Sophisticated singer-pianist Steve Ross, dubbed The Crown Prince of Cabaret, was born “forty-five minutes from Broadway” in New Rochelle, NY, and raised in Washington, DC by an opera-loving father and piano-playing mother who played the songs of Gershwin, Porter and Irving Berlin. After graduating from 
Georgetown University, and a stint in the Army, Ross began playing piano professionally in DC. Relocating to New York City in the 1970s, his first major job as a successful singer-pianist was at the legendary Ted Hook’s Backstage. From there, Ross zoomed to international success in his chosen craft.
In 1981 he re-opened the legendary Oak Room at the Hotel Algonquin where he held forth regularly until the room closed for good in 2012. He’s performed in a host of celebrated venues worldwide, including the Ritz Hotels in London and Paris and the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. Ross appeared in Broadway’s Present Laughter and Off Broadway and on tour with I Won’t Dance. His list of awards includes Lifetime Achievement (National Arts Club), Manhattan NiteLife Award and Manhattan Association of Cabarets Lifetime Achievement Award. Ross has also given master classes and lectures worldwide (and currently at his home in New York). For his many more accomplishments, visit steveross.net
Ross appears this Monday, February 19 at Birdland Jazz (7 PM) with Moonlight and Love Songs: Steve Ross Sings Romance, celebrating ballads of love, loss and hope from the Great American S
ongbook. Expect timeless standards by Jerome Kern, Dietz & Schwartz, the Gershwins, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter., as well as modern classics by Barry Manilow, Leonard Cohen and Billy Joel. For ticketing information, click here.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Steve Ross (SR) Six Questions:
NLE: As a vocal coach/teacher/educator, what’s the most important take-away that you want your students to learn? (You can read about a Ross Master Class here.)
SR: That they are enough. That there’s more than one way to sing a song—and whatever exercises we undertake (role-playing, key, tempo and genre changes) the singer learns that they can indeed make the song a personal expression of deep feelings as well as giving the audience the great gift a laughter. The communication and support, as well as the non-judgemental security of performing in my living room, seems to make everybody happier, especially the teacher.
NLE: Per the popular BBC program “Desert Island Discs,” which asks: eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? What would you answer?
SR: Mabel Mercer singing “Memories,” Leontyne Price singing “Marietta’s Lied” from Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, Simon Gallagher singing “Is there not one maiden breast from G&S’ Pirates of Penzance, Bessie Smith singing “Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer,” Fabio Foglio singing “Atarsese” (Vinci), “Mary Jane” (Jerry Herman) from Miss Spectacular, Tom Jobim’s “Insensatez” and the Adagio from Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major performed by Hélène Grimaud.
NLE: Over the course of your career in NYC, you’ve seen many cabaret rooms shut their doors and fade into history. Which were your especial favorites of the long ago? Is there one closing in particular that was the most painful of all?
SR: I would have to say (for both a favorite and the most painful) the Oak Room in the Hotel Algonquin. Just walking through that fabled lobby put you in the mood for the great songs from the 1930s that I was lucky enough to perform there.
NLE: We imagine there isn’t a popular piano style you can’t play. How are your stride chops? What’s your feeling of this genre?
SR: I’m not a jazzer–although it’s a genre I love and marvel at. I began my career playing ragtime and that led to some stride It’s dazzling fun to listen to!
NLE: As a young man, before your stellar career as a performer, you were briefly in a seminary and then served in the US Army. How did those experiences inform the man you became and the career you forged?
SR: I was able to make music in both of those circumstances. I played the organ in the seminary and played in Army shows. There are no particular long-term effects that I can pinpoint in the many ensuing years except perhaps for the fact that I learned early on that both Bach AND Barrel-House were both able to entertain—and that’s my job whenever and wherever I’m performing for an audience.
NLE: During the early days of your career you weren’t a singer, but you were encouraged to become one. If you hadn’t followed that advice, where do you think your career would have taken you?
SR: Hmmm…I honestly don’t think I would have had the career I’ve had without singing. I’m a good pianist but not with a recognizable only-one-of-me style that vocalism can affect. And piano soloing, for me, wouldn’t have been nearly as rewarding or fulfilling—or as much fun!
