If you don’t write your own material, the challenge is to create an album that has a connecting theme. Here are two vocalists that have rich concepts to sing about.
Jeff Harnar creates a kind of autobiography through the songbook of Stephen Sondheim on this intriguing album. His voice has a hint of Barry Manilow, and is conversant in many of the songs, supported by an orchestra conducted by pianist Jon Weber. The album has a Broadway-ish feeling, with soft flutes creating a lush feel for “Every Day A Little Death” while giving an uptown feel to “Can That Boy Foxtrot!” while going into a saloon mode with Weber on “ The God-Why-Don’t You-Love-Me-Blues” and getting personal on “Old Friends”. Classy cabaret.
Melissa Errico gives a tribute to songs and moods of the Film Noir era, looking like Audrey Totter but sounding more like one of the singers in front of the classy bands in the de rigeur nightclubs than Lizabeth Scott or Gloria Graham. She’s backed by the team of T edd Firth/p, Lorin Cohen/b, Eric Halvorson/dr, Bob Mann/g, Joe Locke/vib, Kevin WInard/perc, Scott Wendholt/tp, David Mann/sax and Richard Locker/cel in mix and match fashion. She slinks with Mann’s smoky tenor on “It Was Written IN The Stars” gets chanteuse-y on “On Vit, On Aime” and the Chopinesque “La Solitude” and intimate for with Firth on both “The Bad and The Beautiful” and trio take of “Haunted Heart”. A bit more Broadwayish than the dark alleys of noir, but the concept works well throughout without the fedoras and cigarettes.