Take a young songwriter/singer with an easy Southern warmth, a lively pop style to his piano playing, and a dynamic three-man backup band that adds its own quotient of imagination and fun — and you have an evening of one-of-a-kind, happily satisfying  music-making with Johnny Rodgers and his band.

Taking over The Algonquin’s Oak Room for three weeks in May, the close-knit group offered a mixture of styles embracing comical, country, pop and rock, programmed both with standards and with several of Johnny’s own songs. The mixture was on purpose: “I can’t do a program of all original songs,” said Johnny at the start. “The ear needs a rest, with the familiar.” The combination kept the program fresh, and included Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home,” Mercer and Richard Whiting’s “Too Marvelous for Words,” the comic piece “Huggin’ and Chalkin’” and the anthem-like “What a Wonderful World,” written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, and made popular by Louis Armstrong. Johnny’s own songs, often reflecting sweet nostalgia, included “Take Another Chance on Love” and “The Best of You in Me” (co-written with Richard Barone), his tribute to his father. Thanks to the intimacy that Johnny creates with his audience, “Sweet Georgia Smile,” one of his earliest songs and not on the program, was requested aloud by a patron; even though Johnny had closed the show, he returned to the piano, and he and the band performed it. (Georgia was Johnny’s girl friend when he wrote the number, is now his wife, and – the patron knew – was in the audience.)

This fall, Johnny and his band – Brian Glassman on bass, Danny Mallon on drums, and Joe Ravo on guitar – follow Louis Armstrong’s steps and head off on an international tour on behalf of the U.S. Department of State.

In the meantime, Johnny continues at the Oak Room through May 29.

Peter Haas
Cabaret Scenes
May 14, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org