Music Review by Andrew Poretz . . . .
Peter and Will Anderson, twin brothers who hail from Maryland, are strapping, clean-cut young men whose musical sensibilities hail from another time. The brothers are both reed men. Will plays alto sax to Pete’s tenor, and flute to his brother’s soprano sax, among other instruments.
When the Andersons play Symphony Space, you can be assured you will walk out both highly entertained and far more knowledgeable about the show’s subject than ever. Their shows typically highlight specific composers, such as Henry Mancini and George Gershwin. Between artfully arranged instrumentals and some vocals of both well-known and more obscure songs by the songwriter, the “boys” present anecdotes, photos and clips of the composer and his or her music. Though the Andersons are identical in appearance, only Will Anderson does the talking. For this production, the brothers presented songs composed by Harold Arlen, with words by various lyricists.
The twins were accompanied by a trio of top musicians. The great multi-instrumentalist, trad jazz historian and bandleader Vince Giordano, who first helped the Andersons get started when they came to New York, brought his unique, very vintage aluminum bass, a tuba, and a bass trombone. Virtuoso pianist Dalton Ridenhour provided the main accompaniment, along with Alex Raderman on the drums.
The set opened with an energetic “As Long as I Live” (Ted Koehler) that featured a strong bass solo by Giordano. After a fine “Come Rain or Come Shine” (Johnny Mercer), with Will on clarinet and Peter on tenor sax, the brothers played a long clip with many snippets of Arlen songs.
The delightful singer Molly Ryan came up for her first of several appearances in the set to sing “I’ve Got a Right to Sing the Blues.” Will humorously “translated” the title into Yiddish as “I’ve Got a Right to Kvetch.” Molly nailed the vocal and followed this with a marvelous “It’s Only a Paper Moon” (Yip Harburg and Billy Rose), including the rarely-heard verse.
Arlen got his start as a rehearsal pianist, where he took a piece of music he used for the dancers to vamp to and worked it up with lyricist Ted Koehler into his first hit song, “Get Happy” (Ted Koehler). Dalton Ridenhour played an outstanding solo stride piano arrangement of the song.
Arlen, whom Ethel Waters described as “the blackest white man I’ve ever known,” could write the blues like he lived them. Molly Ryan returned for a fast, bluesy “Stormy Weather.”
A long segment was devoted to Arlen’s best-remembered movie score, from The Wizard of Oz. A video described the process of writing “Over the Rainbow,” which Molly then gently sang, with Will on flute and Peter on clarinet. This pairing of instruments was particularly effective here. Giordano switched between his bass sax and his aluminum bass, giving the latter a vigorous slap-bass solo. Molly sang “If I Only Had a Brain,” with the brothers trading fours on flute and tenor sax. Things got quite playful on “We’re Off to See the Wizard,” with Ridenhour‘s fun piano solo and Giordano’s clever tuba playing.
Perhaps the highlight of the day was a rendition of “One For My Baby” (Johnny Mercer), with only Dalton Ridenhour and Peter Anderson, lit in near silhouette, with Ridenhour playing the iconic Bill Miller arrangement, while Peter Anderson provided the sultry, tenor sax melody. Will Anderson then took a similar turn with Ridenhour for “When the Sun Comes Out” (Ted Koehler).
The Andersons never fail to delight in their Symphony Space shows. They next bring their edutainment series to Birdland Theater for three nights from January 27 to 29, 2024, where they will play the music of the Dorsey Brothers with two sets each night.
Andersons Play Harold Arlen: The Wizard of Oz & More took place on December 2 in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street). www.symphonyspace.org
Photos: Andrew Poretz
