[Dixielandjazz] Johnny Mercer tribute reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Mercer's 'Marvelous' Words
by Tim Smith
Baltimore Sun, December 30, 2010

In 1955, jazz pianist, songwriter and actor Bobby Troup recorded an album of songs
with words by Johnny Mercer, who penned a wry poem for the liner notes. In those
verses, Mercer, the lyricist for at least 1,200 songs, neatly summed up his craft:
"I write because I love to write / And hope the words are not too trite... I do the
best with what I have."
His best was extraordinary, as you can hear at Everyman Theatre in "A Concert Tribute
to Johnny Mercer," which wraps up this weekend. Three vocalists work their way through
more than 30 songs, both familiar and rare, including some of Mercer's best collaborations
with other songwriters and a sampling of items that boast his own melodies.
This fifth annual cabaret at Everyman is directed in straightforward fashion by Vincent
M. Lancisi and features, for the fourth year, music director Howard Breitbart at
the piano.
The show doesn't generate quite as much snap and playfulness as last season's Irving
Berlin celebration. It's more traditional and, at its occasional low points, a little
too much like a lounge act. But most of the time, the cabaret hits the right notes,
thanks especially to the dynamic voices and fresh styling of Judy Simmons and Delores
King Williams. They are both delightfully adept at inhabiting a lyric.
Simmons really shines in ballads. She caresses "I Remember You" with a Barbara Cook-like
elegance -- I can't think of higher praise -- and taps into the heart of "P.S. I
Love You" with the subtle warmth of veteran jazz singer Carol Sloane.
With comic numbers, Simmons proves just as winning. She gets good mileage out of
such little-known pieces as "The Weekend of a Private Secretary" (a 1930s paean to
the charms of Cuban men) and "Whatcha-Ma-Call-It," a song written for, but not used
in, a 1956 film musical based on "It Happened One Night."
When it comes to lighthearted fare, Williams sounds right at home, too. She delivers
a terrifically animated account of "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry,"
a still-funny song from the 1942 flick "The Fleet's In."
Williams also gets a chance to tackle some of the finest examples of Mercer's craft,
including songs he wrote with Harold Arlen, the composer who seemed to bring out
the best in the wordsmith. "I Had Myself a True Love," from the Broadway show the
two men created, "St. Louis Woman," is practically an opera aria in structure, technical
demands and emotional scope. Williams meets those challenges in a performance that
is vocally and interpretively compelling.
She's just as vivid in a medley of "Come Rain or Come Shine" from that same show
and a song written a few years earlier with a different songwriter (Rube Bloom),
"Day In, Day Out," which strikes the same basic theme.
The sense of spontaneity and involvement that Williams and Simmons bring to the cabaret
accounts for much of the entertainment value. Their duet of "Autumn Leaves" and "When
October Goes" (with a tune by Barry Manilow set to a Mercer lyric) is a highlight.
That duet also features a few measures sung without amplification. The effect is
magical, and only reconfirms my belief that microphones aren't necessary at all in
Everyman's intimate space. Certainly not with singers so attentive to diction as
Simmons, Williams and the third member of the vocal trio, Jamie Zemarel.
Zemarel doesn't have as distinctive a voice as his colleagues. When he holds back,
he's effective, as in "Whistling Away the Dark," a beguiling ballad with music by
Henry Mancini. But when another Mercer/Mancini gem, "Charade," enters the picture,
Zemarel blasts through it, overplaying his vocal hand. He does that often in the
show, simply pushing hard in a way that doesn't quite ring true.
I have similar reservations about Breitbart's styling at the keyboard, which takes
too many aggressive, honky-tonk turns, even in songs that call for a lighter touch.
But I suspect mine is a minority view, and I hasten to add that Breitbart's energy
and rock-solid technique certainly give this welcome celebration of the Mercer magic
a solid foundation.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

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