The 92 Street Y was filled with some of the jazz world’s finest musicians, as an attempt was made to prove the case that Stephen Sondheim and Jule Styne’s theater/vocal music and jazz are compatible.  Kurt Elling is one of the words premiere jazz singers, owning some of the most beautiful and expressive tonal qualities ever to be heard.  Usually his confidence and leadership abilities are hallmarks of his performances (his last at Birdland seemed a gift from God) but in this setting he seemed a bit ill at ease, appearing as if he wished to take some control of the proceedings as he diffidently snapped his fingers in a ineffectual attempt to get the band to coalesce with him.  I think this program actually demonstrated that many Sondheim tunes and vocal jazz are not easily allied.  Most have whopping climactic moments and Elling lacks the vocal heft to pull it off, although if he did I would still not buy it as jazz.  Even his trademark “Not While I’m Around” (Sweeny Todd) did not quite catch fire.  On the other hand, he did gather up all his resources for a lovely meditative version of Company’s “Sorry Grateful.”

As a pianist, Bill Charlp is undeniably brilliant as he seems to almost re-manufacture the instrument, inducing it to produce a stream of sounds and images that go way beyond the piano’s standard range by employing a pinch of magic fairy-dust. He did reminded us that Stephen Sondhiem's lyrics are as amazing as his music, something that is easy to forget when one is listening to the music of a Sweeny Todd or A Little Night Music.   His virtuosic rendering from Gypsy’s “Some People” was indeed dazzling but this demonstration was not as a vocal piece — I am not yet to be convinced that this one is jazz-singer friendly.

All this makes me ponder, as artistic director of the series, if Bill Charlap is the individual responsible for the selection of material as well as the narrative’s point of view.  He seemed well intentioned and good humored though at times pedantic (going to the piano and striking notes of “Just in Time” as an example of how simple it is). He did quote Jule Styne’s assertion that “a tune should be melodically simple and harmonically attractive.”  That might follow for much of Styne’s work (“Just in Time”), but Sondheim’s work is melodically complex.  There are some exceptions, of course.  Lea DeLaria’s wicked take on “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” and Diane Reeves poignant “I Remember Blue” are two examples.

That brings us to the “senza voce” band pieces, which were fully alive and showed off Brian Lynch’s stupendous trumpet. He made it sound so easy, a rare quality even in some of the finest horn players.   Rene Rosnes also offered some beautiful lyric pianism, although I wondered if a second pianist was really necessary to enhance the evening.

Melody Breyer-Grell
Cabaret Scenes
July 20, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org