By Ron Fassler . . .
When it comes to the Great American Songbook, there’s a special checkmark next to the name of composer Jerome Kern (1885-1945). Considered by peers like George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin as the epitome of style and sophistication, he was practically the father of what is now referred to as “standards,” songs that have endured the test of time. For someone who died almost eighty years ago, an evening of a dozen Kern classics proved effortlessly entertaining at Dizzy’s Club in a show titled Can’t Help Lovin’ Jerome Kern. Musically directed by the always reliable Billy Stritch and hosted by Deborah Grace Winer, a leading expert on the musical theatre, this Songbook Sunday series performs every other month saluting great composers of the past. The sold-out crowd felt as one in shared commonality that songs like these will never go out of style.
Kern was a melodist with an ear for not only what would be popular, but for what music would fit the moment in the multitude of Broadway shows and film scores to which he contributed. His lyricists were among the best who ever lived—Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields and Ira Gershwin. In fact, I was surprised when an E.Y. “Yip” Harburg lyric popped up for “Can’t Help Singing,” sung by Margo Seibert (delightful). I’d forgotten Kern and Harburg collaborated on two film musicals, Cover Girl and Can’t Help Singing. Harburg is high up on my list of tip-top favorite wordsmiths.
The show included mostly well-known Kern solos. La Tanya Hall got the sultry songs like “Yesterdays,” (beautifully done) and “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.” Robbie Lee, crooned “Why Do I Love You?” and “Long Ago and Far Away,” with appropriate smoothness. Margo Seibert joined in the finale with “The Song is You,” the only time we heard voices blend, which made for a strong finish. In particular, two numbers performed by Billy Stritch, “Nobody Else But Me” and “The Folks Who Live on the Hill” were beautifully rendered. The latter, with its perfectly crafted lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, never fails to move me. First introduced in a 1937 film, High, Wide and Handsome (what does that title mean?), Stritch’s version to his own piano accompaniment stands up with the best of them.
As good as the vocals were, the evening belonged to the musicians. When it’s Kern you’re already in the best of hands, but in addition to Stritch on piano, there was Neal Miner (bass), Mark McLean (drums) and Aaron Heick (sax and flute), all too marvelous for words (okay, not a Kern song, but I couldn’t resist). Their sound also had a great deal to do with the arrangements, many of them done by the late John Oddo, who Deborah Grace Winer was keen to point out. They were so good they were off the charts (sorry, I couldn’t resist).
As previously mentioned, this Sunday Songbook series is bi-monthly. Next up in October will be a salute to Harold Arlen. If it’s put together as nimbly as this wonderful tribute to Jerome Kern, it’s going to easily notch up another winning entry in this essential series.
Songbook Sundays: Can’t Help Lovin’ Jerome Kern was presented at Dizzy’s Club, August 13, 2023, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall at Columbus Circle, 59th Street and Broadway, NYC. For further information, please visit https://2023.jazz.org/dizzys-club.
Photos: Ron Fassler
Featured Image: Billy Stritch, Margo Seibert, Robbie Lee, LaTanya Hall
