It's a Helluva Town. No chance of forgetting that, with Bill Charlap, Sandy Stewart (pictured) and Barbara Carroll and some of the top musicians around celebrating New York at the Jazz in July series. With guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, drummer Lewis Nash, and Jay Leonhart on bass, pianist Charlap opened with a city jazz tour, recreating the frenzied streets and moody flavors. They were joined by clarinetist Ken Peplowski, Byron Stripling on trumpet and Wess Anderson on saxophone to close a red-hot Act I with Duke Ellington's "Drop Me Off in Harlem."

Sandy Stewart delivered two Warren and Dubin standards, "42nd Street" and the city's sleepy time favorite, "Lullaby of Broadway," in her slightly husky, warm alto voice that swells with memories, singing her songs straight and simple, without frills and ruffles. You never stop believing her—or her son. Bill Charlap, now in his fifth year as the series' artistic director, remains the wunderkind of piano, who works the keyboard with energy with technique to spare, dazzling with virtuosity and surprise, yet dedicated to the song's intent.

As host, Charlap was poised and intelligent, creating an inclusive city portrait, including Scott Joplin's "Wall Street Rag," bebop, Thelonius Monk, and John Coltrane.

Barbara Carroll shifted from street sounds into nightclubs. Her piano style, based on bebop, has matured into the sophisticated layers of vivacity and truth. She continues to be a city treasure, hip and witty. The Gershwins' distinctive "How About You?" was punctuated with updated references to Derek Jeter and Barack Obama. Bernstein/Comden/Green's "Lonely Town" and Gershwin's "Prelude in C Sharp Minor," were immaculate studies in spare loneliness. Jay Leonhart delivered his wry lament of "Double Parking."

As the ensemble saluted "Broadway," a surprise guest walked onstage—Queens native Tony Bennett, no introduction necessary. Bennett added the determined intensity of Cole Porter's "I Happen to Like New York" and ended with Rodgers and Hart's "Manhattan."

92nd Street and Lexington was an "isle of joy."

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
July 22, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org