By Bart Greenberg***Vocalist couple Eric Comstock, also a pianist, and Barbara Fasano performed to a sell-out crowd at Birdland Jazz to celebrate their new album, Painting the Town, and their twentieth wedding anniversary. Both occasions 
were a true reason to celebrate. The album and the show featured the same songs, though in a different order, with the same satisfying mix of solos and duets. Officially this is the couple’s first joint album, though they have been doing “guest starring” duties on each others’ recordings for quite a while, and Painting the Town is a fine example of their interplay. Seeing them live had the added advantage of watching them connecting in front of our eyes as a couple: teasing, flirting, laughing, admiring and loving. With their musical gifts on full display, their personalities were the extra ingredient that brought their audience joy.
Their opening number, “Broadway” (McRae, Bird, Wood) was a joyous way to kick off the evening, played with intricate rhythms and quick appearances of various familiar melodies. It was also a great way of involving their traditional musical accomplice, bassist Sean Smith, along with drummer Vito Lesc
zak and their very special guest star, the legendary tenor saxophonist Houston Person. Moving on for pure and quiet power, there was their duet of “Blue Skies” (Berlin), filled with longing, and a highly erotic and mesmerizing “I Cannot Hear the City” (Hamlisch, Carnelia), where Fasano joined Comstock on the piano bench for a very intimate moment.
Fasano delivered some delightful solos, such as the charming “S’Posin’” (Denniker, Razaf) and “Little What If” (Coleman, Leigh), the latter of which led into Comstock’s surprisingly blue-ish “Just One of Those Things” (Porter). These numbers showed off both performers depth of interpretative powers with classic material, as did the lady’s delivery of Rick Jensen’s arrangement of “In the Still of the Night” (Porter), poignant and magical in its simplicity. The pair also demonstrated their command of more contemporary material, such as Joni Mitchell’s “Marcie” (another fine solo for Fasano) and Paul Simon’s “Old Friends” (introduced with a
great story about the fine synchrony of the composer being in the adjoining recording studio and excitedly coaching them on his work).
A medley of “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” (King,Goffin) and “I Want to Talk About You” (Eckstine) provided not just a vehicle for Comstock’s vocalization but a great showcase for the fine musicians on stage as they traded off on solos. “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (McHugh, Fields) also spotlighted the magic of Person, who seemed to enjoy the moment as much as the audience, as did the doting singers with their generosity—a grace that suffused the entire evening. Comstock and Fasano seem to up their game with every new project, and their faithful audience can only look forward to the next installment.
