By Michael Barbieri**** C’mon and hear! C’mon and hear the music of Irving Berlin. And Jerome Kern! And Hoagie Carmichael! And Jimmy Van Heusen! Peter and Will Anderson’s fantastic Songbook Summit series at Symphony Space pays tribute to these four great composers who’ve left indelible marks on American popular music. At first, the evening felt like it was going to be more lecture than performance, but it turned out to be the most entertaining, fascinating, toe-tapping “lecture” I’ve ever attended!
The Anderson brothers are identical twin jazz multi-instrumentalists—primarily saxophonists and clarinetists, as well as composers and arrangers. Born in Washington DC, they moved to New York to study at Juilliard. They’ve performed with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Village Vanguard Orchestra and Jimmy Heath’s Big Band, among others. They’ve appeared at renowned venues including The Blue Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Feinstein’s/54 Below; they’ve performed in over 40 U.S. states and they’ve toured Japan. They’re featured on the Grammy Award-winning soundtrack of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and Vanity Fair magazine called their debut recording, Correspondence, one of “Four New Releases to Make You Love Jazz.”
When I was asked to review the Anderson’s show, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew it would be mostly instrumental jazz and that this particular performance would cover the music of Irving Berlin, one of my favorite composers, but that’s about it.
The performance began with “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” Berlin’s first major hit from 1911. It was a fun, welcoming opener, with both brothers on clarinet—switching to Peter on soprano sax and Will on clarinet—backed ably by Steve Ash on piano, Neil Minor on bass and Phil Stewart on drums. The overall sound was warm, bright and beautifully balanced. That was followed by “Cheek to Cheek,” written for the Astaire/Rogers film Top Hat, this time with the brothers on clarinet (Will) and tenor sax (Peter).
Throughout the evening, there were wonderful videos projected on a screen downstage left. The first break included clips of famous stars performing Berlin melodies—from a young Frank Sinatra, to Ethel Merman and Miss Piggy on “The Muppet Show” and even Bugs Bunny singing “Any Bonds Today?” Will Anderson provided us with interesting background information about Berlin’s life, as well. We learned, among other things, that Berlin—born Israel Beilin, in Imperial Russia—arrived in the U.S. at the age of 5. Although he didn’t speak English originally, and only achieved a 6th grade education, he became one of the greatest songwriters in American history, with some 1,500 songs to his credit. Ironically, when his first piece of sheet music was published, his surname was misspelled as Berlin. He actually liked the typo, as he felt it sounded more American, and adopted it as his stage name.
The Andersons were joined by vocalist Molly Ryan, who along with Peter on tenor sax and Will on alto sax, gave us a lovely rendition of “Blue Skies,” Berlin’s last-minute addition to Rodgers and Hart’s musical Betsy. Her sound was perfect for the material; it was evocative of a big band girl singer of the 1930s, especially on her second number, “Isn’t This a Lovely Day (To Be Caught in the Rain).” With “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” however, the room’s sound seemed a bit off, and she was occasionally overpowered by the musicians, with her mic sounding a bit tinny.
There was a beautiful solo moment for Peter, on clarinet, who gave us the sweet, sorrowful “What’ll I Do,” accompanied only by the piano. And after learning how Berlin, who wrote the songs for most of the best-known Astaire/Rogers films, became lifelong friends with Fred Astaire, we heard “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” from Follow the Fleet. On this number, the band’s sound was bright and full, with a hot clarinet giving the song a bit of a Dixieland jazz feel.
Other highlights included “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” from Annie Get Your Gun—featuring another splendid vocal from Ms. Ryan, a swinging version of “Puttin’ On the Ritz,” with the brothers creating perfect harmony on soprano sax (Peter) and clarinet (Will), and more amazing videos of artists like Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole, all of whom had recorded Berlin’s songs. There were also rare clips of Berlin himself, performing some of his best-known songs, including a moving appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968, singing “God Bless America!”
After acknowledging Peter Anderson’s masterful arrangements and introducing the band, the brothers welcomed back Molly Ryan, who launched into one of Berlin’s most playful hits, “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better).” The song began with a verse I’d never heard before. The clever lyric: “I’m superior, you’re inferior. I’m the big attraction, you’re the small…” was a perfect set up for the competitive refrain, and I was delighted they included it. Additionally, there was some fun interaction between Ryan and the Andersons; when she’d sing “Yes I can…” they’d toot back the “no you can’t” phrase with their horns. They were all clearly enjoying themselves and the feeling was infectious!
Now, I have to make an admission: I’ve never been fond of jazz. I was afraid this wouldn’t be the right show for me to review, but as it turned out, those fears were unfounded. I had an absolutely wonderful time! The music was timeless and classic, the arrangements were varied and never overblown, and I found myself smiling, tapping my foot and bobbing my head along with most of the songs. Peter and Will Anderson are phenomenal musicians and they put on a hell of a show. Not a lecture…A SHOW!
(Editor’s note: the Irving Berlin shows have ended, but you can still catch their tributes to Jerome Kern (Aug. 14-19), Hoagie Carmichael (Aug. 21-26) and Jimmy Van Heusen (Aug. 28-Sept. 2). For more information, go to www.symphonyspace.org or www.peterandwilliamanderson.com
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