Songbook Sundays: Heart and Soul and Hoagy Carmichael

Post author:Jacqueline Parker
Post published:October 25, 2024
Reading time:4 mins read

Songbook Sundays

Heart and Soul and Hoagy Carmichael

Hosted and curated by
Deborah Grace Winer

Featuring
Christine Andreas, Kenita Miller, and Christian Wiggs

Dizzy’s Club, NYC, October 13, 2024

Reviewed by Jacqueline Parker

A packed room at Dizzy’s enjoyed the approaching sunset and the Central Park trees eager to shed their springtime green while they listened to some of Hoagy Carmichael’s most beloved standards. Christine Andreas set the tone with “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening” (Johnny Mercer lyricist).

Sharing the stage with her were Kenita Miller and Christian Wiggs, who brought their own brands of jazzy interpretation to each number. Wiggs had his way with “Two Sleepy People” (Frank Loesser lyricist) and then delivered one of Carmichael’s most haunting tunes “Skylark” (Mercer), and his deep baritone made it even more so.

Miller brought her powerful voice to “How Little We Know” (Mercer) with such authority that one had to ponder just how little we do know. “Stardust” (Mitchell Parish, lyricist) is the most recorded of all of Carmichael’s songs, and it must be a daunting task for a singer to tackle it with ingenuity. But Miller did just that and brought out the poignancy of those dreamy words.

In a quintessential example of how Andreas can pierce a listener’s heart with the emotional impact of her delivery, she rendered “I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)” (Carmichael and Jane Brown Thompson,lyricists) with all the sincere honesty of a young girl dealing with her first heartbreak. Her voice was sweet yet strong, and she was achingly tender and sad, which made the palpability of the pain all the more real. She showed a bit of undisguised coquettishness there as well. She looked as young and beautiful as she did when I first heard her several decades ago. She carried the song to a new height.

And what’s a Hoagy Carmichael show without “Heart and Soul?” The band bypassed Frank Loesser’s lyrics and added their own special magic to the evening with a wordless interpretation of that classic. Hats off to Ted Rosenthal as music director/pianist, Christian X.M. McGhee on drums, Jayla Chee on bass, and Sarah Hanahan on saxophone.

Andreas made “Lazy River” (Sidney Arodin, lyricist) swing just enough to make it fit appropriately into a jazz venue like Dizzy’s. It brought to mind the other river tune that Audrey Hepburn made so memorable in Breakfast at Tiffany’s: “Moon River” (Henry Mancini/Mercer). The singers and musicians brought the program to a swinging conclusion when they joined in on a reprise of “Lazy River” and then added some scat.

This series, hosted and curated by Deborah Grace Winer, is always a worthwhile way to spend an hour or so. Her commentary is always interesting and appreciated and offers tidbits of information one would have to search for to find. She’s done that homework for the audience, and she deserves an A+ for doing it.

Winer should be applauded for honoring the American Songbook, which is one of the greatest gifts this country has given to the world. Her efforts to delight audiences with these treasured events, which feature superb selections of material and performers, are a panacea in these troubling times. Don’t miss the next offering, which pays tribute to that other Indiana tunesmith, Cole Porter, on December 8. Hope to see you there!

Tags: CD Reviews, Sarah Hanahan, Cabaret, Two Sleepy People, Lyricist, drums, Kenita Miller, Broadway Musicals, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Skylark, Music Director, Audrey Hepburn, Mitchell Parish, NYC, saxophone, Cabaret Scenes, Deborah Grace Winer, Johnny Mercer, Lazy River, Pianist, Jacqueline Parker, Clubs, Ted Rosenthal, Central Park, songwriter, How Little We Know, Frank Loesser, Jane Brown Thompson, Henry Mancini, Songbook Sundays: Heart and Soul and Hoagy Carmichael, Cole Porter, Magda Katz, Christine Andreas, Sidney Arodin, Vocalists, n the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening, Great American Songbook, Moon River, American Songbook, American Songbook Association, CD, Christian Wiggs, Broadway, composer, Nightclubs, ASA, Singer, Christian X.M. McGhee, Hoagy Carmichael, I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes), Indiana, Dizzy’s Club, Cabaret Reviews, Jayla Chee, stardust, Heart and Soul, Musicals, Bass

Jacqueline Parker

Like Ethel Merman, lifelong New Yorker Jacqueline Parker began her career as a stenographer. She spent more than two decades at the city's premier public agency, progressing through positions of increased responsibility after earning her BA in English from New York University (3.5 GPA/Dean’s List). She won national awards for her work in public relations and communication and had the privilege of working in the House of Commons for Stephen Ross, later Lord Ross of Newport. In the second half of her career, Jacqueline brought her innate organizational skills and creative talents to a variety of positions. While distinguishing herself in executive search, she also gave her talents to publishing, politics, writing, radio broadcasting and Delmonico's Restaurant. Most recently, she hosted Anything Goes! a radio show that paid homage to Cole Porter and by extension the world of Broadway musicals and the Great American Songbook. Other features of the show were New York living, classical music, books, restaurants, architecture and politics. This show highlighted the current Broadway scene, both in New York and around the country through performances and interviews with luminaries including Len Cariou, Charles Strouse, Laura Osnes, Steve Ross and Joan Copeland. Her pandemic project was immersion into the life, times and work of Alfred Hitchcock, about whom she has written a soon-to-be-published article. Jacqueline has been involved in a myriad of charitable causes, most notably the Walt Frazier Youth Foundation, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Sisters of Life, York Theatre, and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. She is a proud Founder of Hidden Water. Her greatest accomplishment is the parenting of her son, a lawyer specializing in mediation. She has many pretend grandchildren, nieces and nephews, on whom she dotes shamelessly, as well as a large circle of friends to whom she is devoted. Her interests in addition to theater and cabaret are cooking, entertaining, reading, and spending time on Queen Mary 2.