Review: ONE FOR JOHNNY MERCER at Dizzy's Was One Fine Show
ONE FOR JOHNNY MERCER at Dizzy's was another treat in the Songbook Sundays series. Johnny Mercer had a way with words. Stritch, Blackhurst, Stravelli and Lee have a way of singing and winging them. Duke Ellington's turn comes in August.
Gabrielle Stravelli & Michael Kanan to Release New Album This Month
?Acclaimed vocalist GABRIELLE STRAVELLI and celebrated jazz pianist MICHAEL KANAN will release the powerfully intimate new duet recording Stairway to the Stars on June 24. The album is currently available in digital formats. Stairway to the Stars is produced by Gabrielle Stravelli and Pat O'Leary.
BWW Review: Six Performers ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE in A Salute to Iconic Lyricist Johnny Mercer
Johnny Mercer (1909-1976) wrote the lyrics to more than 1500 songs, including dozens upon dozens for movies and Broadway shows. He received 19 Academy Award nominations, and won four Best Original Song Oscars. Mercer was also a composer, a vocalist and the foresighted founder of Capitol Records. To appreciate The American Songbook, one must be familiar with this multifaceted artist. In a revue presented last Thursday to Sunday at the Studio Theater on West 42nd Street, Accentuate The Positive staged its title song as an evangelical meeting. You've got to ac-cen-tu-ate the positive/E-li-mi-nate the negative/Latch on to the affirmative/Don't mess with Mister In-Between…(Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer) Stephen Belida played a preacher while around him Lynne Halliday, Tom Hafner, Madison Stratton, Lou Steele, and Carey Van Driest chanted, sung, snapped, clapped, circled, and raised their arms in Hallelujah fashion. An auspicious beginning.