Singer/composer/arranger Susan Tobocman has released her latest CD Touch & Go. It has an intriguing selection of songs that are terrifically performed and played. What is immediately unusual about the project is that the singer created all the arrangements with an assist on two of them by David Tobocman (keeping it in the family). The Latin […]
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Selection #11 in this running series. There’s nothing like mixing things up a little. The format of today’s “Cabaret Setlist” differs somewhat from previous installments. Up until now, we’ve looked at specific songs and the ways in which singers have made them their own. Today, we’ll check […]
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Song #10 in this running series. Cabaret Setlist began in May of this year with a look at Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s “Little Girl Blue.” I’ve been tempted to return to the Rodgers & Hart catalog before this, but thought it was too soon. Now that […]
We don’t usually like to flaunt ourselves….. For the past 36 years, the “Bistro Bits” column in Back Stage, the Bistro Awards annual event, and BistroAwards.com, has always put the spotlight on you, and we pride ourselves on that. But, how nice it is that some of you would like to now place the spotlight […]
It all depends on one’s philosophy of music: Why do you think music exists, and what purpose does it serve? Is it something you seek out for its power to lift your spirits? Or do you value music for its ability to reflect and affirm your emotions, even if you’re feeling blue, perhaps about the compromised […]
Back in 2016 at the Cafe Carlyle, Judy Collins closed her wonderful show by sitting at the piano, alone on stage, and mesmerized us with Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne.” As we left the room and wandered out into the night we received the devastating news that Cohen had passed away that very evening. Knowing that Collins […]
Those of us of a certain age remember the heyday of recorded singles. Two songs on either side of a 45 rpm record with a large hole in the center. For many of us, when the hit bands and singers from the Fifties through the Sixties dropped their new single, we paid attention. They were […]
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Song #9 in this running series Although Dar Williams’s song “When I Was a Boy” would go on to become a signature number for her, she once apparently harbored doubts about its potential. This eloquent and extremely likable story-song might well have been laid to eternal rest […]
Of all the revered composers of Broadway’s Golden Age, whose work makes up a large part of the American Songbook mined by cabaret artists, Harold Arlen is perhaps the most blatantly jazz-influenced. For this reason – while the composer’s fans are surely delighting in the recent release of Ridin’ on the Moon, Volume 3 […]
First things first: I’m a huge fan of Luba Mason. She’s smart, funny, sensitive, playful, and has a great way with a song. But despite of all these superior qualities I find her new CD, Triangle, somewhat disappointing. I like the songs, her interpretations and the accompaniments all individually, but, as a total listening experience, […]