STEVE ROSS,
(with LAURA LAVELLE and BENJAMIN WEIL)
STEVE ROSS SINGS SONDHEIM (WITH FRIENDS*)
Harbinger Records/ The Musical Theater Project
CD | Digital

Ten years after releasing a splendid collection of songs written by Stephen Sondheim, Steve Ross–an expert at getting to the heart of whatever material he chooses–makes a welcome return to the well. This time it's somewhat different: he shares the singing with two other vocalists; takes a break from his longstanding custom of sitting at the piano as his own accompanist; and Steve Ross Sings Sondheim (with Friends) is not a live album like the predecessor. That recording was titled Good Thing Going, which was kind of odd because the same-titled song from the musical Merrily We Roll Along was not included. Happily, it's here on the new collection as a satisfying solo for the star, following the opening track, from the same musical: "Old Friends," joined vocally by his own two old friends, Benjamin Weil and Laura Lavelle, with affection, apparently, and aptly chummy cheer. Keyboard accompaniment is the work of Dennis Buck, and the arrangements and music direction are a Ross/Buck collaboration.

The dazzling Sondheim career sampling includes picks from two musicals for which he only wrote lyrics (three gems from Gypsy and two from Do I Hear a Waltz?, composed by, respectively, Jule Styne and Richard Rodgers). Other stage pieces represented by three picks are Merrily We Roll Along, Company, and Anyone Can Whistle, with Follies getting the double-dipping, but other scores are each represented by one number. In all, the 18-track album covers 11 projects. If you're thinking the math doesn't seem to add up, the explanation, as you might guess, can be stated in one word: medleys (there are three).

While some numbers get a styling that's more casual, intimate, or a bit grander than has been typical and traditional, this collection is generally more about respect than revision, risk, or reinventing the wheel. Here and there, a witty line feels underlined, pointing up (and at) the humor instead of letting listeners feel they're discovering it. The most noticeable examples are some of the double entendres in "I Never Do Anything Twice," one of the tracks on which all three sing. As I hear things, most of the best moments for Mr. Weil and Miss Lavelle are not in their warhorse solos; each has three, plus a duet with Mr. Ross. The two men take on "Everybody Says Don't" and, in a refreshing change, it comes off as a joyful celebration of confidence without residual anger aimed at the naysayers. The Lavelle/Ross duo is a thoughtful and elegant version of "So Many People."

Steve Ross shines throughout, whether he's breezily sailing through "All I Need Is the Girl" or disarmingly delivering the palpable poignancy in pairing two emotional items from Do I Hear a Waltz? ("Someone Like You" and "Stay") or the wistfulness of "With So Little to Be Sure Of." In addition to his own introductory liner notes, the CD's booklet contains writer James Gavin's six-page fond appreciation of the Ross artistry and history that is like a mini-biography full of perspective and personal recollections. And the releasing company/label, Harbinger Records/ The Musical Theater Project, with its own history of presenting and preserving performances of important songwriters as well as singers, continues admirably with this newest addition to its mission.

VARIOUS ARTISTS
GET WHAT YOU WANT: THE SONGS OF MICHAEL FINKE
Center Stage Records
Digital

When he was presented with the opportunity to have a full-length album representing what he's written for musical theatre projects, Michael Finke chose not to make it a sampler of the several musicals for which he has written music, lyrics, and book. With one exception, "Hold Me Closer," from an early project called Reporting Live, the 14 selections on Get What You Want: The Songs of Michael Finke are stand-alone numbers. However, many are quite theatrical. There are character portraits and stories with beginnings, middles, and ends. And there's no shortage of intense emotional material covering frustration, fervent hope, regrets, devotion, and determination that are delivered by a bevy of strong performers, with the composer/lyricist sensitively handling two of them himself, the brief "On the Pier" and "In the Deep," and is one of the pianists, sharing the keyboarding with Nils-Petter Ankarblom (one of the arrangers) and Yasuhiko Fukuoka in the band.

Melodies are muscular or tender to anchor the emotions. Lyrics can be artful, thoughtful, or full of angst and pleading in rushes of diary-like observations and confessions. Curse words are employed in fits of pique and otherwise (once reportedly spoken by an angel). Rhyming is most often pure, with some lapses. A few of the numbers might restate their key lines too often in their final minute, making them lyrically anticlimactic, but the passion in the singing tends to continue to build and surge up to the finish line.

Lyrics variously proclaim desires for love, friendship, acceptance, peace of mind, and creative fulfillment. Characters presented range from sympathetic fragile souls seeking solace (Alan H. Green poignantly portraying someone "Walking Alone") to imaginatively outsized portraits, such as F. Michael Haynie's gleefully devious child plotting a private Saturday TV session ("Me and My Cartoon Friends"). We hear about a relationship with a real-life friend when Tommy Kaiser wistfully and with nuance sings of the chapters in such a connection with "Angie Davis (Former Hero"). It's about young chums growing apart as they grow up and is a relatable, realistic tale. Another saga of a friendship is far less tied to the realm of possibility–because it concerns a man's new pal named "Salvador," who is a dinosaur. Jelani Remy brings charm and real feeling to the quirky piece about their interaction ("He brought me a fruitcake with a card...It wouldn't hurt if we hung out/ So we both went golfing").

Matt Wood, Emily Afton, and Sara Naughton are a tight trio singing the kinetic, assertive title track of Get What You Want, which urges action ("What are you waiting for?/ You could have what's next!/ Get what you want/ And also have lots of sex!"). The album's hoot of a showstopper comes when Donna Lynne Champlin, adopting a thick accent, inhabits the persona of the self-aggrandizing lady who calls herself "The Fabulous Miss Lila Morae," flaunting rules and intimidating people as she haughtily snorts, "Do you know who I am?"

Regarding the songwriter, it shouldn't be necessary for long that the never-less-than-promising/ bordering-on-fabulous Mr. Michael Finke might need to ask musical theatre fans the same question. This collection provides the answer, with acknowledgment of praise.

JULIET EWING
SIMPLY 'S WONDERFUL: THE MAGIC OF GERSHWIN
Honey Diva Music/ Lexicon Classics
CD | Digital

In case you still need evidence that songs with melodies by George Gershwin sound timeless, consider this fact: Last year, when Juliet Ewing did her Gershwin-centric cabaret act in New York City and began recording the bulk of its material for her splendid album, a couple of the included numbers were exactly 100 years old and they sound fresh and invigorated in her vibrant voice, with the inventive arrangements for trio accompaniment. Those centenarians are "Oh, Lady Be Good!" (with zippy energy and well-handled brisk jazz ornamentations) and the rarely recorded, slinky and seductive "Naughty Baby." The latter was first heard in the London musical Primrose and is one of six numbers on the splendidly adept Simply 'S Wonderful: The Magic of Gershwin that are also in Crazy for You, the musical she toured with for years. But she sounds "at home" with everything on the 13-track release. Lyrics are all solely by Ira Gershwin, except "Naughty Baby," which is co-credited to Desmond Carter, and "Summertime," the classic Porgy and Bess lullaby that becomes especially meditative and majestic here (words by DuBose Heyward).

Retained are some of the introductory verses written to set up the famous choruses, although a couple are placed midway instead. (I guess a singer named Juliet can't resist the one that includes referring to a guy as "Romeo" in the verse to "I've Got a Crush on You.") This is a polished, personality-packed affair with plush, vulnerable ballads and lively, upbeat celebrations with occasional segues into scat-singing passages. It shows off the skills of all involved. While generally respectful in mining the Gershwin gold, numerous liberties are taken with melody lines and lyrics (usually later in the treatment, after the original architecture is more traditionally presented). Most of the personalizations are pleasing, such as emphasizing an unexpected word or note. The collection's one medley oddly pairs the calm assertion that "Love Is Here to Stay" with "They Can't Take That Away from Me," listing memories that will last after a love affair that did not.

Veteran bassist David Finck gets a special spotlight, appropriately, on a sly "Slap That Bass," and drummer Mark McLean brings vigor throughout. Ron Drotos is the impressive pianist and arranger for all selections except the thoughtful and grandly dignified "The Man I Love" and the much lighter "The Lorelei" when those duties are taken with his usual flair by Tedd Firth, who is also the album's producer.

A fun touch in the romp that is "I Got Rhythm" gives nods to the three instruments in a rhythm section, pausing for the gentlemen handling them to each do a mini-solo. Also inserted is a quick recitation that starts "Got a lot of rhythm while singing my rhymes..." and allows the vocalist to incorporate the titles of more than a dozen Gershwin songs she doesn't get to in her set. It also serves to whet the appetite and wish she'd do so in a second volume, enthusiastically answering with the word "Me!" or "Us!" to the rhetorical question that ends "I Got Rhythm"'s lyric: "Who could ask for anything more?"

CHRISTENA RICH
FEATURING LAURENCE JUBER [guitars]
JIMMY'S: THE SONGS OF JIMMY McHUGH
HoLoGram Recordings
CD | Digital

Listening to Christena Rich sing on her first full-length album, Jimmy's, you'll hear an amalgam of styles: honeyed, languid balladeering; R&B/soul; some jazzy leanings; and a comical character piece. The subtitle (appearing prominently on the inside, back cover, and spine of the CD) clarifies the musical matter at hand: The Songs of Jimmy McHugh. The very likeable release presents five of the composer's collaborations with Dorothy Fields, four with Harold Adamson, two McHugh/Frank Loesser pairings, both from the 1943 film Happy Go Lucky (the dreamy "Let's Get Lost" and the funny, slang-filled "Murder, He Says"), plus the 1926 McHugh/ Clarence Gaskill number "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me."

Confidence is in evidence in the vocalist's approach and, on some upbeat choices, becomes decidedly assertive, exemplified by the way she sort of barks/bites into the words "I like it!," which follow the title phrase of the Adamson lyric "I Just Found Out About Love." But the chameleon-like Christena can switch gears and convincingly portray, if not quite a shrinking violet, a shattered, vulnerable person reeling from a lover's rejection in "Where Are You?"

The prominent cover billing of guitarist Laurence Juber, who is also the arranger and producer, is certainly appropriate. Not only is he wonderfully talented and creative, but his playing is prominent and dynamic in accompanying the singing and in mid-song instrumental breaks. The band may consist of five men, but, with the exception of some time turning the spotlight on the sax and clarinet of Tom Scott, it's the glorious guitar work that grabs most of the attention, drives and anchors the song-shaping.

"I Can't Give You Anything But Love" gets a spiffy, sprightly treatment. Christena Rich brings much zing to this and "On the Sunny Side of the Street," and melts into the cozy sweet mood of "I'm in the Mood for Love," including the introductory verse. (All have words by Dorothy Fields.)

The chanteuse is married to Lee Newman, whose grandfathers are Jimmy McHugh and Eddie Cantor; on my shelf for years has been his own CD, Relatively Speaking, on which he sings these three McHugh/Fields standards himself, as well as Cantor signatures, with the participation of another Cantor grandchild, Brian Gari.

Laurence Juber, whose career includes many recordings, live gigs, and three years as a member of Paul McCartney's group Wings, has also collaborated with his wife, Hope, on stage musicals based on the TV sitcoms "Gilligan's Island" and "The Brady Bunch," along with her father, Sherwood Schwartz, who created those television hits.

RENEE KATZ
LOST IN HIS ARMS: RENEE KATZ SINGS IRVING BERLIN
Terrarose
CD | Digital

"Sincere," "sensitive," "sentimental": These are words that might most often come to mind while listening to Renee Katz singing the serious side of composer/lyricist Irving Berlin's portraits of romance. Her sensibilities and approach make the love ballads seem to earn their earnestness rather than sinking into corniness or quaintness. And when she switches gears from tears or heartfelt declarations to light-hearted cheer, it's sunshine galore. It's quite the bevy of Berlin, as ten of the fifteen tracks on Lost in His Arms: Renee Katz Sings Irving Berlin are medleys, including a trio of songs whose titles all include the word "Say" ("They Say It's Wonderful," "Say It Isn't So," "Nothing More to Say").

Much credit must go to the work of pianist/arranger/musical director/kindred spirit Christopher Marlowe, who also debuts a brief orphan lyric of Berlin which he deftly set to music ("Till This Crazy World Is Sane Again"). Amiable additional singing is provided by Jeff Harnar, who directed Renee Katz's cabaret act of this material (he joins her for one of the medleys), and bassist Ritt Henn who duets on the perky "Falling Out of Love Can Be Fun" and the quirky character piece "Yiddisha Eskimo" (switching to ukulele-strumming for this ethnic novelty written for Fanny Brice, who turned it down). The chosen material mixes the famous fare with some lesser-known treats, such as "Me." Nostalgic and old-school in the best sense, while sounding authentically "in the moment," the enjoyable production proves the statement that is one of the song titles: "An Old-Fashioned Tune Is Always New."

For one more serving of Renee Katz ably handling Irving Berlin's work, just look to her bouncy "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" (from the film musical On the Avenue) on her prior album, Winter Awakenings. It's certainly relevant to the current cold season, as it also features the singing ambitiously taking on Maury Yeston's emotional song cycle December Songs. On more intense pieces, the singer's vibrato can be quite prominent; it can stress the drama and sorrow in material that already has those elements in ample supply. Contrastingly, quite remarkable and rewarding to hear are appearances of the soprano's isolated elegant, purest, straight-toned highest notes. Musical theatre aficionados looking for cover versions of showtunes rarely approached by vocalists will be rewarded by her refreshing choices on her bold debut release, with full-throttle renditions on Never Been Gone. The singing of Renee Katz appears more nuanced, savvy and subtle now, but her passion and commitment has apparently "never been gone" and, I suspect, never will be.