Jeff Harnar to Celebrate New Album With Summer Concerts in LA and More
The dates include Vibrato Grill Jazz in Los Angeles, CA (Tuesday, July 22), and more.
Jeff Harnar will celebrate his latest album Jeff Harnar Sings Sammy Cahn: The Second Time Around – the acclaimed tribute to legendary Academy Award-winning lyricist – with a string of major concerts this summer. The dates include Vibrato Grill Jazz in Los Angeles, CA (Tuesday, July 22), Coachella Valley Repertory in Cathedral City, CA (Thursday, July 24), Hey Nonny in Arlington Heights, IL (Wednesday, August 6), and Blue Strawberry in St. Louis, MO (Friday, August 8). Harnar will be joined by music director Alex Rybeck in this special evening directed by Barry Kleinbort.
For Jeff Harnar Sings Sammy Cahn: The Second Time Around, Harnar revisits his 2001 Sammy Cahn recording, long out-of-print: the original album has been remixed, reimagined and expanded upon, reflecting both Harnar’s desire to widen his perspective on the lauded lyricist’s work – new tracks feature guest appearances by Grammy Award nominee Clint Holmes, the acclaimed vocal trio MOIPEI and Nicole Zuraitis – and his own growth as an artist and interpreter. The Second Time Around, released by the label PS Classics, is available on Amazon.com.
By the numbers alone, Sammy Cahn was one of America’s greatest songwriters: the most Academy Awards for Best Song; nearly 100 tunes recorded by Frank Sinatra; the highest paid songwriter of his day. Working largely with composers Jule Styne and Jimmy Van Heusen, Cahn turned out lyrics that were by turns romantic, witty and punchy, with a touch of melancholy that touched the hearts of millions; songs such as “Come Fly with Me,” “All the Way,” “Call Me Irresponsible,” “Time After Time” and “I Fall in Love Too Easily” – all included here – became embedded in the fabric of the nation.
Originally a stage show, Harnar’s tribute to Cahn was a New York Times “Critics’ Pick” and led Liza Minnelli to rave, “I wish Sammy could have heard this; he would have loved it. I certainly did.” Now, with Alex Rybeck – Harnar’s music director and pianist of over 40 years – providing arrangements for both the tracks retained from the original album and the half-dozen newly-recorded ones, this celebration of a pillar of the Great American Songbook is made all the sweeter through the workings of time: lovelier, as Cahn himself wrote, the second time around.
When the stage version of the Sammy Cahn show opened, The New York Times hailed it as “Highly Recommended. Smart, entertaining... Mr. Harnar’s singing is as creamy as ever.” Variety raved: “Harnar’s polished performance recalls a music era dominated by romanticism. The songs are timely again today... lilting lyric grace and finger-snappin' bounce.” Michael Feinstein added, "I discover something new in a lyric every time I hear Jeff Harnar sing.”
Jeff Harnar
is an award-winning cabaret, concert and recording artist. His Carnegie Hall appearances include both the Cole Porter and Noël Coward Centennial Galas. Jeff’s televised PBS concerts include “The 1959 Broadway Songbook” with music director Alex Rybeck and “American Songbook: Stephen Sondheim” co-starring KT Sullivan. Jeff toured with Broadway’s Shauna Hicks in their Symphony Pops Concert “I Got Rhythm: Mickey & Judy’s Hollywood.” Jeff has won multiple MAC, Bistro and BroadwayWorld Cabaret Awards and The Noël Coward Foundation Cabaret Award. In 2022, Jeff released his fifth solo album, the critically acclaimed I Know Things Now: My Life in Sondheim’s Words with a twenty-piece orchestra conducted by Jon Weber (PS Classics). Also in 2022 Jeff was named the Chicago Cabaret Professionals National Honoree, was the recipient of the Mabel Mercer Foundation’s Mabel Mercer Award, and the winner of three BroadwayWorld Cabaret Awards: Best Vocalist, Show and Director. In 2023 the Manhattan Association of Cabarets honored Jeff as “Celebrity Artist” and I Know Things Now won the Major Recording Award. He performs in the movie Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean from Iconoclast Films. His latest album, A Collective Cy: Jeff Harnar Sings Cy Coleman, was released by PS Classics in 2023. www.jeffharnar.com
Jeff Harnar Sings Sammy Cahn: The Second Time Around – Track Listing
1. All the Way
2. I’ll Only Miss Him When I Think of Him
3. Come Fly with Me – featuring Nicole Zuraitis
4. Love Is a Bore
5. The Second Time Around
6. Bei Mir Bist du Schön – featuring MOIPEI
7. I Fall in Love Too Easily
8. Come Dance with Me / I Like to Lead When I Dance – featuring Clint Holmes
9. Teach Me Tonight
10. Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week) / I’ll Walk Alone / It’s Been a Long, Long Time
11. Call Me Irresponsible
12. My Kind of Town
13. Blame My Absent-Minded Heart
14. Be My Love
15. I Should Care
16. Time After Time
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Good Night, Oscar North Coast Repertory (9/16-10/11) |
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Much Ado About Nothing McCadden Place Theatre (8/07-8/16) |
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6 Out of 10 Theatre 68 (8/20-8/20) |
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After the Blast The Broadwater Second Stage (8/05-8/13) |
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Catch Me If You Can Colony Theatre (9/17-10/18) |
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Emily Skinner: In Concert Feinstein's at the Nikko (8/14-8/15) |
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Gershwin and the Golden Age Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya) (10/11-10/11) |
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John Lloyd Young Feinstein's at the Nikko (8/21-8/22) |
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Love, Loss and What I Wore Sawyer's Playhouse (8/08-8/30) |
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Our Man in Santiago by Mark Wilding Odyssey Theatre Ensemble (9/10-9/20) |