By Marilyn Lester***It started in 2011 at The Ansonia Hotel; home-schooling mom, pianist Renée Guerrero organized a series of Soirees as musical education and participation for the moms to bond. From there the Soirees grew and expanded. In this 2024 edition at Don’t Tell Mama (after a hiatus), Guerrero and her grown children, jazz pianist-singer Quintin Harris and cabaret artist, Artemisia LeFay, welcomed friends and family to the cabaret room for a swell musical party celebrating the season and Guerrero’s birthday.
Harris and his trio: bassist Steve Doyle and drummer Daniel Glass, opened with a swinging “Christmas Time Is Here/O Tannenbaum” before handing over the mic to vocalist Ed Patterson who performed “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and later, “It Was Almost Like a Song.” Harris also performed with the trio, “White Christmas” and “After the Holidays,” while sister, LeFay ,offered “Le Noel de la Rue” and “By Strauss.” Mama Guerrero played a lush, lyrical, Gershwin-arranged “The Man I Love” and with violinist Julie Kurtzman, “Milonga del Angel.” In-house stalwart Sidney Myer offered a sly “Santa Baby” and tech maven Kelly Wohlford sang “We Need a Little Christmas.”
Also appearing were Ayun Halliday and Greg Kotis with an original, Beth Naji (“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”), Andrew Poretz (“I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm”), Mary Beth Soucy (“The Christmas Waltz”) and Conor Weiss (“Hope”).
Photos by Conor Weiss
