Review: Carolyn Montgomery Lovingly Honors Rosemary Clooney in GIRLSINGER at Birdland

There is no greater tradition in cabaret than the tribute show. Singers love nothing more than to pay homage to their musical influences by presenting a string of their biggest hits. Almost invariably, these songs are accompanied by some banter composed of dry facts about the star’s life and career. I call them “and then she recorded” shows.

I was very pleasantly surprised last week to see Carolyn Montgomery’s show, girlSINGER, dedicated to the life and work of revered band singer Rosemary Clooney. While it is a tribute show in which Montgomery does, in fact, sing the catalog of Clooney’s biggest hits, she and her director, cabaret veteran Sally Mayes, have avoided the trap of making the show a fact-filled TED Talk with musical interludes. At every turn, Montgomery plays up the fact that she and Clooney are in many ways sisters in a parallel universe. Both women are dextrous, rich-voiced, blond crooners who find joy in the work they do while having less success in their unconventional love lives.

Rosemary Clooney was one of the most prolific band singers of the post-war era with a career that spanned more than fifty years. She recorded for Columbia, CBS Records, MGM Records, Coral Records, RCA Victor, Reprise Records, Dot Records, and United Artist Records over the years. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for an episode of ER in which she appeared with her nephew George Clooney. She won a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2002. She was married and divorced twice from actor José Ferrer. And she will be forever remembered for her appearance in the classic White Christmas alongside Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Vera Ellen. She was the author of two autobiographies in which her frankness about her struggles with drug addiction and bipolar disorder helped thousands of others through similar situations. She recorded until her death in 2002.

Carolyn Montgomery, who is the executive director of The American Songbook Association, knows her way around a jazz standard. She has been singing in clubs and cabarets since the '90s. Her voice, though not as velvety as Clooney’s, is nonetheless full-bodied and capable of great agility. She is a first-class storyteller and has a sense of humor that is most generally aimed at herself. She is very forthcoming with stories about her fluid sexuality and her less-than-satisfying marriage. She also is very illuminating about what it is to be a woman in the entertainment business and how it is often necessary to sublimate one’s own personality to climb up the male-dominated show business ladder. In short, she has a great deal of insight into the life of Rosemary Clooney.

She also treats Clooney’s hits with a good deal of respect. Without ever attempting to impersonate, she puts her own spin on some Clooney classics like “Fancy Meeting You Here,” “I Can’t Get Started With You,” “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” "Love You Didn’t Do Right By Me,” “Hey There,” ’Nice and Easy Does It,” “The Second Time Around,” and “Still Crazy After All These Years.” A highlight of the evening was a medley of tunes in which Ms. Clooney donned a faux-Italian accent. Some of her biggest hits were of this variety including “Come-On-A-My House,” “Botch-A-Me,” “Sway,” and “Mambo Italiano.” She was also captivating in her rendition of “Tenderly” in which she detailed the abusive marriage of Clooney and José Ferrer.

Carolyn Montgomery was supported by some of the finest musicians in NY. Music director Tedd Firth brought his usual virtuosic brilliance to the proceedings. Jonathan Kantor on saxophone, Warren Vasche on Trumpet, Sherrie Maricle on drums, and Matt Ssharfglass on bass all had prominent moments to shine. And shine they did. Sally Mayes’ presence was felt although she never appeared onstage. Her direction gave the evening a very clear structure. Her lightness of touch never let the serious moments become ponderous.

I hope in future outings of this show, Montgomery and Mayes will fill Montgomery’s stories out with as much detail as Clooney’s. As is often the case with these tribute shows, I find myself less interested in the honoree and more interested in the person doing the honoring. As honest and forthcoming as Carolyn Montgomery is as a performer, I wanted to know more about her and why specifically  Rosemary Clooney was so important to her. Those stories are in her. They were hinted at here. I hope I will someday hear them in full.

For more information about Carolyn Montgomery and The American Songbook Association, follow her @carolynmontgoesthere on Instagram or americansongbookassociation.org.

For other great acts at Birdland, please go to birdlandjazz.com.

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