Review by Ron Fassler . . .
If someone was in the mood this week on June 9th to celebrate Cole Porter’s birthdate, then if they headed to West 44th Street in Manhattan, their wish would have come true. Jeff Harnar: It’s De-Lovely, Cole Porter’s Birthday at Birdland offered a set list of thirty songs performed as solos and in medleys that show off both singer and songwriter as the gems they are. Porter’s enormous catalogue of eclectic tunes, with lyrics that either soar in romanticism or cleverly tickle the funny bone, made for a perfect combination with Harnar’s affable stage persona. Having put in the hours as a cabaret artist for decades, he is one of those performers who instantly make you feel comfortable. Even though he included such welcome cabaret stalwarts as Billy Stritch, Eric Comstock, and Barbara Fasano to join in the festivities, and such luminaries as Marilyn Maye seated in the audience, the evening was Harnar’s through and through. To see him is to bask in the glow of a confident entertainer, one who never sweats or pushes.
Porter was born 134 years ago in Peru (pronounced Pee-roo), Indiana to wealthy parents. He led a charmed life, attending the Worchester Academy, a private boarding school in Massachusetts, graduating as valedictorian. Then it was onto Yale University, majoring in English and minoring in Music, where he was voted “most entertaining member” of his graduating class. That might have had to do with his composing more than 300 songs during his four years there. In fact, “Bulldog” (also known as “Bulldog, Bulldog”) is still sung at Yale football games after touchdowns. From there, he went to Harvard Law, but only briefly before switching to the Harvard School of Music. Brilliant, popular, and rich—Porter led a carefree life of almost continuous success until 1937 when, in a tragic accident, he was crushed under a horse leaving him mostly paralyzed. Numerous operations never healed him completely and in 1958, after an amputation of one of his legs, he became something of a recluse and never wrote another song. He died in 1964 at age seventy-three.
For his birthday salute, Jeff Harnar worked in songs written as far back as 1925 with “Let’s Do It” from the Broadway musical Paris, to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, his second to last complete score written for the film musical High Society in 1956. Since sophistication came naturally to him, the people Porter surrounded himself with from an early age included such exceptional artists as Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemmingway. His high bred erudition showed in so much of his produced work with the ability to write a torch song with a witty title like “Down in the Depths on the 90th Floor,” as well as the lightning quick patter of “You’re the Top.” This gave Harnar permission to run the gamut from emotional ballads like “In the Still of the Night,” to fast-paced up temp numbers like “I’m Throwing a Ball Tonight.” That one, not as well-known as some of Porter’s others, has some nifty lyrics that never fail to titillate. Such as:
I invited Wendell Willkie,
I invited F.D.R.,
And for photographs,
I asked the staffs
Of Life, Book, Peek, Pic, Snap, Click, and Harper’s Bazaar.
I invited Monty Woolley
And of course I asked Cliff Odets,
But to my surprise
Ev’ry one of those guys
Tendered his regrets.
And so I
Feel like a million dollars,
I feel simply out o’ sight,
So come on down, come on down,
I’m throwing a ball tonight.
Porter’s unique abilities are best expressed not only by his delightful lyrics, but on how well they sit on the charming tunes he composed. Hats off to Musical Director Alex Rybeck, responsible for excellent arrangements on almost the entire set, and who also contributed some nice vocals on a “Friendship” medley in collaboration with Harnar that was a genuine crowd pleaser. The tight band featuring Dan Gross on drums and Ritt Henn on bass can’t be improved upon (and loved it when Henn picked up a ukulele to strum along for one song). Also, Henn’s bass work on “What is This Thing Called Love?” was particularly strong.
Even after snippets and full-length renditions of thirty Porter songs, the audience was still thoroughly invested during Harnar’s encore, the title song from Can-Can. It has to have been music to his ears to hear the laughs generated by such lyrics as:
If a chief in the Sudan can,
If the hefty Aga Khan can,
If the camels in his caravan can,
Baby, you can can-can too.
Jeff Harnar: It’s De-Lovely, Cole Porter’s Birthday at Birdland was performed at Birdland Jazz Club, 315 W 44th Street, NYC. For information on future programming, please visit: https://www.birdlandjazz.com.
Headline photo of Billy Stritch and Jeff Harnar by Ron Fassler.