Metropolitan Room Features Shepley Metcalf, 3/2-20

The Boston-based singer Shepley Metcalf who, last year, was the first American to record and perform a new trove of songs by the lyricist Fran Landesman, is bringing back her critically acclaimed Landesman tribute to the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, for an exclusive four-show engagement in March. "Something Irresistible," featuring songs by Landesman and the British jazz composer Simon Wallace, performs Wednesday March 2 at 7pm; Saturday March 5 at 9:30pm; Saturday March 19 at 7:30pm, and Sunday March 20 at 4pm.

The 15 new songs from the mercurial tunesmith who withdrew to London in the mid-60's represent a stunning expansion of her discography, which, in recent decades has had very few additions. Written with Wallace, Landesman's songwriting collaborator in London since 1994, the new collection has been hailed by The Boston Herald as "a trove of should-be standards."  Landesman is best known for her widely admired standards "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," and "The Ballad of the Sad Young Men."

Backed by her music director and arranger Ron Roy on piano, Chris Rathbun on bass and Gene Roma on drums, Metcalf has performed "Something Irresistible" in Boston, Chicago, and at the Metropolitan Room in October.  The album, released in March of '10, has been called a "fine, exquisitely programmed 15-song collection" by Jazzwise, the UK's noted jazz magazine, which gave it four stars.

After contacting Wallace in London and expressing her vivid interest in any new Landesman tunes, Metcalf met Wallace for the first time at the Café Carlyle in March '09. (He was in town with his other notable collaborator, the singer Barb Jungr.)  At this meeting, she was handed the mother lode of songs (which Wallace was preparing to publish as the first Landesman/Wallace songbook).  Within a year, the album was recorded and pressed.

Among the album's standouts are "In a New York Minute," "It's Cool to be Cool," "When Your Computer Crashes," and the monumentally poignant "Save the Photographs."  The album is available on iTunes and www.cdbaby.com

A Greenwich Village fixture in her early career, Landesman turned out a
handful of vivid tunes in the 50's and 60's that easily conveyed the era's new intellectual restlessness.  Her songs have been covered in classic recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Ricki Lee Jones, Gil Evans and Bette Midler.  Wallace is well known in Great Britain for his extensive work as a jazz pianist, and arranger/composer in theatre, television and nightclubs.

Shepley Metcalf's "Something Irresistible," featuring new songs by Fran Landesman and Simon Wallace, performs four times only, Wednesday March 2 at 7pm; Saturday March 5 at 9:30pm; Saturday March 19 at 7:30pm, and Sunday March 20 at 4pm. The cover charge is $20, with a two-drink minimum. For reservations call 212/206-0440. For information, or to order online, visit www.metropolitanroom.com