By Marilyn Lester***Vocalist and soprano sax-master, Danny Bacher, is one of those performers who truly loves what he does, and it shows in his every performance. Versatile and multi-talented, this outing at Pangea as as part of the Spring Swing Jazz Series, featured the Danny Bacher Quartet: Steve Myerson on piano, Dean Johnson, upright bass and Alvester Garnett, drums—musicians at the top of their game. The cumulative effect was an evening of great music wrapped in a terrific bundle of joy. And it didn’t hurt an iota that Bacher was played onto the stage by Duke Ellington’s uptempo, inherently cheerful toe-tapper, “C-Jam Blues”—a great tone-setter.
Bacher self-identifies as an entertainer—and that he is. The description befits one who is equally skilled at playing an instrument, singing, humor (with classic jokes living side-by-side with quips and ad-libs) and storytelling. He accomplishes the latter through the music and in his ability as a raconteur. The essence of Bacher can be summed up in one of his own compositions, “In Spite of All This (I’m Still Happy.)” That happiness is authentic; it spills into the room, permeates it and is a great take-away when the show ends. Yep, he’s a feel-good kind of guy and…entertainer.
Jazz is Bacher’s metier, and to prove it, his arrangements are not only creative, but he can scat up a storm too, which he’s wont to do in any given tune for a few bars before returning to the lyric; likewise, he might blow a couple of bars in between vocalizing, as well as to put a musical button on a tune. Bacher is also an 
ace at vocalese, a genre not easily mastered. Vocalese is essentially being able to sing a lyric as a musical note. Many vocalese tunes derive from lyrics being added to a jazz standard much later than the original was composed, such as Jon Hendrick’s story about rabbits set to Duke Ellington’s “Cottontail.” Bacher flawlessly executed “Audubon’s New Bluebird,” featuring the late Bob Dorough’s words applied to Charlie Parker’s composition “Bluebird.”
Another benefit of Bacher’s set was the addition of many lesser known standards along with numbers that once populated Top-40 charts, such as “On the Street Where You Live” (Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner), with a lovely a cappella lead-in, and “How About You” (Burton Lane, Ralph Freed). A treat was the Bacher version of that jazzy standard “Hooray for Hollywood.” Some years ago with the blessing of the family of composer Richard Whiting, Bacher gave Johnny Mercer’s original lyrics a run for the money with clever updates to modern times. The uptempo, with a hint of a Latin beat, was joyous and brought plenty of smiles to appreciative faces.
Another Mercer tune was “At the Jazz Band Ball,” composed in 1917 by Nick LaRocca and Larry Shields. The tune became a vocalese number in 1950 when Mercer added lyrics. 
With a tweak from Bacher, the resulting song, heretofore much identified with Bobby Short, was another delight. With many of the set’s numbers in uptempo, a balladic presentation of “P.S. I Love You” (Gordon Jenkins, Johnny Mercer, 1934—not the Beatles song) was a lovely change of pace. Of, course, there was plenty more to love about the set, but on the last tune, “Just A Gigolo,” the audience was primed to sing along. The original was written by Leonello Casucci and Julius Brammer in 1924 as an Austrian tango, “Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo.” Lyricist Irving Caesar adapted the tune into English in 1929. Then, in 1956, Louis Prima paired the tune with “I Ain’t Got Nobody” (Spencer Williams, Roger A. Graham), pushing this number into the spotlight. Prima’s is the version we most know today—until Danny Bacher’s, of course.
Photos by Marilyn Lester
