Eric Comstock
Birdland, NYC, January 20, 2018
Reviewed by Peter Haas for Cabaret Scenes
A grand cabaret tradition—that of the pianist/singer, in the mold of Bobby Short and Barbara Carroll—was given fresh life this season with the appearance of Eric Comstock at Birdland.
In the same early-evening time slot and on the same stage long occupied by Carroll herself, Comstock—ever youthful, and clearly enjoying his music-making—took over the piano, aided by Sean Smith on bass, to present a program of popular Broadway, Hollywood, saloon, and jazz classics.
With his smooth vocals and fine keyboard skills, Comstock performed a program of hits, almost non-stop, but with pauses now and then to identify the songs and their writers. Among his numbers were John Meyer’s “I’d Like to Hate Myself in the Morning,” Joe Young/Ned Washington’s “A Hundred Years from Today” (which showed off his pianistics), “Mam’selle” (Edmund Goulding/Mack Gordon) with a shining Smith bass solo, Johnny Mercer/Gene de Paul’s “If I Had My Druthers,” Mercer/Jimmy Van Heusen’s “I Thought About You,” Leonard Bernstein/Comden & Green’s “Lucky to Be Me” and “It’s Love,” and a sweet, moving performance of Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim’s “Tonight” (West Side Story).
Smith and his bass were given an interlude spotlight as he performed his own composition, “Japanese Folk Song,” dedicated to his Japanese-born wife.
A guest suddenly appeared on stage, unannounced. It was Barbara Fasano, Comstock’s wife and a popular cabaret star in her own right, who contributed warm renditions of “But Beautiful” and, in two duets with her husband, “Love Like Ours,” and “Old Friends.” Comstock concluded the program with the Brazilian “Vivo Sonhando,” (“I Live Dreaming”) by Antônio Carlos Jobim, with English lyrics by Susannah McCorkle, and Irving Berlin’s sweet “Waiting at the End of the Road.”