Monday, July 18, 2016

The Salon Wrap-Up for July 17, 2016 - "Love Songs & Lullabies"

What a great week at Salon!  Mark Janas welcomed us back for our second week, and after our lovely producer Tanya Moberly skimmed through the rules for the evening, we were off and running with our themed "Love Songs & Lullabies" show for the night!  NO ONE fell asleep, because everyone's songs were just lovely.  And with married couple Eva & Jonathan Kantor hosting for the evening, how could anyone not enjoy the entertainment?  

Jonathan is both a Barry Manilow and Louis Armstrong Award Winning jazz clarinetist, with smooth intonation, incredible breath support, and with a tone  so light, that when you listen to him play, makes you feel like you're floating on air!  He opened the show with Si Tu Vois Ma Mere (which means, if you see my mother, but the song is also known as I Remember When), which is played in the Woody Allen movie Midnight In Paris, and Paris is where Eva & Jonathan celebrated their honeymoon, so romance was in the air!


Eva joined her husband later to do two songs that just may be part of their upcoming show about Benny Goodman and Rosemary Clooney, entitled Memories of You and It's Bad for Me, which was a funny take on people's perceptions in relationships.  Eva then did a solo number from Funny Girl called The Music That Makes Me Dance, which made us all realize why she did so well in the 2012 MetroStar Talent Challenge, and why she was a Noel Coward Competition Finalist.  


Mark Janas is not only a great musician, but also a wonderful teacher.  His weekly session at Salon entitled, Classical Corner, is always my favorite time of night because I learn so much more about music.  
This week was a special treat, because we also had Jonathan there to play with him.  Our feature of the night was learning about transcriptions, as opposed to arrangements or orchestrations.  Arrangements can change the original song, but a transcription is where you take a song that has been written for one instrument, and play it on another.  With transcriptions, the sense of the piece stays the same and should capture the feel of the original.  Pianists learn little tricks they can do to make a piece sing, by adding pedal, or connecting phrases more than what is actually written on the page, or changing volume, but when you use transcription and add an instrument to the piece, it can really bring it to life, and the pianist doesn't have to use these tricks to connect and make the piece more fluid.  It was amazing to hear the piece played first solely on piano, and then hear it change when the clarinet was added.  The three numbers performed were the first movement of Erik Satie's Three Gymnopedies, the second movement of Johann Sebastian Bach's Italian Concerto, and they finished with a lovely arrangement of Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune.  

This was the perfect night for our singers to perform all of those standards that we love from the Great American Songbook!  Songs from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Dr. Doolittle were performed, we had spoken word poetry and original songs, and a whole lot of Gershwin, Rogers & Hart, Harold Arlen, Vincent Youmans and Sammy Cahn, just to name a few.  And to wrap up our evening, Eva and Jonathan performed a lullaby that they sing to their super cute one year old son every night - Sleepy Man, from the musical The Robber Bridegroom.  It was a great way to end our themed show, and everyone could say that this night, we were going home to our beds after being sung a lullaby.  I'm sure everyone got a wonderful nights sleep!



Roster of performers for the evening (in order of appearance):
Click to visit performers' website or other links when available.  All piano accompaniment by Mark Janas unless otherwise noted.

Jonathan Kantor
Barb Malley
Richard Eisenberg
Anna Marie Sell
Jerome Weinstein
Mark Ryan Anderson - (Salon Debut!)
Diane Carey
Sally Darling (with Matthew Martin Ward on piano)
Matthew Martin Ward
Steve Bustamante
Joseph Mulholland
Kathleen France
Marnie Klar
Mark Janas & Jonathan Kantor (Classical Corner)
Eva Kantor & Jonathan KantorTanya Moberly
Terry Scott
Zach Wobensmith
Eva & Jonathan Kantor

Big thanks to Gil Alexandre on lights and sound, and even more thanks go to our amazing waitstaff each Sunday, for keeping us well fed and hydrated. Thanks also to Steve Bustamante who provides beautiful and illuminating video footage service.

Special thanks to tonight’s musicians: Mark Janas, Jonathan Kantor, Matthew Martin Ward, and Richard Eisenberg!

Ongoing Shows:

Monday nights (7pm): Opera Open Mic at Shangai Mong with Mark Janas and Matthew Martin Ward, 30 West 32nd Street, NYC. www.shanghaimongnyc.com

Monday nights (6pm-10pm): Andy Prescott is a singer and pianist at Bowman's Tavern in New Hope. bowmanstavernrestaurant.com

Monday nights (6:30pm)The Metropolitan Room's 9th Annual MetroStar Challenge begins for seven Mondays in a row, and who knows...one of our Salon regulars may win! The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd St., NYC.

Upcoming Shows:

Wednesday, July 20, 2016 (7pm): Marnie Klar in "Tuned In" (directed by Tanya Moberly) at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly brings "Tanya Moberly Sings the Blues with Ian" to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, August 12, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly brings "Tanya Moberly Sings the Blues with Ian" to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Monday, August 15, 2016 (7pm): Gregory Harrell in "Lovers and Other Killers" (directed by Tanya Moberly with Music Direction by Rick Jensen) at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly brings "Tanya Moberly Sings Amy, Ani, Ricki, Joni with Ritt" to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Saturday, September 10, 2016 (7pm): Marquee Five (featuring Sierra Rein) in the NYC debut of "Back Porch Swing" at The Laurie Beechman Theater, 407 West 42nd Street / Downstairs at the West Bank Cafe, NYC. 

Monday, September 12, 2016 (7pm): Bobbie Horowitz presents "It's Just a Number" at The Metropolitan Room, 34 W 22nd St, NYC.

Friday, September 16, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly brings "Tanya Moberly Sings Amy, Ani, Ricki, Joni with Ritt" to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Saturday, September 24, 2016 (4pm): Deborah Stone in a soon-to-be-titled at The Metropolitan Room, 34 W 22nd St, NYC.

Sunday, September 25, 2016: Mark Cummings in "extraORDINARY" at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 West 42nd Street / Downstairs at the West Bank Cafe, NYC.

Friday, September 30, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly brings "Tanya Moberly Sings Amy, Ani, Ricki, Joni with Ritt" to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016 (8pm):  Kathleen France gets you ready for the Columbus Day weekend with her one night only tribute to Italian-American singers, "La Bella Vita" with Ian Herman conducting the 8-piece band, and Tanya Moberly directing, at Iridium Jazz Club, 1650 Broadway, NYC.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly brings "Tanya Moberly Sings Amy, Ani, Ricki, Joni with Ritt" to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Saturday, October 8th, 2016 (2pm): Michael Colby opens the American Popular Song Society at The Musicians' Hall, 322 West 48th Street, NYC.

Friday, October 14, 2016 (7pm): Sally Darling in "Totally Noel" with Matthew Martin Ward, at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Sunday, October 16, 2016 (5pm): Sally Darling in "Totally Noel" with Matthew Martin Ward, at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016: Maureen Taylor and others at the Cabaret Convention (Sondheim Night).

Thursday, October 20, 2016 (9pm):  Dan Ruth brings his original play "A Life Behind Bars" to the United Solo Festival on Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, NYC.  (Directed by Tanya Moberly)

October TBD, 2016: Barb Malley, Matthew Martin Ward, Sally Darling in "OMG!! Am I a Diva?" at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 West 42nd Street / Downstairs at the West Bank Cafe, NYC.

Sunday, October 30, 2016: Michael Colby's all-star Birthday Benefit party at The Triad, 158 West 72nd Street, NYC.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly brings "Tanya Moberly Sings Loggins with Watkins" to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016 (7pm): Lisa Viggiano in "Night in the City" at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 West 42nd Street / Downstairs at the West Bank Cafe, NYC.

Friday, November 11, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly brings "Tanya Moberly Sings Loggins with Watkins" to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, November 11, 2016: Lisa Viggiano in "Night in the City" at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly brings "Tanya Moberly Sings Loggins with Watkins" to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, December 9, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly brings "Tanya Moberly Sings Loggins with Watkins" to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.


NEXT SALON, Sunday July 24th, 2016:
After an incredibly relaxing week of "Love Songs and Lullabies" with Co-Hosts Eva and Jonathan Kantor, we move on to next weeks "DejaVu" with Co-Host Josephine Sanges and featured Salon Spotlight, Mommie Deadest!  And next week we move on to "DejaVu" with Co-Host Josephine Sanges and featured Salon Spotlight, Mommie Deadest...wait a sec, didn't I hear that somewhere before?


Kathleen France

Blogette for the Salon

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