Steve Ross
Love Songs: Old and New
Birdland, NYC, May 19, 2025
Reviewed by Jacqueline Parker
Photo: Kevin Alvey
What a cornucopia of musical delights the masterful Steve presented at Birdland. Dressed in the green velvet jacket that belonged to another master and was given to him by the Noël Coward Society, Ross presented an evening of beloved music designed to thrill anyone who loves the Great American Songbook. He began by telling us about the four categories of songs: “I was in love; I am in love; I want to be in love; and New York, New York.”
Ross gave us a taste of nearly every major songwriter of Broadway classics and beyond, with his sampling of nearly 40 songs, all of them burnished to a rich shine by his life experience and technical prowess. He hit the highs and lows of love, and everything in between them, all delivered with his signature style and grace. He began with the Jule Styne/Comden and Green’s “Just in Time” from Bells Are Ringing in a smooth, relaxed rendition that set the perfect tone for what was to come. “Time After Time” (Styne/Sammy Cahn) continued the theme and paved the way for one of the highlights of the show, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein’s gem from their 1939 show Very Warm for May, “All the Things You Are.” This song can be done—and often is done—with an operatic flair. The nature of the simple yet glorious lyric by Hammerstein calls for a more down-to-earth, boy-next-door approach, which Ross delivered perfectly.
Ross has is the ability to give a word or phrase a slightly different emphasis—or even just a pregnant pause—that can stop the listener and reveal more of the meaning of a lyric. Just when listeners might think nothing new can be revealed in a song, Ross will prove them wrong. His rendition of a medley from Show Boat was a rapture.
His forte, of course, is Cole Porter, which became evident when he began to play the timeless songs of that “favorite Peruvian composer” as Ross reminded us with a grin. (Porter was born in Peru, Indiana, which holds an annual festival each June to celebrate his birthday.) He had so much fun performing “Anything Goes” that his enthusiasm was transmitted easily to the audience. While in this playful mood, he told us of his longest lasting love affair and easily slid into Irving Berlin’s “I Love a Piano,” again with a sly smile.
Steve Ross is frequently referred to as “The Crown Prince of New York Cabaret.” He performs here in New York as well as throughout the country, and even the world! Check his website www.steveross.net for future engagements and make a date with cabaret royalty.
