Christine Ebersole

After the Ball

(Club44 Records)

March 12, 2023

Reviewed by Tracy Adams

Christine Ebersole may be most widely known for her turns on Broadway, but her new album, After the Ball, bears clear witness to her mastery of other genres, in this case jazz. Ebersole’s warm tone, pristine pitch, crisp diction, and smart interpretation, coupled with Lawrence Yurman’s delicious jazz-of-today arrangements, deliver a recording that should be in the collection of any fan of vocal jazz.

The album takes a loving look at the cycle of family life as told primarily through songs from the heyday of the Great American Songbook and occasionally through more recent ones. Joni Mitchell’s “Little Green” is interwoven with Rodgers & Hart’s “Wait Till You See Her” and Frank Loesser’s “The Inch Worm” to great storytelling effect.

Ebersole’s vocals are magnificent throughout. “Autumn Leaves” (Joseph Kosma/Jacques Prévert/Johnny Mercer) is a particular standout; here she drops the formal diction and tonal power of her stage work for a more purely expressive sound. Among the many excellent versions of this song recorded over the decades, this one might become my new reference version.

There is a sense of sad nostalgia to the album that comes in part from the consistently gentle tempos taken. I don’t think I’ve ever heard “’S Wonderful” (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin) sung so slowly, and while “My Baby Just Cares for Me” (Walter Donaldson/Gus Kahn) starts with a spark of personality, it quickly dissolves into a more languid celebration. Each cut works individually, but the overall impression is never quite joyous. If Ebersole were to take this album on the road as a show, her background stories and her sparkling stage presence might counter this. But that is a minor shortcoming. The perfect marriage of Yurman’s arrangements and Ebersole’s singing is more than enough to recommend this recording to any lover of good music.