Barbara Fasano celebrated the release of her new CD, "Busy Being Free," at the Metropolitan Room with the disc's arranger and music director, John di Martino, on piano. While the title comes from an early Joni Mitchell song, "Cactus Tree," the repertoire is primarily from the Great American Songbook and includes both familiar warhorses and rare gems.
The recording features a sextet led by di Martino, including Warren Vaché on cornet, Aaron Heick on sax and flute, Paul Meyers on guitar, Boris Kozlov on bass, and Vince Cherico on percussion. The arrangements tend to be on the light and airy side and beautifully support Fasano's lovely voice. This works well a lot of the time, but songs like "Where or When" (Rodgers & Hart), "Roundabout" (Vernon Duke, Ogden Nash), and "Photographs" (Alec Wilder, Fran Landesman) might have benefited from a bit more gravitas.
Conversely, Nellie Lutcher's lascivious classic "Hurry On Down" needs a brighter, bluesier, more risqué take than the straightforward one we get. The song selection is generally good, with a few questionable choices, especially considering the subtle theme of love and loss and hesitant commitment that flows through the CD. Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" is the chief culprit here; while musically it is well done, its dated lyrics have been done to death, although I do appreciate that Fasano and company do not camp it up as some others have.
Singing with Meyer's sensitive guitar, she makes an eloquent argument for including Jimmy Webb's gorgeous "Time Flies" in any current "edition" of the American Songbook. Her work here, and on "Cactus Tree", makes me wish that she had included a few more songs of recent vintage. Rodgers and Hammerstein's "If I Loved You" loses its usual stentorian presentation and becomes a thoughtful meditation on the fear of commitment and rejection.
The Metropolitan Room show opened with "It Never Was You" (Kurt Weill, Maxwell Anderson) but it didn't quite work because Fasano chose to direct it out to the audience rather than make it an intimate confession. Every time she got to the "you" her arms stretched out to the whole room—a welcoming gesture to be sure, but at the cost of the emotional power of the piece.
Introducing di Martino, she said that she would take advantage of the solo piano accompaniment to dig deeper into the songs than she had been able to do on the recording. The evening's strongest moments occurred when she stayed true to this intent. "If I Loved You" became even more moving in this stark setting, with a vitality it rarely has. Carolyn Leigh's lyrics for "How Little We Know" (music by Philip Springer) took flight with Fasano's gently insinuating swing, and the song was a delight, especially freed from the embarrassingly kitschy "smooching" sounds that end the CD track. The singer was at her considerable best on "Remind Me" (Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields) giving what, for my money, is a definitive take on the song. She got every wry moment in it, and made the song her own. If she had applied this same attention to the lyrics of "Roundabout" and "Photographs," they would surely have been standouts as well.
Di Martino's playing matched his inventive arrangements and he offered stellar support throughout the show, but he made faces while he played. This irritating habit rose to the level of distraction on too many occasions. Also distracting was the singer's "over-gesturing" (if that's not a word, it should be). Every time she sang "round" or "circle" or a similar word or phrase, she would make circles with her hands, and if "stars" showed up, she would point at the sky, or with "heart" she would pat her chest. This game of charades is not something I would have expected from such an accomplished and engaging artist. These elements of the show are an easy fix, which would allow her full, impressive talent to shine through.
"The Intimate 'Busy Being Free' in Concert"
Metropolitan Room – January 11, February 25
