By Andrew Poretz***Writer, dramatist and concert/revue creator Deborah Grace Winer continued her popular Songbook Sundays series at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club with Just in Time for Jule Styne, a tribute to the legendary songwriter and composer.
Styne, whose prolific output from the 1920s through the 1970s includes dozens of standards that are yet frequently-performed, including material written for movies and Broadway. He is perhaps best remembered for the scores of such shows as Gypsy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Funny Girl. He collaborated with lyricists including Sammy Cahn, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and Stephen Sondheim. (Only the lyricists are mentioned for all songs herein.)
Winer interspersed Styne’s history and interesting anecdotes with a rotation of jazz vocalist La Tanya Hall, Broadway singer Matthew Scott and rising jazz artist Kate Kortum, backed by pianist-musical director Jon Weber, with alto saxophonist Erena Terakubo, double bassist Jason Clotter and drummer Cameron MacIntosh. (Note: jazz always seems a bit elevated at Dizzy’s, one of the most beautiful New York nightclubs, with a quintessential, old-school elegance and vibe. Notably, Dizzy’s Steinway grand has been replaced with a Yamaha since my last visit. To this writer’s ears, it is a bit of a downgrade.)
After an enlightening introduction, Winer introduced Hall for a gently swinging arrangement of 
“Never Neverland” from Peter Pan (Comden and Green). Hall was also outstanding on “I Fall In Love Too Easily” (Sammy Cahn), a song written for Frank Sinatra for the film Anchors Aweigh. This gorgeous though notoriously short torch song has no bridge, but Hall sang the obscure verse, emitted from the movie and on Sinatra’s recording. Singing the tune through as a ballad, she then swung it, evoking Sarah Vaughn in the back half of the number.
Kortum sang the presentation’s title song, “Just in Time” (Comden and Green). With solid vocal chops, Kortum took a serpentine approach to her singing, effortlessly weaving through phrases, scatting a “call and response” with the sax, bass and drums, and occasionally laying back on the beat. She also displayed quite a breadth of jazz vocal techniques. The set’s highlight was Kortum’s spectacular rendition of “People” (Bob Merrill) from Funny Girl. The arrangement, with only Weber’s delicate and perfect accompaniment, was decidedly not a knockoff of the Barbra Streisand version. Keep an eye out for her.
Scott, a performer with a sweet tenor but lacking charisma, took on the emotional ballad “I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry” (Sammy Cahn). While he has a certain appeal, his
delivery was largely devoid of emotional connection. Scott’s best number of the set was “Time After Time” (Sammy Cahn), another Sinatra movie song (It Happened in Brooklyn), performed with its obscure verse. The ballad swung after the break, allowing Scott to stretch into more effective form.
Winer gave the quartet the spotlight with an excellent musical feature of “I Met a Girl” from Bells Are Ringing. Drummer Macintosh began the tune off with an extended solo, while Terakubo then led the melody on alto. All hands were on deck for the finale of “Together (Wherever We Go)” (Stephen Sondheim) from Gypsy, with solos by each musician.
Winer consistently presents an entertaining and well-rounded show for this series. There could easily be several more editions dedicated to Jule Styne.
Photos by Andrew Poretz
