Gerry Geddes

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.

CD Review: Eleri Ward’s “Keep a Tender Distance”

Gerry Geddes
Sondheim tribute recordings and CDs have become a cottage industry in the music world.  There have been many fine entries in the genre harkening back to Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Dame Cleo Laine, Jackie & Roy, Herbie Hancock, and Betty Buckley to name a few, not to mention the myriad concert and studio tributes by...

Club Review: Scott F. Mason’s “One Dame Funny Night”

Gerry Geddes
Before I get to Scott F. Mason’s hilarious show at Don’t Tell Mama, One Dame Funny Night, return with me to those thrilling days of cabaret past, and to one of the best cabaret comedians in the late 20th century, Pudgy (the stage name of Beverly Wines).  Pudgy began her career at a time when...

Club Review: Ann Morrison’s “Merrily from Center Stage”

Gerry Geddes
Anyone who has seen the 2016 documentary Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened might understandably assume that there was no need to get further insight into the famed failure that was Merrily We Roll Along. Anyone who has seen an autobiographical cabaret show by a Broadway performer might understandably assume that a show by one...

“Bennett & Barton: Swing Out Under the Moon!”

Gerry Geddes
If the Bistro Awards gave out an award for Outstanding Musical Archeologist, Elena Bennett would win hands down for her triumphant return to the New York cabaret stage with Fred Barton in Bennett & Barton: Swing Out Under the Moon! which recently debuted at Pangea.  In an evening filled with classics (in quality if not...

Club Review: Helane Blumfield and Bobby Peaco in “Me and Bobby P”

Gerry Geddes
Bobby Peaco was one of the stalwarts of New York piano bars and cabaret for decades.  His talent, wit and antic spirit livened up many of the city’s classic venues until a few years ago when he decided to move to Florida with his husband.  He made a rare and welcome return to the cabaret...

CD Review: Elizabeth Ward Land’s “Still Within the Sound of My Voice—The Songs of Linda Ronstadt

Gerry Geddes
It is a tricky proposition to make a studio recording of a cabaret show; there are so many elements to consider. Most of the people who hear the recording will not have seen the show and will have no frame of reference other than the audio. Tempos, keys, arrangements, and order might need to be...

CD Review: Allen Austin-Bishop’s “Why Go?”

Gerry Geddes
It is always exciting to come across a new recording that is filled with surprising song choices from surprising sources delivered by a singer who covers them with a passion, intelligence and the personal phrasing of a singer-songwriter delivering his own material.  That is what I discovered in Why Go?, the new release by Allen...

CD Review: Patrisha Thomson’s “Wild is the Wind”

Gerry Geddes
Sometimes listening to the repertoire featured on a recording can be like slipping into a favorite old coat; the coat is well-made and provides comfort, warmth, and a dash of elegance, with few surprises other than in the quality of the craftsmanship. Wild is the Wind, the new release from singer Patrisha Thomson is just...

Club Review: Mary Foster Conklin and Andrea Wolper

Gerry Geddes
Pangea Hot Summer Jazz Series, curated and hosted by singer Ben Cassara, continues apace with the inspired pairing of Mary Foster Conklin and Andrea Wolper.  The friends shared the vocalist chair in Art Lillard’s Heavenly Big Band for many years, but this was their first duo show. I wish that the well-programmed show had included a...

Livestream Review: “Anything Goes! Cole Porter and More Cole Porter!”

Gerry Geddes
Deborah Grace Winer The various Songbook Series at Jazz at Lincoln Center comprise one of the crown jewels of New York cabaret and jazz entertainment.  The latest offering was a tribute to an iconic master of American song filled with familiar, perhaps too familiar, songs presented by three vocalists and a...