The Musicality of Kander and Ebb

Album review

The British JAY Records label has made a specialty out of recording studio cast versions of the scores of Broadway musicals; it has also put out some actual original cast recordings of shows produced on Broadway and in the West End. With that catalog, the label is able to spin off various artists compilations, including its MUSICality series devoted to collections of the works of particular songwriters. The volume devoted to the team of John Kander and Fred Ebb is able to drawn on JAY's possession of the original Broadway cast album for The Act, featuring Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera ("The Apple Doesn't Fall") and the original London cast album for 70, Girls, 70 ("Boom Ditty Boom" by Dora Bryan). Otherwise, these are versions of Kander/Ebb songs by contemporary stage performers, especially ones working steadily in the West End. The compilers seem to have tried to include something from most of the songwriters' shows and films, as well as unavoidable standards like the title songs from Cabaret and New York, New York. The choices can be a bit odd, as, for instance, the inclusion of "Nowadays" (by Caroline O'Connor) from Chicago rather than "All That Jazz," but this may be a reflection of what recordings happened to reside in the vault. Inevitably overshadowing all is Minnelli, for whom Kander and Ebb have written throughout her career, both for her legitimate stage appearances and her nightclub work, and such usurpers as Kim Criswell ("But the World Goes Round" from New York, New York), Susan Egan ("Maybe This Time"), and even tenor Sean McDermott ("New York, New York") seem to be channeling her in their performances here. There is more to Kander and Ebb than can be appreciated on what is really a representative sampling of their work rather than their best work, but there are still some excellent versions of some very good songs here.

© William Ruhlmann /TiVo