Cabaret Setlist: “End of the World” — Music and lyrics by Matt Alber

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Song #6 in this running series Part of my intention when starting this series was to take a fresh look at songs from the American Songbook that have endured over several decades. Additionally, though, I wanted to examine newer songs, ones that would seem to have an...

CD Review: Diane Schuur “Running on Faith”

Gerry Geddes
Diane Schuur (Photo: Tim Courtney) Sometime in the ‘90s, the Grammy Awards telecast decided to have all the nominees in all Jazz Vocal categories line up on the stage and join in a group rendition of “How High the Moon.”  Far stage right, last in line, was Sarah Vaughan; next to...

CD Review: Linda Lavin “Love Notes”

Gerry Geddes
Linda Lavin’s new CD, Love Notes, is a timeless collection of terrific songs from the Great American Songbook that has the feel and sound of a classic album from the '50s or '60s but with a few surprising tracks from the likes of the Eagles and Steely Dan.  Lavin sounds better than ever and the...

CD Review: Sue Anne Gershenzon’s “You Must Believe in Spring”

Gerry Geddes
Rosemary Clooney famously said, “I am not a jazz singer. I am a singer who sings jazz songs.”  On her new album, You Must Believe In Spring, Sue Anne Gershenzon has chosen a program of songs of the highest quality – there’s not a bad song among them.  Unfortunately, in her execution of them, she...

CD Review “Robbie Rozelle’s “Songs From Inside My Locker”

Gerry Geddes
Robbie Rozelle’s new album, Songs From Inside My Locker, captures his more recent show at Feinstein’s/54 Below.  While there are some good ideas and a few good numbers to be heard, the singing rarely rises above that of a decent piano bar performance and can’t sustain the length of the recording.   As with most...

On Medleys

Roy Sander
Let me open with a rather broadly stated observation: Too many people are doing too many medleys in too many shows. Now I'll narrow in and expand on this. (Perversely, and yet delightfully, this seemingly oxymoronic sentence is not self-contradictory.) By medley, I refer to any combination of more than one song. Let's start at...

CD Review: Tim Di Pasqua’s “Place in This World”

Gerry Geddes
  Tim Di Pasqua’s new CD, Place In This World, is a collection of 12 originals that show off his way with word and melody.  Filled with a veritable bouquet of styles and genres, the album opens with an infectious uptempo declaration of missing a good friend, Tokyo, in which the story is wonderfully specific...

Drag Kings Just Want to Have Fun and Get Their Due

Simi Horwitz
Article #2 of Simi Horwitz's ongoing series on alt-cabaret. Drag King Mo B. Dick (aka Mo Fischer), best known for his self-defining quip, “Instead of being an angry woman I became a funny man,” reluctantly admits it’s never been a better time for drag kings. Thanks to the shuttering of live venues, drag kings—performing artists...

CD Review: Kirsten Gustafson’s “Wait Until Dark”

Gerry Geddes
Singer Kirsten Gustafson’s bluesy, dark, pop stylings are on attractive display on her new CD, ​Wait Until Dark. ​It seems that in an effort to feature the widest variety of material and styles, she and her team left behind any chance of concept or connection between the songs. On a CD, this is not always...

Cabaret Setlist: “It Never Was You” — Music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Maxwell Anderson

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Song #5 in this running series   Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s “It Never Was You” might be better known today were it not for Walter Huston. Cover of Broadway's 1938 Knickerbocker Holiday souvenir program. The 54-year-old actor was slated to appear in...