CHIP DEFFAA SONGBOOK Album to Be Released 11/30

"The Chip Deffaa Songbook"--a two-CD set, featuring nearly 40 theater-songs by ASCAP Award-winning playwright/songwriter Chip Deffaa--will be released November 30th. The album features songs that Deffaa wrote or co-wrote for such shows of his as "Theater Boys," "The Seven Little Foys," "Mad About the Boy," "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "The Family That Sings Together," "The Fanny Brice Story," "Song-and-Dance Kids," and "George M. Cohan Tonight!"

The performers include Broadway, Off-Broadway, and nightclub pro's long associated with Deffaa, such as Jon Peterson, Giuseppe Bausilio, Matthew Nardozzi, Michael Townsend Wright, Beth Bartley, Seth Sikes, Emily Bordonaro, and Keith Anderson, along with promising younger artists discovered by Deffaa, such as Alec Deland,. Bailey Cummings, Rayna Hirt, Jonah Barricklo, Gabriella Green, Clark Kinkade. The primary music director is Richard Danley.

The album includes both new, freshly-recorded performances and reissued performances from original-cast albums of Deffaa's shows. "Sometimes I feel like the luckiest guy on Earth," Deffaa commented. "Over the years I've gotten to write shows for, and work with, performers I really love. And it's a joy to have so many members of my 'musical family' on one album.

"For my money, there's no greater song-and-dance man working today than Jon Peterson, and of course this compilation includes some songs of mine that Jon introduced Off-Broadway in 'George M. Cohan Tonight!' and has performed in countless cities in the U.S. and abroad--touring with the show, on-and-off--over the past decade. But I'm just as excited about the talent of young Giuseppe Bausilio, who at 19 already has four Broadway shows and one TV show under his belt. It means the world to me to have him on the album. And I don't know of a teenage gal with a finer instrument than Emily Bordonaro has. Matthew Nardozzi, who has Broadway and Hollywood credits, and has won the national Young Artist Award, is like family to me. I'm glad all of these pro's, young and old, are here. Beth Bartley, whose singing has knocked me out since she was a Juilliard student--long before she reached Broadway--sings "Struttin'." I actually wrote that song specifically for Michael Townsend Wright, but Beth's long wanted to record it, too, so we've included her brand-new performance, along with Michael's spirited original recording, backed by Peter Charney, Devon Eddy, Jillian Wipfler, Zach Riopelle, Alex Craven et. al.

"Seth Sikes--the hottest singer on the nightclub scene today--is paired witH Clark Kinkade--another of my favorite singers--on my 'Crater Lake Blues,' from my musical comedy 'Theater Boys.' I actually wrote that song and show with those two in mine, and am grateful that they made the very first recording. Of course they'd sound great, singing anything--they'll be featured on forthcoming albums in my Irving Berlin songbook series, too. Hearing them together really makes me smile."

Nurturing new talent has long been an important part of Deffaa's mission. He notes: "I'm delighted that the album with help introduce some rising newcomers I have great belief in. Bailey Cummings, an artist-to-watch--shines on 'An Ode to Popularity' and on 'Magnetic Waterbury'--a song that was inspired by some long-ago offhand remarks by Jack Saleeby and friends, up in Waterbury. And I was so taken with the performances of Alec Deland and Gabriella Green, co-starring in a musical at Stagedoor Manor, that I created special material just for them, to help introduce them on disc: 'A Stage-Door Kind of Love.' And I couldn't be happier with their work." The album includes fresh performances by Joris de Graaf, John Brady, Cody Jordan, and Katherine Paulsen, who've appeared in such shows of Deffaa's as "Theater Boys" and "Mad About the Boy." And the album includes a reissue of "Please Wait for Me, Miss Leacock," as first recorded by Maxwell Beer ('one of the best younger actors I know," Deffaa says).

This will be Deffaa's 17th album. (His 18th album, "Irving Berlin Revisited," will follow just a few weeks later.) ""It's great fun," says Deffaa. "There are no places I'd rather be than in a recording studio or a rehearsal hall. And so many of my favorite people contributed to this album."

The album will be available from CDBaby, Amazon, iTunes, Footlight Records, etc., as of November 30th. It may be pre-ordered here:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thechipdeffaasongbook