Sunday brunch with Barbara Carroll at the piano is the surest antidote to the trials of a New York week.  Her bright, conversational singing exudes a distinctly Manhattan brand of jazz, and the stream of musical consciousness that darts from her fingertips in Dave Frishberg’s “Do You Miss New York?” builds skyscraper-lined sidewalks as quickly as it sweeps them away. Saloons and honky tonks, supper clubs and society clubs, are nestled in her improvisations, echoes of a world and a music that New York won’t see again.

Still, there was no room for nostalgia in Carroll’s act at The Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room. With her chic Missoni jacket and copper upsweep, she looked as fresh as a Central Park daisy. And when she offered Freed and Lane’s best-known ice breaker, “How About You?,” it was hard not to imagine a giggling girl out on her first date. Her conspirator at the bass, Jay Leonhart, was as essential as an old chum on the subway ride home. Their chemistry transcended the usual jazz interchange and bloomed into a shared musical joke to which we were generously privy.

Though the program unearthed few rarities, the well-known gems of Ellington, Strayhorn, and Coleman could not be in better hands. Before launching into Ellington’s delicious “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be,” Carroll added slyly, “…in case you didn’t notice.” Alas, we had noticed, but, with Barbara Carroll, it is easy to forget.

Patrick Monahan
Cabaret Scenes
February 13,, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org