2005 Cabaret Convention
- Tuesday Night
SECOND
NIGHT AT THE CABARET CONVENTION
Tuesday, October 18,
2005
Rose Hall, New York City
Reported by Joe
Regan
Please note: No "song lists" distributed at the convention, so some
of the song titles in these reports may not be accurate and/or misspelled.
The second
night of the 16th Annual Mabel Mercer Foundation Cabaret Convention
took place on Tuesday, October 18th
at the ROSE HALL at Time Warner Center (Columbus Circle, Broadway
at 60th Street, NYC - CenterCharge: 212-721-6500 - http://www.jazzatlincolncenter.org/
). It was an evening honoring the wonderful 81 year old Barbara
Carroll, currently appearing at THE ALGONQUIN.
The evening
opened with Spencer Day, a pianist/singer from San Francisco, who
is creating some excitement in the cabaret world. Mr. Day's first
number was one of his originals, "Don't Ya Worry About Me," a rocking
torch song. He then sang a song he had heard both Mabel Mercer and
Barbara Carroll do, "Little Girl Blue." It was interesting because
he began the song in the first person "When I was very young," he
sang, and then proceeded to sing the familiar lyrics. Most male
singers sing "When you were very young," but most male singers don't
sing this song. Mr. Day is a young and fresh performer and I look
forward to future appearances.
Mr. Day
was followed by Mary Foster Conklin who discussed her recent show,
the songs of Matt Dennis, and how both Dennis and Carroll were bar
singers. Her first number was a song she got half of from Mark Murphy
and the other half from Dennis' widow, a wonderful song called "Before
the Show." She followed it with Dennis' most famous song but included
a rare verse for "Angel Eyes." Ms. Foster Conklin soared on the
last chorus and then ended with a whispered "'Scuse me while I disappear".
It was very, very effective. I look forward to her CD on Dennis.
Her Dennis show was one of last year's highlights. Eric Comstock
followed with his definitive version of Styne-Sondheim's "Small
World" from Gypsy. He then rocked the house with "Nowadays" from
Chicago.
Laurel
Masse, formerly of the Manhattan Transfer, and now actively working
again as a solo, did an amazing version of "Fascinating Rhythm,"
soaring into a supersonic scat. This was followed a beautiful Harry
Warren - Al Dubin song, "Sweet and Slow." Barbara Fasano followed
with "Let's Fall In Love" from her Arlen show (which she is recording
in a few weeks). It was a fast paced exhibition of her amazing vocal
range. Fasano's second number was her definitive version of "Remind
Me" by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. She related to the audience
that Mabel Mercer rescued the song from oblivion. The song was the
theme song for One Night in the Tropics which starred the great
romantic duo, Abbott and Costello. Mabel picked it up and made it
one of her staples and everyone else borrowed the song from Mabel.
Daryl Sherman
with reed player Loren Schoenberg (who is the director of the Harlem
Jazz Museum), talked about her idolization of Mabel and sang a wonderful
rendition of "More than You Know". She followed with a zany Noel
Coward rarity about a randy cat "Chase Me Charlie." The audience
was widely enthusiastic.
Donald
Smith then announced the honored lady herself, Barbara Carroll.
Her first number was "My Funny Valentine," played like a Chopin
concerto. It was first class all the way. She then talked about
Mabel Mercer, and Mabel's relationship with Bart Howard. Bart Howard
would bring every song of his to Mabel first and it was from Mabel
everyone else learned "In Other Words," retitled "Fly Me To The
Moon." She then played and sang "If You Leave Paris" and then stood
and sang "You Are Not My First Love."
After an
intermission, Mr. Smith presented the first annual Mabel Mercer
Foundation Award to Barbara Carroll. She sat down at the piano again
and sang the Vernon Duke-Ira Gershwin "I Can't Get Started," with
many more than the usual choruses. We all loved it. She got a standing
ovation.
Ann Hampton
Calloway came out and told the audience that she was going to do
her instant write a song bit honoring Carroll. She took lots of
suggestions from the audience, "class," "elegance," "singer," and
others and then proceeded to go into her voodoo trance before singing
the original song including all the words honoring Ms. Carroll.
Then Ms. Carroll came out again and told everyone that a few weeks
ago at a jazz program Ms. Hampton Calloway had heard her play a
Bill Evans melody called "Too Soon." Ms. Hampton Calloway called
her a few days later and asked if she could lyricize the melody.
The next day the lyrics were completed and as Barbara played, Ann
sang the song. It was beautiful and should be picked up by many
other singers.
Allan Harris
appeared and sang a strong version of "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise."
He followed it with a strong song from a musical about slavery backed
up by Heather Sullivan and Joan Lowry. I think it was titled "The
Land Across the River" but it was an exceptional song, narrating
the live of a slave, what has happened to his sisters and brothers,
and hoping to escape to freedom in the land across the river.
Adi Braun,
a jazz singer from Toronto, and sang an original torch song called
"If We Had Never Met" by a woman named Eckhart who had written a
Bonnie Raitt hit. It was a wonderful torch song deserving more exposure.
She followed with a rendition of "The Lady Is A Tramp" that started
slow and then built into a rocky rhythm. I will certainly look for
her appearances in the U.S. again. Heather Sullivan came back and
sang one of her originals, "Angel," about a woman playing piano
in the bars. She also rocked with "Piano Man."
Ronny Whyte
came out after Mr. Smith told a raunchy story about what some spectators
were doing in a club where Travis Hudson and Mr. Whyte used to play
as they were singing "Isn't It Romantic." Mr. Whyte chose to do
two Cy Coleman songs, playing tribute to someone else we lost this
year. The first was "I Walk A Little Faster" which was very moving.
Then he introduced a song that Mabel used to close her shows with,
"All Right I Love You," a funny gem.
Carroll
returned to close the show with an anecdote about how when he was
young, Steve Sondheim and his drinking friends used to toast each
other not with "Salud" or "Prosit" but with "Who's like us? Damn
few!" Of course she followed it with "Old Friends" from Merrily
We Roll Along and she received another standing ovation.
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