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: 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...

Club Review: Erik Leuthäuser’s “In the Land of Ronny Whyte”

Gerry Geddes
Erik Leuthäuser Berlin-based jazz singer/composer Erik Leuthäuser made his American debut recently at Pangea as he celebrated the forthcoming release of a new tribute album to New York music legend Ronny Whyte, with Whyte himself as a special guest.  Multi-tattooed Leuthäuser has a goth, gender-fluid look and wardrobe that make his...

Club Review: Zachary Clause’s “On a Beach”

Gerry Geddes
Zachary Clause In the new show, On a Beach, written and performed by Zachary Clause, the singer/actor presented a kaleidoscopic journey through beaches, Hollywood, gay life, the Great American Songbook, mortality, history, survival, therapy, air travel, age, and his own past and present. He established a beachhead of sorts on the...

CD Review: Beverley Church Hogan’s “Sweet Invitation”

Gerry Geddes
In an era where Marilyn Maye, Petula Clark, Sheila Jordan, and Shirley Bassey are still going strong with no sign of slowing down, it should come as no surprise that 86-year-old singer Beverley Church Hogan would release a CD as masterful, savvy and irresistibly entertaining as her new recording, Sweet Invitation. Church Hogan’s voice, like...

Club Review: Lauren White with The Quinn Johnson Trio

Gerry Geddes
The casual elegance of the cabaret room at Pangea on an early June night was the perfect setting for Lauren White’s celebration of the COVID-delayed release of her CD, Ever Since the World Ended, as part of Ben Cassara’s Spring Swing Jazz Series. It was a delightful showcase for her laid-back, conversational yet swinging vocals...

CD Review: “Gary Brumburgh’s “Full Circle”

Gerry Geddes
Gary Brumburgh was content to be a teacher until he happened to be cast in an amateur production of a Broadway musical; he was immediately smitten and left his former career to spend the next two decades studying acting and singing and appearing in myriad local productions, touring companies, and any musical he could find....