THE ROAD TO DIZZY’S
(DETOUR: PALM SPRINGS, COCKTAILS & SINATRA)

If you’ll allow some wild exaggeration about the Great American Songbook, let’s say that “All roads lead to Jimmy Van Heusen.” The work of that composer (1913-1990), the focus of the August 3 installment of the series called Songbook Sundays at Dizzy’s, includes melodies created to be heard in shows on that great road named Broadway. The title song from one, Walking Happy, began the program in a happy manner with Billy Stritch’s flair on the vocal and piano. The words were written by one of Van Heusen’s two main collaborators, Sammy Cahn, who presented his oeuvre on Broadway, in Words and Music many moons ago, with a few of his collaborations with Jimmy and a few singers. The standby in the company, near the start of her career, was Christine Andreas – one of the vocalists for the tribute at Dizzy’s. Her very effective Cahn/Van Heusen solos this night were the ardent “All My Tomorrows” and the jaunty “Come Blow Your Horn,” both written for/introduced by Jimmy’s BFF, a guy whose home on 1148 East Alejo Road in Palm Springs, California was just down the road a piece. Yes, this road quite literally led to Jimmy Van Heusen. The singing neighbor was a guy named Frank Sinatra.

CHRISTINE ANDREAS

If all roads lead to Van Heusen, it’s partially due to the scores he and his other major writing partner, Johnny Burke, wrote for the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope “Road” movies, such as The Road to Rio. From that film came “But Beautiful,” and the Songbook Sundays audience got to hear a rich rendition by vocalist Gabrielle Stravelli. There was a Broadway revue of songs with Burke’s lyrics that had two dozen Burke/Van Heusen items, six of which were heard in the August set. That revue was called Swinging on a Star, with the same-titled tune in its program and at Dizzy’s where it was a swinging solo for a new star (who was not yet born when that Burke revue opened in New York in 1995), David Marino. A few words about this young fellow before we move on… Those words are, in alphabetical order: Accomplished; Bubbly; Charismatic; Dynamic; Endearing; Felicific; Good.

BILLY STRITCH & DEBORAH GRACE WINER

Yes, all roads lead to Van Heusen, even when he was writing under a pseudonym somewhere along the way and lyricist Sammy Gallop began “Somewhere Along the Way” with the mention of a road: “I used to walk with you./ Along the avenue./ Our hearts were carefree and gay.”  OK, so maybe it was a wide avenue, and not a road, but let’s not be picky. But it was paved with palpable emotion, courtesy of Mr. Stritch, also the music director. He was joined by Jarien Jamanila on saxophone, Mark McLean on drums, and Caylen Bryant on bass. In some recent programs in the series, the band du jour got its own big showcase – a good idea. (An opening number, in the tradition of a theatre overture, might be even better, since all the composers were prolific – so there’s plenty to choose from). This time, instead, the musicians took a long, long, long instrumental during Miss Stravelli’s first assignment, “I Thought About You” (lyric: Johnny Mercer). It was almost surprising when she actually came back for a final swath of pleasing vocals.

BILLY STRITCH, CHRISTINE ANDREAS, GABRIELLE STRAVELLI, DAVID MARINO

The actual road Jimmy Van Heusen lived on was close to the domicile of his good friend, for whom he composed dozens of songs – a guy named Frank Sinatra. The series’ host/curator, Deborah Grace Winer, who has logged many miles along the Great American Songbook’s main road, Memory Lane, leading her to Jimmy Van Heusen on her latest stop, offered interesting pieces of information about the composer. These included tales of his early schooldays (not a model student), a start in the music biz as a teenaged radio host in his home town of Syracuse in upstate New York, his pursuit of feminine company and male bonding and boozing with Sinatra, a disappointing run for his first project as a Broadway composer (13 performances) for Swingin’ the Dream, based on an old play by a long-dead writer (a fellow named William Shakespeare). The next attempt, Nellie Bly, ran longer (16 performances). And then there was Carnival in Flanders, with a grand total of 6 performances. Her stories about the composer’s interest in flying (his own plane and for the armed forces) led to the finale, with all the singers chiming in with bonhomie on “Come Fly with Me.”

BILLY STRITCH, GABRIELLE STRAVELLI, JARIEN JAMINILA

Of course, the majority of roads do not really lead to the same composer, but the road trips with Miss Winer as tour guide lead to good things. Come autumn, Songbook Sundays will return for two sets on October 5 with a Leonard Bernstein program. Karen Ziemba and Margo Seibert have already been booked as the vocalists and Tedd Firth will be the pianist & music director.

photos by Stephen Sorokoff

Songbook Sundays
Come Fly with Jimmy Van Heusen
reviewed August 3 at 7:30
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, Columbus Circle at 60th and Broadway, fifth floor
for tickets to future shows ($25-$50 + $21 food/drink minimum), visit Jazz / Dizzy’s