strong with no sign of slowing down, it should come as no surprise that 86-year-old singer Beverley Church Hogan would release a CD as masterful, savvy and irresistibly entertaining as her new recording, Sweet Invitation. Church Hogan’s voice, like...