Cabaret Scenes Review

Take heart, all you New York piano bar fans out there. True, we’ve lost some of our favorites in recent years. Eighty-Eights, Danny’s, Mama Rose and Helen’s – and that lovely old-timer in the Pierre Hotel with Kathleen Landis at the keyboard, are blessed memories. But treasured haunts remain – Don’t Tell Mama, The Duplex, Brandy’s, Uncle Charlie’s and the Town House. And don’t forget the long-established Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle.

Happily, we’ve witnessed a recent resurgence of upscale spots offering listenable live entertainment. A response to “where can we go to relax and enjoy some music?” now might include the weekly “salon” Wednesdays at Iguana’s VIP Lounge, and the Hotel Kitano.

Highlighting the resurgence, that icon of New York elegance, the Plaza Hotel, obviously pleased with its clients’ response to the Wednesday nights engagement of Kat Gang and her gang (see our review in the May issue), has added an ongoing second night of music. At the hotel’s Rose Club, its hideaway lounge sky-hooked above its lobby, Lapis Luna, a “vintage jazz and classical swing music” instrumental trio, with thrush Shawn Aileen Clark on vocals, began an open-ended Thursday nine-to-midnight gig. We made it our business to be there the first night out.

The club, open to the lobby with giant windows facing Fifth Avenue and the Pulitzer Fountain, is aptly named. It’s a truly clubby atmosphere, deep-cushioned chairs and couches, a seeming private enclave, related to, yet apart from, the subdued hubbub overseen below. It has the feel of vacationing on an island, close to but separated from the mainland.

The guitar, bass and drums threesome of Lapis Luna seemed lifted from fifty years earlier as they offered a succession of reminiscent songs, mostly right out of the Great American Songbook. Clark, the band’s “girl singer,” is the essential fourth base to the easy-listening home run. Her renditions are true to the lyrics and the era, and her velvety voice blends in seamlessly with the laid-back style of the instrumentalists. She presents such a pleasant persona that I strongly suggest that a bit more interplay with her audience would be fruitful. John Merrill, a meticulous guitarist, Chris Pistorino, the (literally) plucky bass-player and Brian Floody on drums pay homage to the songs’ rhythms without overplaying that hand.

What’s the appeal of this easy listening? Well, how about “The Very Thought of You,” “I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do),” “You and the Night and the Music,” or “Just in Time”? The Rose Club is a lounge, and you’ll have people conversing while Lapis Luna plays, but if it’s a contest, the club’s ambiance and the music win, and the murmur of voices in the background does little to reduce the enjoyment of (to steal a phrase) “you and the night and the music.”

Lapis Luna is at the Plaza Hotel’s Rose Club every Thursday from nine to midnight.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
May 3, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org



	Lapis Luna The Rose Club at the Plaza Hotel New York, NY
Take heart, all you New York piano bar fans out there. True, we’ve lost some of our favorites in recent years. Eighty-Eights, Danny’s, Mama Rose and Helen’s – and that lovely old-timer in the Pierre Hotel with Kathleen Landis at the keyboard, are blessed memories. But treasured haunts remain – Don’t Tell Mama, The Duplex, Brandy’s, Uncle Charlie’s and the Town House. And don’t forget the long-established Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle. Happily, we’ve witnessed a recent resurgence of upscale spots offering listenable live entertainment. A response to “where can we go to relax and enjoy some music?” now might include the weekly “salon” Wednesdays at Iguana’s VIP Lounge, and the Hotel Kitano. Highlighting the resurgence, that icon of New York elegance, the Plaza Hotel, obviously pleased with its clients’ response to the Wednesday nights engagement of Kat Gang and her gang (see our review in the May issue), has added an ongoing second night of music. At the hotel’s Rose Club, its hideaway lounge sky-hooked above its lobby, Lapis Luna, a “vintage jazz and classical swing music” instrumental trio, with thrush Shawn Aileen Clark on vocals, began an open-ended Thursday nine-to-midnight gig. We made it our business to be there the first night out. The club, open to the lobby with giant windows facing Fifth Avenue and the Pulitzer Fountain, is aptly named. It’s a truly clubby atmosphere, deep-cushioned chairs and couches, a seeming private enclave, related to, yet apart from, the subdued hubbub overseen below. It has the feel of vacationing on an island, close to but separated from the mainland. The guitar, bass and drums threesome of Lapis Luna seemed lifted from fifty years earlier as they offered a succession of reminiscent songs, mostly right out of the Great American Songbook. Clark, the band’s “girl singer,” is the essential fourth base to the easy-listening home run. Her renditions are true to the lyrics and the era, and her velvety voice blends in seamlessly with the laid-back style of the instrumentalists. She presents such a pleasant persona that I strongly suggest that a bit more interplay with her audience would be fruitful. John Merrill, a meticulous guitarist, Chris Pistorino, the (literally) plucky bass-player and Brian Floody on drums pay homage to the songs’ rhythms without overplaying that hand. What’s the appeal of this easy listening? Well, how about “The Very Thought of You,” “I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do),” “You and the Night and the Music,” or “Just in Time”? The Rose Club is a lounge, and you’ll have people conversing while Lapis Luna plays, but if it’s a contest, the club’s ambiance and the music win, and the murmur of voices in the background does little to reduce the enjoyment of (to steal a phrase) “you and the night and the music.” Lapis Luna is at the Plaza Hotel’s Rose Club every Thursday from nine to midnight. Peter Leavy Cabaret Scenes May 3, 2011 www.cabaretscenes.org

Lapis Luna

The Rose Club at the Plaza HotelNew York, NY

The Rose Club at the Plaza Hotel
New York, NY