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If you weren’t lucky enough to catch Shoshana Bean at Encores! last year, remedy it NOW. You’ll be so glad you did. This woman is a powerhouse and 'Just One Step' from Jason Robert Brown’s Songs For A New World is the perfect vehicle for her unbounded,...
This recording of Jessye Norman singing ‘Afterthoughts’ with Michel Legrand at the piano is remarkable. I love it—the tone of her, the risk-taking, the musical chemistry between them both and the journey they take us on. What a gift they left us… Composer: Gene de...
I do love a good rhyme. Maybe this was my gateway drug… My brother and I watched the Marx Brothers a lot when we were kids and At The Circus was one of our favorites. Here’s Groucho singing ‘Lydia, the Tattooed Lady’. (I mean, let’s talk about the...
Just listen to how Bobby Short sings Cole Porter’s ‘I’m In Love Again’! It’s perfection. I am addicted to rough edges around a beautiful voice: that little bit of grit, the almost-growl, the ability to sense the breath in the sound. And pretty much any recording of...
I could listen to Jacques Brel all day every day: that fast vibrato, that tone, that uvular R... He’s one of my favorite performers—always fully committed and without any barrier to the story he’s telling. I find him electrifying to listen to. ‘Madeleine’ is a...
Listen to how Ann Murray slims that fabulous instrument of hers down to its shining kernel! This is a stunning performance by two fearless, genuine artists. I chose this song because I have learned from my husband that even in the most trying and desperate of times,...