Jasper Kump: The Best Is Yet to Come

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Jasper Kump

The Best Is Yet to Come

The Green Room 42, NYC, August 25, 2022

Reviewed by Bart Greenberg

After a long absence to pursue a career in counseling and social work, Jasper Kump returned to the New York cabaret world to celebrate the release of his new CD, which shares its title with his nightclub program, The Best Is Yet to Come in which he drew an interesting correlation between cabaret performance and his other profession. Both the recording and the program contained a tasty collection of standards (and a few surprises) that have influenced his life, all presented with a jazz flavor. Kump brought to the stage a warm personality, a quiet humor, and a sweet tenor that had a good deal of power behind it. He also physicalized his material, occasionally going a tad too far on his up-tempo songs, but he was also capable of a lovely stillness in his ballads. In fact, those may have provided the strongest moments of his show.

He kicked off the show with three songs associated with the childhood of many of those in his audience: “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” “The Rainbow Connection,” and “Bein’ Green.” All were presented without a hint of condescension or camp; in fact, the last of those numbers was one of the highlights of the evening, delivered gently and with great clarity in a conversational manner. Another gentle moment was his version of “For All We Know.” These moments and one more to come showed his major talent as a balladeer.

Throughout the evening he was supported by the sterling work of the RK Jazz Quartet, consisting of veteran pianist Russ Kassoff (who also served as music director and arranger), David Finck on bass, Steve Singer on drums and percussion, and Kurt Bacher on saxophone and flute. Bacher had some golden moments on each of his instruments; he played with a remarkable sensitivity during his solo spots, such as his flute solo on “Bein’ Green.” Kassoff’s arrangements were clearly designed to showcase Kump, while giving the musicians a chance to show off, especially on a swinging “Sunday in New York.” The only misstep was an overly busy Latin-beat version of “The Way You Look Tonight” that overwhelmed the singer and the song.

Something that was definitely not a misstep was the inclusion of a special guest, the dynamic vocalist Rosalyn McClore. An intoxicating blues duet on was Nina Simone’s “Do I Move You?”  was in effect a showcase for the diva with support from Kump, It says a great deal about Kump’s generosity of spirit that he would share his stage with such a thrilling performer. But then he had an ace in the hole: two dynamic contrasting numbers to bring the evening to a close. First came a fiery delivery of “Come Rain or Come Shine” in tribute to Judy Garland’s centenary; Kump’s vocal performance and Kassof’s arrangement were largely influenced by Garland’s concert version. This was followed by one of the shimmering moments of the night—William Finn’s lyrical “What More Can I Say,” performed with just piano accompaniment, as simple and true as possible. This moment was one of several that made the audience hope that Kump won’t stay away so long before returning to the New York cabaret stage.

Bart Greenberg

Bart Greenberg first discovered cabaret a few weeks after arriving in New York City by seeing Julie Wilson and William Roy performing Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter outdoors at Rockefeller Center. It was instant love for both Ms. Wilson and the art form. Some years later, he was given the opportunity to create his own series of cabaret shows while working at Tower Records. "Any Wednesday" was born, a weekly half-hour performance by a singer promoting a new CD release. Ann Hampton Callaway launched the series. When Tower shut down, Bart was lucky to move the program across the street to Barnes & Nobel, where it thrived under the generous support of the company. The series received both The MAC Board of Directors Award and The Bistro Award. Some of the performers who took part in "Any Wednesday" include Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, Tony Desare, Andrea Marcovicci, Carole Bufford, the Karens, Akers, Mason and Oberlin, and Julie Wilson. Privately, Greenberg is happily married to writer/photographer Mark Wallis, who as a performance artist in his native England gathered a major following as "I Am Cereal Killer."