Club Review: Linda Purl’s “This Could Be the Start”
Penelope Thomas
Linda Purl is a true working actor: whether you’ve seen her on Happy Days or The Office, on or Off Broadway, in regional theatre, in straight plays or musicals, or in Japan, where she spent her early years—you’ve definitely already enjoyed her work. It’s this level of performance experience that backs up her craft as...
Club Review: “Ann Hampton Callaway Sings Peggy Lee and the Songs of the ’70s”
Penelope Thomas
Ann Hampton Callaway is a seasoned jazz artist, songwriter, an interpreter of the American Songbook, and an entertainer who knows how to work a crowd—especially when her ex-husband is bravely sitting in the front row. Her show at 54 Below on Sunday, January 15 was a half-and-half evening of Peggy Lee and 1970s pop, which...
Club Review: Ronny Whyte’s “Swinging Sondheim”
Gerry Geddes
The urbane sophistication and consummate musicality of singer/pianist/songwriter Ronny Whyte proved a perfect match for the artistry of Stephen Sondheim in the new show, Swinging Sondheim, which debuted this month at Birdland. He treated the songs with style and reverence, as he would Porter or Gershwin or any other great songwriter; his treatments had a...
Club Review: “Off the Charts with Martha Bartz”
Betsyann Faiella
Professionally known as a mezzo soprano classical concert and oratorio soloist, Martha Bartz is a newcomer to cabaret, and welcome to her! She’s enthusiastic and she hired some of the best arrangers in the business—Alex Rybeck and Christopher Denny among them—and Jeff Harnar as her director. However, Off The Charts with Martha Bartz lent the mistaken impression that...
Club Review: Shana Farr’s “Dream Reality”
Penelope Thomas
Shana Farr is a beautiful singer. She looks beautiful. She was beautifully prepared for her show Dream Reality at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Her life story, give or take 1.5 minor hiccups, sounded beautiful. She likes beautiful songs about dreams. She can hit high theatre soprano notes, seemingly effortlessly, and, yes, very beautifully. Shana Farr...
Club Review: Danny Bacher Quartet
Gerry Geddes
There is something special in the sound, the style, and the phrasing of a horn player who sings; I think back to my favorites of the past like Chet Baker, Jack Sheldon, and even Louis Armstrong. They brought a unique musicality and lightness to their delivery while paying attention to the lyrics, both narratively and...
Club Review: Tawanda, Jazz Vocalist in Her NY Debut
Gerry Geddes
Tawanda (Photo: Jeff Xander) For new young jazz vocalists beginning a performance career, the shadows of the giants that came before them can be intimidating and overwhelming as well as inspirational. But when 26-year-old singer, Tawanda (who tied for first place in the 9th Annual Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition in...
Club Review: Susan Neuffer’s “An Elpee’s Worth of Todd”
Gerry Geddes
Back in the day, when I became a lifelong fan of singer/songwriter/producer Todd Rundgren, albums were not merely a collection of "pick & choose" streamable tracks. They were an entity unto themselves—an artistic statement in which to immerse oneself, in which to get lost like a good book or a good movie. Each song benefited...
Club Review: Brandon James Gwinn’s “Four Pianos”
Gerry Geddes
Bobby Short…Blossom Dearie…Frances Faye…Diana Krall. Their names alone conjure images of sophisticated, exciting nightlife, of bôites inhabited by saloon singers on the ivories, of wonderful dreams of music and class and style. Alas, it has been a long time since that piano and voice alchemy has topped the entertainment world in New York City and...
Club Review: Stacy Sullivan, Todd Murray in “I’m Glad There Is You—The Musical Romance of Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee
Gerry Geddes
What could go wrong? One of New York cabaret’s warmest, most intelligent, and talented vocalists paired with a solid crooner in the classic mode whose rich, smooth sound and smart phrasing sets him apart from other current practitioners of saloon singing paired to sing the songs of Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra accompanied by two...
