Marcus Goldhaber
The Promise of You
(Fallen Apple Records)
May 26, 2026
Reviewed by Alix Cohen
The Promise of You offers distinctive, cotton-flannel vocals, a fresh interpretation of tried-and-true lyrics, and Marcus Goldhaber’s original songs. Some arrangements are cozy enough to seem familiar; others iconoclastic. Long notes extend like lighthouse beams across fog. The band is terrific.
Unlike the usual, wistful “Skylark” (Johnny Mercer/Hoagy Carmichael), Goldhaber’s version whooshes in like a giddy, stunt-flying bird. His vocal tips its hat with a wink. Jay Rattman’s sax whirls, dips, and dives. Veering from a familiarly moody “Let’s Get Lost” (Jimmy McHugh/Frank Loesser), this rendition is as happy and trippy as a kid playing hooky. Goldhaber’s vocal is almost stage whispered as if wary of being caught. Art Hirahara’s piano and Keita Ogawa’s drums relish Latin rhythm. Paul Bollenback’s fleet-fingered guitar evokes Carnivale.
Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh’s “The Best Is Yet to Come” suggests conjuring. The eerie intro with Michael O’Brien’s pulsing bass draws a tiptoeing vocal. Phrasing emerges like start/stop incantation. Piano and a soft cymbal shadow. A parentheses of well-tempered swing arrives and departs. It’s a prediction, not a hope.
Among Goldhaber’s original compositions, “Just One More Song”—an easy, appealing stroll—is graceful, Fred Astaire dancey: “Just a little shove/And we’ll fall in love,” the author sings, seemingly guileless. His “Two at a Time” tap dances: “When you take two steps at a time/You don’t have so far to go…You take a step, I’ll follow/I will accept if you ever wallow.” The pristine horn intoxicates. The tune is classic, the lyrics contemporary, enlightened, and supportive. Goldhaber’s original songs are engagingly direct, but the lyrics can be cliché.
Among the standards, “I’ll See You in My Dreams” (Isham Jones/Gus Kahn) presents in an inviting, mid-tempo, 1920s arrangement. A brief scat is round-edged, balladic; phrasing intimate. Summer Camargo’s trumpet tantalizes. A lovely arrangement of “There’s a Small Hotel” (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart) floats. I hear melancholy, as if the singer hasn’t got a chance, rather than hope or anticipation. Piano is delicate (not indecisive).
George and Ira Gershwin’s “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise” begins jauntily then diminishes to a bluesy amble. I admit to not understanding Goldhaber’s take; this is a song of showmanship.
The album is a mixed bag; it’s both rewarding and disappointing. That Goldhaber is his own person/artist is a positive. The album was co-produced by Art Hirahara and Marcus Goldhaber.
