Cabaret Review by Ron Fassler . . .
The lyric writers of popular song have never attracted nearly the spotlight the way composers do in receiving the lion’s share of attention. As Ira Gershwin wrote, “the melody lingers on.” In an oft-told anecdote, Dorothy Hammerstein once corrected someone who was extolling the virtues of “Ol’ Man River” by proudly noting, “Jerome Kern wrote ‘dum, dum, dum-dum.’ My husband wrote ‘Ol’ Man River’.”
In the pantheon of lyricists with a home in the Great American Songbook, Sammy Cahn more than earned his keep. Though he played piano and violin, he prospered as a wordsmith who, throughout his sixty-year career worked in tandem with a host of great composers: Jule Styne, James Van Heusen, Saul Chaplin, Sammy Fain and Gene de Paul. At Birdland on October 7, Jeff Harnar paid tribute to Cahn with his show “The Second Time Around,” titled after a song introduced by Bing Crosby that Cahn co-wrote with Jimmy Van Heusen for High Time (1960). It was one of thirty-one (!) songs for which Cahn received an Academy Award nomination (he won four). His catalogue is so large that Harnar represented only two of those Oscar winners, a lovely rendition of “All the Way” that opened the show and “Call Me Irresponsible.”
Harnar is a wonderful song stylist and a multiple award winning performer. He truly understands the art of cabaret in a way that’s in his bones, exhibiting a genuine humbleness. Magnanimous and generous, his choice to bring Nicholas King and Gabrielle Stravelli to the stage Monday night made perfect sense. In a pair of duets, Harnar delighted in the comradery of these two charming singers. Late in the show, he introduced the Moipei sisters—identical triplets from Kenya—who are as adorable as they are talented. Leave it to Harnar to have them sing “Bei Mir Bist Do Shon,” a popular Yiddish song from the 1930s that Cahn later wrote English lyrics to (with Saul Chaplin). Recorded by the Andrews Sisters, it was their first big hit. At Birdland, the Moipei Sisters infectious singing (along with Harnar) was the evening’s unadulterated highlight.
Under the direction of Barry Kleinbort, Harnar’s patter between songs was short and sweet (and funny). Music director Alex Rybeck, always solid, added a few vocals (it was a party), and Steve Doyle (bass), Ray Marchica (drums) and Marc Phaneuf (sax/flute) were excellent, particularly Phaneuf’s sax on “All the Way.” The arrangements covered a wide range, among them of a new way to go with Mario Lanza’s operatic “Be My Love,” repurposed a la Johnny Mathis, with nice vocals from Harnar. Also, a delightful time was had with “Love is a Bore,” a song I first noticed on one of Barbra Streisand’s earliest records, and the fake out of Harnar’s finale “My Kind of Town” (an homage to Chicago) made for a subversive and cheeky closer.
A recording of this original set was set down in 2001, but due to the record label going out of business just prior to its release, it’s taken a long time for it to be heard the way it was intended. Now “remixed, reimagined and expanded upon,” as it says in the liner notes, and with five newly-recorded tracks, it’s available for purchase here. Check it out and check out Jeff Harnar next time he’s onstage near you.
“Jeff Harnar Sings Sammy Cahn The Second Time Around” was at Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, NYC on October 7. For further information on Jeff Harnar, go to https://jeffharnar.com and for the Birdland calendar, please visit https://www.birdlandjazz.com
Photos by by Rob Copeland, Renee Katz and Becca Kidwell.
Headline Photo: Jeff Harnar at Birdland.
