Bobby Caldwell scored platinum (literally) with the smash record “What You Won’t Do for Love.” Loving this tune as a youngster, it was with much anticipation that I made a beeline to Birdland to catch his act.

I was sadly disappointed for many reasons.  The still-dapper Caldwell took the stage with a thundering “Come Fly With Me” and I started to pray that this would not be another evening of Sinatra-induced mania.  Well, God has other things to attend to and prayers of this magnitude were not afforded grace.

Belting out a string of tunes from “I've Got Your Under My Skin” to “Chicago,” he managed to desecrate all that is holy to this fan of the Great American Songbook.  Sometimes being confident is a great thing, but Caldwell really approached hubris with his constant claims of “keeping this great music alive”.  Had he ever visited the many struggling vocalists in some of New York’s cabaret clubs, he might see the ones who are really carrying the torch and doing so with more devotion than compensation.

As he screamed out the tunes, I wish I could say the band compensated, but with their tired, store-bought arrangements and overly lusty horn section, they just added to the futility of the evening.  To only slight surprise, Caldwell proudly announced that he had just met the band before the show, and asked us, or really told us, how great things were going!!!  What a mench!

I later read that he’d received good notices as one third of a “Rat Pack” act in Vegas.  I also learned that he is a huge hit in Japan.  So when is the renowned club gonna book David Hasselhoff?

By the way, it seemed much of Caldwell’s audience loved the show.

Melody Breyer-Grell
Cabaret Scenes
February 18, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org