I have always had a warm spot in my music listening heart for pop recordings. I love jazz, rock, film scores, Broadway, folk, and so many other genres that I have been told that my taste is so eclectic that it is nonexistent. Even though two out of three of my favorite singers are Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae, the third is Petula Clark.
A new jazz-tinged pop masterpiece called Crazy World by As Is has just come out and I have been streaming it regularly since I first heard it. I am sure people watching me on the bus, or the subway, or the sidewalk can tell from the smile on my face that I like what I’m hearing. As Is is the creation of vocalist Stacey Schulman and guitarist Al Schulman with a dynamic rhythmic assist from Corcoran Holt on bass and the great Jeff “Tain” Watts on drums, and a wide and wonderful array of guest stars. This project is an especially provocative blend of pop with jazz and house music, brimming with intelligence and wit and style and musicianship and taste to the nth degree!
Stacey has a pure, delightful pop sound, while imbued at the same time with jazz chops and a distinctive sense of time. She is also a lyricist, which she reveals in the very first track, a reworking of “From This Very Moment On” (Cole Porter, new lyrics Stacey Schulman, freestyle: Kokayi) that removes the romance and makes it a driving statement on the world, on life, on the future. It sets the listener up for the wild, inviting ride that awaits them. The fiery background of drums, bass, and guitar, intensified by Dante Pope‘s vocalese, and Christylez Bacon’s beatbox burst into life in James McKinney’s arrangement. After the tsunami of sounds that washes over listeners, the group moves to a more traditional song, “Better Than Anything” (David Wheat, Bill Loughborough) featuring just the quartet and some inventive, delightfully current new lyrics by Stacey and especially tasty work by Al on guitar.
A particularly daring experimental pairing of an AI version of Antônio Carlos Jobim’s “Children’s Games” with instrumental articulation by Suno AI with an original by Stacey, “PrAilude”, recording the vocals on her phone on a beach in Puerto Rico and including mash up of “Here We Come A-Wassaling” with lyrics warning of a post AI world—“Here we come to take your land, to take your jobs, to make your art, to break your heart…” Rather than leaving us to fret about a future of computerized nightmares, As Is moves on to hope and promise with another Jobim, “Double Rainbow,” presented like a breath of fresh (natural) air.
A series of pop classics is especially effective in their hands and in this concept. “A House is Not a Home” (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) features Stacey’s haunting lower register to great effect, echoed by the background vocals by Dante Pope. Watts’s drums are particularly effective in giving the song a steelier emotional turmoil than it usually has, as does a quote from Barry White, along with the singer scatting part of Sting’s “Fragile.” Jimmy Webb’s classic, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” is beautifully captured with voice, guitar and bass, with Stacey’s raw, plaintive vocals allowing the shimmering poetry of the lyrics to float over the gossamer underscoring. Treating Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” as a lilting jazz waltz is as surprising as it is irresistible. Before closing the album, the group returns to the opening number, “From This Very Moment On” done at an even more brisk pace, as if the group cannot wait to face the future with what they have learned (and taught) with this recording.
“Crazy World” (Henry Mancini, Leslie Bricusse, from Victor, Victoria) is the closer, giving us a glimpse of that world that the future offers. Joining the group is Gil Goldstein on accordion and a stunning string section. Stacey’s vocals are passionate, emotionally naked, and deeply moving with a welcome echo of Bernadette Peters for good measure. This is a stunning album, worthy of success, awards, and repeated listenings, and please, listen to it the old-fashioned way, in order and consecutively. As Is deserves that and deserves to be celebrated.
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Crazy World, produced by James McKinney; released on May 1, 2026 via Nite Nite the Elephant Productions.
Gerry Geddes, critic for BistroAwards.com, is an award-winning director, writer, teacher, performer, lyricist, and a contributor to the podcast Troubadours and Raconteurs. He conceived and directed the acclaimed musical revues Monday in the Dark with George (Bistro and MAC Award winner), Put on Your Saturday Suit—Words & Music by Jimmy Webb, and Gerry Geddes & Company (in its five-year residency at Pangea). He has directed singers André De Shields, Darius de Haas, Helen Baldassare, and Lisa Viggiano. He has been active in the cabaret world for over five decades and has produced numerous CDs; his lyrics have been performed and recorded here and in Europe. Gerry’s workshop, The Art of Vocal Performance, is regularly offered to singers of all levels. His memoir of life in NYC, Didn’t I Ever Tell You This?, was recently published and is available at barnesandnoble.com. He is currently at work on his first novel.
