If your birthday is in April, you are in good musical company. Also born in this month are the seven singers whose albums we're covering in this column. It's bookended by two ladies who share the same birthdate–the 13th–Liz Callaway and Nellie McKay. The others blowing out candles on cakes in April include cabaret favorite Marilyn Maye and musical theatre man Claybourne Elder. And, named for the month she was born in, April Varner has a tribute to a legendary jazz singer born one long-ago April (Ella Fitzgerald). Two other chanteuses share April 3 as their birthday: Isabella Isherwood and Tessa Souter. Let's start the natal-related acknowledgments!

LIZ CALLAWAY
THE WIZARD AND I:
LIZ CALLAWAY SINGS STEPHEN SCHWARTZ
Working Girl Records
CD | Digital

Well, a live recording of Liz Callaway performing songs written by Stephen Schwartz (four of them in collaboration with composer Alan Menken), with longtime music director, arranger, and pianist Alex Rybeck at the keyboard, directed as per usual by her husband Dan Foster, is pretty much what you'd expect. By that I mean: wonderful.

The unfussy performances captured at Manhattan's 54 Below are crisp and creative, without trying to reinvent the wheel with proven solid songs, being true to the emotions and stories in the songs, but feeling very "in the moment." While the agenda for The Wizard and I: Liz Callaway Sings Stephen Schwartz may be to put the focus on the material and writer, one can't help but revel in the warm but strong voice of the vocalist. Her projected vulnerability and verve are reliably radiant. In format, the well-shaped program of songs and narrative, with relevant personal anecdotes and sly humor, resembles her prior live recording from the same venue honoring that other "Stephen S.": the splendid To Steve with Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim. From Pippin to Pocahontas, from "Magic to Do" to The Magic Show, from flying witches of Wicked to the winged "Meadowlark," from a Prince of Egypt to a neighboring continent out there to meet The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the well crafted, well sung gems keep the energy high.

Beyond these, room is made for a number tailored for Liz Callaway, based on her personal development from being very shy (even about singing) to wanting to be "Fearless" and a rather overlooked wistful Schwartz/Menken number, "Cold Enough to Snow." The instrumental trio is consistently attentive and energized (bassist Ritt Henn and drummer Ron Tierno join the pianist) and there are a couple of spots for spiffy spot-on back-up vocals by Ethan Carlson and Cole Wachman. The talk covers becoming acquainted with the man of the hour as colleague, friend, and tennis partner, her being cast in a production of Godspell, relating to certain characters, and her first nightclub act. (She reads the 1980 review aloud, emphasizing carefully worded faint praise.) The polished performer is ingratiating and grateful, serving the material with knowing expertise.

While Stephen Schwartz doesn't share the Callaway birthday month (he was born in March), he and his songs be celebrated on the 27th of this month at the big Carnegie Hall gala concert, and this excellent interpreter of his work will take this show next month to San Francisco, with a New York State date and London flights to follow.

MARILYN MAYE
THE MAGIC OF MARILYN MAYE:
LIVE AT JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER
Blue Engine Records
CD | Digital | Vinyl coming soon

Still the happiest sound in town, her voice robust and radiant with the razzamatazz she has, the smile and twinkle in her eye somehow coming through on audio, Marilyn Maye's live album is triumphant. It evidences her powerhouse personality on uptempo treats and her warmth and wise phrasing personalizing the ballads and is a dazzling delight, full of special creative touches and embellishments decorating and celebrating familiar standards. Her carpe diem philosophy and humor are illuminated in brief spoken comments and lyrics (the original ones and her self-penned inserts). The Magic of Marilyn Maye: Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center was recorded in the various spaces of that Manhattan complex during engagements in recent years.

Broadway scores are well represented, with pep galore in selections from big hits that were revived and became films: Bye Bye Birdie ("Put On a Happy Face"), The Wiz ("Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News"), and Mame ("It's Today"). Broadway-born ballads show her expertise with character pieces from some shorter-lived shows: Ballroom ("Fifty Percent"), The Yearling ("Why Did I Choose You?"), and New Faces of 1952 ("Guess Who I Saw Today").

The lady's strong and loyal following will recognize the repertoire choices, full of audience favorites and longtime standbys at her engagements, such as the annual multi-night run now in progress in Manhattan at 54 Below, reveling in the month that marks her birthday. On April 10, the tireless trouper turned 98–that is not a typo. Another legendary music figure born in April, Duke Ellington, gets her vigorous and jazzy attention for a medley of pieces from his repertoire. An even bigger basket of energy is on hand with a whirlwind of classics featuring the lyrics of Johnny Mercer, as the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis matches her moxie and merriment. Is it too early in the year to proclaim something as a can't-be-topped most spectacular vocal album?

CLAYBOURNE ELDER
IF THE STARS WERE MINE
Center Stage Records
CD | Digital | Vinyl later this spring

Quite a mix of genres makes up the contents in musical theatre veteran Claybourne Elder's debut solo album, If the Stars Were Mine: various flavors of pop, a dash of country, and an old comic novelty number turned into a splashy big-band showpiece ("I Want to Be Evil"). The liner notes (and his recent live shows) provide more context for the life experiences motivating the choices. Several of the more serious among the 13 selections serve as reflections on–and connections to–his growing up as a Mormon, dealing with his realization of being gay, hoping for a lasting romance, and emotions related to having a child. If the Stars Were Mine's title song and the earnest "Paving the Runway" bring tenderness, similarly vowing intentions to be a devoted caretaker.

The Elder resumé includes performing in quite a few shows, regionally, singing the work of Stephen Sondheim, and there are three well-delivered samples of that. "Finishing the Hat" is pretty traditional, yet a few degrees calmer that some treat it. Gay attraction becomes the sensibility when he jumps into "Moments in the Woods," written for a female character in Into the Woods who is kissed by (and dazzled by) Cinderella's Prince; he played that Prince in 2009. And the treatment of Sondheim and Bernstein's "Something's Coming" from West Side Story combines the very familiar musical architecture of tension and anticipation with a refreshing, far looser celebration for the 1957 classic. Another Broadway pick that debuted in that year is a hushed "Till There Was You" (The Music Man); from the prior year, we get My Fair Lady's "On the Street Where You Live," cheekily attempting a "stalker" vibe that doesn't quite deliver the intended goods. More on target are the passions and drama in "How Glory Goes" (Floyd Collins) and an involving, invested "Hey Kid" (If/Then), addressing a baby around the time of its birth.

Bryan Perri and Rodney Bush share duties as music directors, arrangers, orchestrations, and manning keyboards; Adam Birnbaum is a third pianist. There are several string players, including the always welcome cellist Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf. Also very welcome are the commitment and calibration in Claybourne Elder's attractive sound. And, if the lighter numbers aren't as essential or consequential for return visits as the richer theatrical ones, they may be diverting respite for now.

APRIL VARNER
ELLA
Cellar Music Group
CD | Digital

She celebrates her birthday on April 30, which is National Jazz Day, and April Varner (named for her birth month) has a new release saluting a jazz legend who was born on the 25th of this month–109 years ago. This terrific young singer won the International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition in 2023, so it's logical that she'd pay her respects with a set covering some of the many items the prolific icon recorded and sang in concerts. Ella is a pleasure to hear, showcasing a confidently elastic voice that is clear, smooth, and versatile. Performances are successfully soaring and swinging in the adventurous sections and just as rewarding when scaled back for thoughtful ballad phrasing on Pal Joey's "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered."

This is no "copycat" project with slavish footstep-following. Arrangements are notably fresh; two of the musicians involved share credit for those ideas: pianist Emmet Cohen and trumpeter Brian Lynch. A consistently entertaining set, Ella–produced by the drummer in the band, Ulysses Owens Jr.–captivates instrumentally, too, with what's played behind the vocals and in the mid-song band breaks, especially with some gracefully tip-toeing piano. (William Hill III is the other pianist.)

While there's no sense of studiously "recreating" or imitation with the vibrant Varner vocals, and the timbres aren't strikingly similar (but there are some moments when they are), what the two-generation-separated songbirds have in common are: a sweet tone, a sense of joy, and the kind of jazz "smarts" that allow for improvisations without losing the thread of a melody or lyric. And the Varner vibrancy sparkles with skillful scat-singing, too.

Ella Fitzgerald's vast repertoire featured many standards that lots of singers also got to, but the program here also has two other items closely associated with her, and they are cheery highlights: the snazzy showpiece "Mr. Paganini" (aka "You'll Have to Swing It") and the early trademark based on a nursery rhyme, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket." The latter gets a brisk Latin makeover here. Other attractions include two Cole Porter classics: "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "Night and Day." This release by the talented Ohio-born performer follows her debut–exclusively songs with the word "April" in the title–and treatments of winter/Christmas-related numbers. I very much look forward to the next, themed or not. April Varner is the real deal.

ISABELLA ISHERWOOD
THE SWEETEST SOUNDS
Sabrina Records
CD | Digital | Vinyl

Released on her birthday, April 3, Chicago-based Isabella Isherwood's debut album is an often intriguing, introspective set on which she accompanies herself on piano and is joined by three other instrumentalists (her regular bandmates on guitar, bass and drums). It's produced by another jazz singer/pianist, Champian Fulton. Named for the included song of confident optimism from the 1962 score to No Strings by Richard Rodgers, The Sweetest Sounds is most compelling in its non-sweet moods, with the authentic-feel gloom in doleful confessions of despair and the lingering over lost love pulling in a listener as emotional voyeur.

Ballads are replete with nuances, slight pauses heavy with feeling, and words that are thoughtfully colored or lingered over, so it's not surprising to note that this performer has a background in theatre, too. One can feel Isabella Isherwood's pain in "Love Is a Dangerous Game" (Amy Winehouse) and the Bob Dylan classic "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" break-up/wake up and smell the coffee perspective. But the depression doesn't come by way of loud venting and lamenting; it's grief in quieter, intimate form, and contrasting tracks offer some bright, jazzy romps ("I Love Being Here with You" and "The Song Is You") for sunshine between storm clouds.

Each instrumentalist gets a chance to be the sole accompanist on one track. Drummer Alejandro Salazar shares the spotlight for an effectively non-sentimental "Till There Was You" from The Music Man. Joe Policastro partners for the tale of woe in "'Round Midnight," the spare instrumentation making the described loneliness feel especially stark. (The lyric sung to the Thelonious Monk melody is not the most often used one, but an alternate text written by Jon Hendricks.) For the melancholic Mack and Mabel selection, "Time Heals Everything," guitarist Mike Allemana is the best kind of "misery loves company" company. (He provides such superb atmosphere on many tracks, but there are times when his fleet playing and dexterity can perhaps seem overly "busy"–initially distracting counterpoint to some slow singing.)

Most magnetic of all is a mournful version of "My Buddy," which is just piano and voice. Each line feels burdened, believable and aching. This deep interpretation of the outwardly simple 104-year-old ballad about missing someone is not to be missed.

TESSA SOUTER
SHADOWS AND SILENCE: THE ERIK SATIE PROJECT
Noanara Music
CD | Digital | Vinyl

Blessed with an elegant, hypnotic voice, and employing taste and intelligence, singer Tessa Souter celebrates her own birthday this month, and next month she will celebrate the birth date of the intriguing French composer/pianist born in 1866, Erik Satie, by once again performing his melodies at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater in downtown Manhattan. She did so last year (marking the 100th anniversary of his death) in connection with her ambitious, memorable album featuring his melodies–some with her own lyrics added: Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project. Especially attractive are samples of the series of classical piano pieces, each called a "Gymnopédie" or "Gnossienne." (They're differentiated from each other by having a number in each title.) They lull and/or shimmer. Subject matter for the often very sensitive lyrics include love, loss, the birth of a child, and lingering memories. They are in English and French, with excellent diction and radiate sincerity.

Charting some of the arrangements herself, the singer is joined by a small group of top tier musicians, including Billy Drummond (drummer, also her husband), Luis Perdomo (pianist, percussionist, co-arranger of some tracks), Yasushi Nakamura (bass), Steve Wilson (sax), and Nadje Noordhuis (trumpet and flugelhorn).

The program is not all Satie material. There are treatments of two pieces by formidable jazz men: one by Wayne Shorter ("Never Broken," with Cassandra Wilson's words) and the other is Ron Carter's "Mood." They make fine companion pieces. The album ends with the heartbreak ballad "Ne me quitte pas" by Jacques Brel, employing both his French lyric and Rod McKuen's English language version ("If You Go Away"). Both men, by the way, were also born in April.

NELLIE McKAY
HEY GUYS, WATCH THIS
Omnivore Recordings
CD | Digital | Vinyl

In physical format now, after an early digital release, and remastered, Nellie McKay's album of original songs–Hey Guys, Watch This–is a cozy, kind of quirky collection that finds the endearing chameleon reinventing herself as an amiable country-tinged, old-timey spinner of tales and wistful attitudes. Low-key, calm poses outwardly project serenity, but discontentment and resentment can be bubbling underneath, like a semi-secret code for us to detect. For example, a lazy-tempo number about "Driftin'" soon states, as it sways, "I wanted to be happy, but I couldn't be")–an apparent acceptance of reality with a shrug. And in "Initiation," the sweet-toned, flower-petal voice tells of an abused person's survival/coping skills and silent suffering ("I don't react, I don't talk back... That's the price you pay if you want to maintain the peace... I'm used to it"). And the set has an unsettling story-song called "Make a Wish" that references racism, sexism, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, with some expletives in the lyric.

Listen carefully to the juxtapositions and pointed words couched in catchy melodic turns: "The Party Song" begins with "I went to a party, stayed there 20 years one night" and then notes "The people at this party were alive or seemed to be" and makes historical references. (It's a political party she's describing.) In this cornucopia of languid laments, muted blues, subversive moods, and tender moments, Nellie McKay is joined by the singers and instrumentalists of The Carpenter Ants and a few other colleagues. Harmonizing male voices make sorrows sound like the calm before a brewing storm.

Ever surprising and adventurous, London-born Nellie McKay is always worth attention. Her varied career includes a show about a real-life murderer, a Doris Day tribute album, and co-starring 20 years ago on Broadway in The Threepenny Opera. In the remainder of her birthday month of April, her tour takes her to Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia.