Eric Comstock & Barbara Fasano
Painting the Town
Birdland, NYC, March 2, 2025
Reviewed by Alix Cohen
Photo by Gene Reed
On the occasion of their 20th wedding anniversary, Eric Comstock (vocals and piano) and Barbara Fasano (vocals) also celebrated the release of their first joint recording, Painting the Town. “The town is of course New York, a riddle wrapped in a conundrum wrapped in a knish,” Comstock quipped.
“Broadway” (Teddy McRae/Wilbur H. Bird/Henri Woode) opened the festivities with a cappella vocal dots and dashes, and Comstock wove in related tunes. Guest Houston Person made his presence known with an authoritative tenor sax. A fresh arrangement of “Blue Skies” (Irving Berlin) found Comstock vocally shadowing Fasano, then harmonizing. Its tone suggested that things were previously not so bright.
The haunting “I Cannot Hear the City” (Marvin Hamlisch/Craig Carnelia) was performed with palpable warmth; the muffled drums by Vito Lesczak might have been a pulse. Fasano unfurled a hummmm. “S’posin” (Paul Denniker/Andy Razaf) began with a snappy bass underbelly by Sean Smith that dictated rhythm. Fasano’s vibrato flirted with Person’s light sax as she toyed with the song. It was followed by “Just One of Those Things” (Cole Porter) performed as a rhumba with thrum-thrum bass and delicate cymbal feathering Comstock’s insouciant vocal. In a beautiful Rick Jensen arrangement of “In the Still of the Night” (Porter) Fasano was swept away; “Do you love me?” was a yearning question, not just a lyric. The cymbal shimmered, and the piano tiptoed. Shoulders back, arms at her sides, hands fisted, Fasano communicated.
Comstock’s hands seemed to rise higher over the piano keys before they descended for a snappy “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields). Person’s sax quivered, loped, and twirled with casual flair.
“Tonight” (West Side Story; Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim) was quiet and tremulous. Eschewing the usual 11 o’clock delivery, Comstock imbued the lyrics with surprise and trepidation: “What you are (eyes closed), what you do, what you say” he sang raptly. “Tonight I had a feeling” he sang, hands withdrawn from the piano. Lovely.
The colorful accident of Paul Simon working in a studio next door to the one in which Comstock and Fasano were recording led to his input on their recording of his “Old Friends.” The song drifted down like early autumn leaves. Comstock’s tender piano paused just a moment between verses, settling it as if a vow. His version of “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” (Carole King/Gerry Goffin) was earnestly crooned, its pop origins nowhere to be found; it worked.
Fasano told us “Brown Penny” (Duke Ellington/John Latouche from Beggar’s Opera) was sung by Polly “after being beguiled by Macheath, realizing it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.” Wistful, cottony, and vocally challenging, it was acted. “Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny/I am lost in the depths of his eyes.” How Person managed to coax such muted melody out of his sax is a puzzlement.
“The Hamptons” (Jim Lowe) was a droll, picaresque description of “a little bit of heaven on Route 47 where there’s a sugar daddy for every lass and laddie.” The arrangement was classic 52nd Street. “As Long as I Live” (Harold Arlen/
Ted Koehler) was animated and hap-, hap-, happy.
The show (and the CD) featured alchemic solos and duets performed with original arrangements on which this talented couple left their stamp.
