Linda Eder

Feinstein’s/54 Below, NYC, March 7, 2020

Reviewed by Ron Forman

To say that Linda Eder is one of today’s best female vocalists is not doing her justice. She has a voice that soars, exquisite phrasing, and excellent dramatic skills. Her latest show at Feinstein’s/54 Below was 80 minutes of pure delight. The set list consisted of songs she had previously recorded on her 17 albums all performed to perfection by this great vocal artist. She was backed by a four-piece band led by music director Billy Stein and featuring bassist David Finck, whose solos always drew applause. Eder’s patter is limited but her dramatic singing speaks loudly.

She opened with “Till You Come Back to Me,” followed by a medley that began and ended with “Almost Like Being in Love” with a bit of “This Can’t Be Love” in between. Her very dramatic “Stormy Weather,” featuring a wonderful bass solo by Finck, was followed by a slow and pensive “The Summer Knows.” Eder is an extraordinarily versatile vocalist who can belt a song with the best of them as she did with “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have.” She mentioned that until recently she had resisted until recently performing “Bring Him Home,” but her very dramatic and moving performance was worth the wait. In a nice change of pace it was followed by an up-tempo swinging “Down with Love.”

A Frank Sinatra/Judy Garland medley of 10 show-stopping songs appeared to end with her big finish to a speed-up “San Francisco,” but it was followed after the applause died down by the “Theme from New York, New York” with an even bigger finish.

Many in the audience had seen Eder on Broadway in Jekyll and Hyde and they began cheering as soon as she started singing  two songs from the score, a moving “Someone Like You,” followed by a sexily performed “Bring On the Men” which has the lyric “So many men, so little time, Is that a crime?,” producing an audience response of “NO.” She then moved right into a fast moving “Charade.” Her closing number, “Man of La Mancha (I, Don Quixote)” ended on a thrilling note. She returned for an encore that began with a beautifully sung “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” that led into “Over the Rainbow” with Eder fading away softly but holding the final note on the word “I.”