All the Way: The Music of Jimmy Van Heusen & Friends
Sixteen year old disc jockey, Edward Chester Babcock (1913-1990), unhappy with his given name, was inspired to change it to Van Heusen when a friend saw a billboard advertising the shirt maker’s collars – or so the official story goes. With an impressive catalog of over 800 songs, the talented, frequently nominated writer, won four Academy Awards and an Emmy working most successfully with lyricist Sammy Cahn.
The most important artist/friend in Van Heusen’s life, however, was arguably Frank Sinatra. Aligned when the crooner was still a skinny kid with big dreams, long before they worked together, it’s generally thought that Van Heusen was a role model for Sinatra. The composer loved women, seriously drank—the refrigerator in his New York bachelor pad held only rows of chilling martini glasses—and partied with flair. Angie Dickinson has said his magnetism was irresistible. “The trouble with Sinatra,” Cahn quipped, “is that he thinks he’s Van Heusen.” From an earlier article.
Nicolas King
Tonight’s well produced evening began with a worthy bang as Nicolas King took the stage epitomizing Van Heusen’s oeuvre. Few vocalists could deliver the eclectic “Eee-o Eleven” (from the film Ocean’s Eleven) with such cool phrasing and innate swing. King has particular skill with ombréd notes, stage presence so polished, he could see himself if he tried. Steve Doyle’s bass deftly underpinned. Two more numbers followed including an in-the-groove “Call Me Irresponsible” and a gentle, balladic, “I Only Miss Her When I Think of Her.” (From the musical Skyscraper.)
Seventeen year-old Joie Bianco, championed by The Mabel Mercer Foundation throughout her auspicious three years in cabaret, was not only poised but knew how to connect with an audience. “Walkin’ Happy” and “Oh, You Crazy Moon” arrive like a breath of fresh air – the first clear and bright, the second visibly (aptly) frustrated.
Joie Bianco; Amy Beth Williams
The tandem “Second Time Around” and “Like Someone in Love” (beautifully interwoven) is performed by Amy Beth Williams with utter credibility. Setting an example, she’s actually sharing. Vocal is warm, sincere, and unfussy; its arrangement lovely. This artist has charm.
Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano offer a nimble coupling of “Incurably Romantic” and “It Could Happen to You” which make one want to sway, followed by Comstock’s saucy “I Like to Lead When I Dance.” “This is the first time I’m singing it in the #metoo era, so please be kind,” he quips. Fasano’s heartfelt valentine “But Beautiful” follows. Comstock’s piano/arrangement talents never fail to impress.
Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano
At the top of Act II, Marisa Mulder inhabits “Sunday, Monday Always” (as if in real time) accompanied by Weber’s polished jazz. “Imagination,” apparently written for a school crush when the composer was eleven years old, enchants. Vibrato is so deep in Mulder’s throat, it surfaces like an evocative hum. The winning set is completed by an adorable version of “Personality” seducing the entire hall.
“Paris Song” (Tom Toce), included in the “and friends” category of contemporary songwriters, fits the evening perfectly. It’s expressive, literate, understated, and romantic. Perched on a stool, KT Sullivan conjured both the city and besotted memories. During “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head?”, the most licensed of all Van Heusen songs, the artist infectiously danced around the stage giving each musician time in the spotlight.
Marissa Mulder; KT Sullivan
Evan Stern’s “Humpty Dumpty Heart” made me wonder what he was feeling beyond the tune, but “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” dedicated to the vocalist’s father (in the audience), emerged tenderly aware. Dan White’s tenor sax adroitly evoked both bandstands and gentler times. Elegant arrangements/piano – Kathleen Landis. Look into faces, please, Evan.
The terrific Jeff Harnar – who’s getting to be a sure thing – brings the evening to a close. “Outside the Box,” with poetry/lyric by former Foundation patron – now deceased, Gail Maidman – and music by KT Sullivan’s mother, Elizabeth Sullivan, is as wise as it is brief. (Piano Dennis Buck.) A symbiotic pairing of “Everybody Has the Right to Be Wrong” and “Opposites” (from the musical Skyscraper) was amusingly set up and appealingly performed in duet with longtime MD Alex Rybeck (on piano).
Harnar then delivered a rendition of the iconic “All the Way” in which every lyric arose warm and meaningful. His resonant vocal made the song both universal and deeply personal. Bravo.
Also featuring: Shana Farr – highlighted by a leggy Charleston for “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” 18 year-old Simon Safos’ (The Frank Sinatra School for the Arts) offering a rendition of “Come Fly with Me” that evidenced a fine voice but little sense of swing, Eric Yves Garcia (also at the piano) with a buoyant “I Thought About You,” Greg Gropper (sophomore at The University of Michigan) with a conversational “Moonlight Becomes You,” and Amy Friedel Stoner who seemed both stylistically and lyrically more comfortable with the contemporary “Sing” (Rick Jensen) – a nifty rockabilly number out of place with this evening’s tone – than Van Heusen’s “Rainy Day.”
It was a evening of superb material by a wide assortment of talent that exemplified the continuing allure of American Songbook. See you in October at The 29th Annual Cabaret Convention: Mabel Mercer Foundation Events.
Photos by Seth Cashman
Opening: Jeff Harnar
The Mabel Mercer Foundation presents
All The Way: The Music of Jimmy Van Heusen & Friends
Host, Artistic Director KT Sullivan
MD Jon Weber
Bass- Steve Doyle, Drums – Diego Voglino
Weill Hall May 18, 2018
