Some recent events bear witness to the title of this
entry. A focal point, though, is Palm
Beach’s The Colony Hotel which has its very own version of Manhattan’s Cafe
Carlyle, or any of the well known NYC cabarets, only more intimate. The Colony’s Royal Room attracts some topnotch
American Songbook talent. Also, the Colony’s Polo Lounge Sunday brunch this
season featured one of the best jazz pianists, Bill Mays. Sometime ago we heard
Mays accompany diva Ann Hampton Callaway (a composer and a great jazz-cabaret
singer) at the Eissey Campus Theatre of Palm Beach State College and made it a
point to seek him out at the Colony’s Polo Lounge a couple of weeks ago. 
I asked him to play Bill Evans’ Turn Out the Stars, not very frequently performed, a work of
beautiful voicing and emotion. After a
break, Mays played it solo, without the bass, effortlessly as if he plays it
daily. To me, it was heartrending. Then we
were treated to an impromptu performance by the then featured performer at the
Royal Room -- Karen Oberlin. Amazing how
an unrehearsed number by three professionals can be so natural. Bill Mays’ CD Front Row Seat is exactly as titled – it’s as if he is playing in
your living room.
Last month at the Royal Room we also caught Jane Monheit
who we saw years ago and who has matured into such a great stylist, with
phenomenal range, her latest album, The
Songbook Sessions, a tribute to the great Ella Fitzgerald. She gladly posed
with Ann for a photo.
She performed pieces from her album and other numbers with
her trio, husband Rick Montalbano on drums, Neal Miner on bass and Michael
Kanin on piano, just the perfect combo for classic jazz. Unfortunately her album (and this is very
personal, not a professional observation) included a trumpet player, at times a
distraction. I just wonder why the addition of a brass instrument was
necessary. The bass, piano, and percussion combo is (to me) ideal for intimate,
classic jazz.
Nonetheless, just to tie this together is a YouTube
performance by Jane Monheit of Bill Evans’ Turn
out the Stars, which was recorded at the Rainbow Room some six years
ago. What a sultry performer, one of our
leading jazz first ladies, along with Stacey Kent, two completely different
styles but both at the top of their games.
Last Saturday our close friend and neighbor, Nina (the artist who painted “Jessica” which hangs over my piano), who is also a cellist and a singer (do her talents have
no bounds?), performed in the Choral Society of the Palm Beaches (S. Mark
Aliapoulios, Artistic Director) – at Jupiter’s Florida Atlantic University
auditorium.
This was one of the most diverse programs we’ve seen in a
long time, culminating in a partially acted out version of Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella, a Broadway show
which was recently performed at the New York City Opera.
The program’s featured performers made it especially
enjoyable, vocalists Lisa Vroman, a soprano with extensive Broadway experience (who
played Rosabella in that New York City Opera presentation) and Mark Sanders, a
baritone who frequently performs with the Gulf Coast Symphony. They had the perfect chemistry for performing
one of the most beautiful Broadway duets ever written, Loesser’s "My Heart
Is So Full of You."
But for me the highlight was the appearance and
performance of Paul Posnak, who arranged Four
Songs By George Gershwin for two pianos, which he played with the Choral
Society’s pianist Dr. Anita Castiglione.
The songs reminded me so much of Earl Wild’s arrangement, Fantasy on Porgy and Bess and after the
concert I told him so. He was delighted by the comparison, and it was apt.
Not enough praise can be directed to Dr. Catiglione for
her nearly non-stop performance during the 2-1/2 hour program, easily
transitioning to soloing, to accompanying, from Gershwin, to Irving Berlin, to
Rogers and Hammerstein, to then to Frank Loesser and finally to classical,
accompanying songs beautifully sung by the 2016 Young Artist Vocal Competition
Winners, Mr. Julian Frias and Ms. Celene Perez, both high school seniors with
great artistic careers ahead of them.
Our friend, Nina, was instrumental in organizing this competition.
Judging by these events, the American Songbook thrives and
its future seems assured in the Palm Beaches!
