Peter Anderson, Will Anderson, Molly Ryan
Songbook Summit: The Andersons Play Hoagy Carmichael
Symphony Space, NYC, August 23, 2018
Reviewed by Ron Forman for Cabaret Scenes
The third of the four-part Songbook Summit series created by the saxophone and clarinet virtuosos Peter and Will Anderson was dedicated to the songs of Hoagy Carmichael. Carmichael’s melodies work well for jazz musicians. Jazz saxophonist Bud Freeman remarked, “You don’t have to improvise with a Carmichael melody, the improvisations are already in them.” Peter Anderson’s jazzy arrangements and Molly Ryan’s (pictured) vocals work perfectly on Carmichael’s songs.
The show includes, among others, videos of Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, The Mills Brothers, and Aretha Franklin performing the songwriter’s material. Will Anderson’s informative and entertaining biographical comments are interspersed throughout the show. For each of the numbers, a photo of Carmichael or of a vocalist who performed the song is displayed on screen.
The show opened with the band playing “Riverboat Shuffle.” Ryan’s opening number, “Jubilee” (music co-written with Stanley Adams; lyrics: Adams) featured solos by the Andersons and each member of the stellar jazz trio—Tardo Hammer (piano), Phil Stewart (drums), Chris Nicolas (bass). Ryan then did an up-tempo “The Nearness of You” (Ned Washington). Her performance of “(Up a) Lazy River” (Sidney Arodin/Carmichael) featured a super-fast saxophone solo by Peter. After Will told the story of the composing of “Stardust” (lyrics: Mitchell Parish), it was performed by Peter on saxophone combined with Hammer’s piano. Will’s haunting clarinet made his duet with Hammer of “Lazy Bones” (lyrics: Johnny Mercer), a song Carmichael claimed to have written in three minutes, memorable. Hammer dazzled with his solo of “Heart and Soul.
” Ryan’s unique sound and phrasing were especially effective in her performance of “Two Sleepy People” (lyrics: Frank Loesser) and the closing number, “Georgia on My Mind” (lyrics: Stuart Gorrell).
