After two weeks celebrating the jazz talents of Dave Brubeck, Benny Carter and swing, the final evening of the 2011 Jazz in July was surprisingly devoted to Irving Berlin. Surprising to some, because this great songwriter is not known for jazz, although many of his tunes are played by jazz musicians.  Bill Charlap, however, the program’s artistic director, remembered Jerome Kern’s remark that “Irving Berlin is American music” and decided to salute the American Songbook’s part in jazz.

Charlap’s wife, Renee Rosnes, a talented pianist and arranger, joined with some of New York’s favorite jazz musicians, and music was made. She delivered a lovely arrangement of “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.” The instrumentalists, besides pianists Charlap and Rosnes, included Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Grant Stewart on tenor sax, Joe Locke on vibraphone, Sean Smith on bass and drummer Lewis Nash. With their up-tempo take on “Soft Lights and Sweet Music,” they proved that Berlin offered fresh opportunities for improvisation. Charlap’s mother, Sandy Stewart, and an engaging young singer, Sashal Vasandani, provided vocals.

The evening began in a haunting hush, as Sandy Stewart performed a riveting “Always,” her rich coffee voice thoughtful and ethereal.  Accompanied by Charlap’s soft chords, Stewart drew you in with still concentration and lush vocal tone. In the second act, she continued to enchant with “What’ll I Do?,” “Remember” and the moving “Say It Isn’t So,” with Pelt’s trumpet adding texture. However, Stewart was not all about ballads. She joined the instrumentalists in their loping, bluesy rhythm of “I Got the Sun in the Morning.”

The second vocalist was an impressive young jazz singer, Sachal Vasandani, acclaimed as a 2010 Downbeat Rising Star. With maturity, he sang “Isn’t It a Lovely Day?,” searching out the nuances and spirit of the tune. He joined Rosnes and Locke on “They Say It’s Wonderful,” elongating a sinuous “won---derful” and pausing in the last line, “So…they say.” With Grant Stewart on sax, Vasandani remembered that those “Blue Skies” were once gray and, backed by Lewis Nash and Sean Smith, he jauntily admitted that “He Ain’t Got Rhythm.”

With Charlap and his wife on side-by-side piano benches and the other instrumentalists swinging in, Sandy Stewart and Sachal Vasandani reminded the audience that “The Song Is Ended (But the Melody Lingers On).”  Entering the theater, the mood was already set with Charles Nelson’s background slides of Irving Berlin sheet music and photos. Credit must also be given to John Kelly’s imaginative lighting, further enhanced the evening.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
July 28, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org