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Golden Age in Full Swing on Park Avenue

by Frank Scheck
New York Post, December 21, 2005

Even not wearing black tie, it’s impossible to feel less than sophisticated watching “The Park Avenue Whirl,” a salute to the glorious music of the ’20s and ’30s. Starring such performers as singer/pianist Daryl Sherman and Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks Orchestra, both more commonly seen in such places as the Waldorf, the evening is guaranteed to lift spirits without imbibing them.

“So many songs, so little time,” Sherman accurately laments at the start. And, in the next two hours or so, the performers deliver dozens of medleys devoted to Cole Porter, the music of the Cotton Club, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby and others, all drawn from the golden age of the American songbook.

Sherman, a terrific pianist and singer with a sweet, feathery voice, is equally adept handling such amusing novelty numbers as Duke Ellington’s “Swing Time in Honolulu” or the touching sentiments of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.”

Giordano, playing bass, saxophone and, for one number, the tuba, leads the expert Nighthawks through thrillingly swinging arrangements that demonstrate why they’ve become one of the most popular ensembles in the city.

Adding further delights to the proceedings are singer Marion Cowings, who lends his incredibly smooth and gorgeous baritone voice to such classics as “On the Street of Dreams” and “The Very Thought of You,” and his son Alexander, a talented tap dancer who provides visual and rhythmic accompaniment to songs like “Happy Feet.” If you can remain still during that number, incidentally, you may not be displaying any vital signs.

Only in the final moments, when the performers lead the audience on a sing-along of “White Christmas,” are the holidays acknowledged. But “The Park Avenue Whirl” is in itself a festive occasion.

It’s All About “the Conversation of the Song”

by Paul de Barros
Seattle Times, May 6, 2005

Listening to “Ten Minutes Ago,” the skipping waltz on Daryl Sherman’s marvelous tribute to songwriter Richard Rodgers, “A Hundred Million Miracles” (Arbors), a song from a different era suddenly popped into my head — Lennon and McCartney’s “I’ve Just Seen a Face.”

Very different styles, yes, but both deal with the same breathless moment of love at first sight.

Sherman, who makes her long overdue Seattle debut at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the intimate Issaquah supper club Bake’s Place ($27; 425-391-3335 or www.bakesplace.org ), loves those kinds of connections.

“Sometimes I put ‘You and the Night and the Music,’ by [Arthur] Schwartz and [Howard] Dietz, with Carole King’s ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,'” says Sherman, speaking by telephone from her Manhattan apartment, near the U.N. building.

Straddling the urbane worlds of cabaret and jazz — in a city that reveres both — Sherman has earned an international reputation for her sterling interpretations of the Great American Songbook. Her tea- time gig at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, on Park Avenue, where she plays a grand piano that once stood in Cole Porter’s room upstairs, has become a Manhattan institution.

She is also a regular at London’s Pizza Express and was drafted by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra to sing Mildred Bailey tunes for a Paul Whiteman tribute.

With that pedigree, you might expect cafe-society hauteur, but Sherman is refreshingly straightforward and tender. With a light, buoyant voice, an irresistibly cheerful delivery and a cheeky sense of humor, she seems to delight in the world being just a little bit topsy-turvy.

Sherman is in our neck of the woods to sing at a Spokane festival celebrating Bailey, who was raised in Spokane (and whose brother, Al Rinker, was Bing Crosby’s original singing partner).

Sherman, 54, has been making a living in music since 1974, when she moved to New York. She has waxed a string of terrific albums for the Arbors label. One is a tribute to Bailey, “Look What I Found”; another, “Jubilee,” is a collaboration with her piano-playing idol, Dave McKenna. Last year’s “Sammy Sherman: Live at Chan’s,” features her father, a swing trombone player who initiated her to jazz when she was a kid.

But Sherman is not about scat singing and acrobatic improvising. She’s about songs, and their dramatic situations.

“[Cabaret singer] Sylvia Syms is the one who really opened my eyes and ears to the conversation of the song,” she says. “Jazz people twist and turn things for harmonies and effects. It’s trickier to find something that sounds simple, but natural — like Sinatra.”

Though known for her vintage retrievals, Sherman is in no way self- consciously “retro.” She knows her way around the keyboard, too, from Thelonious Monk to Bill Evans. At Bake’s, she’ll accompany herself on piano, with Jeff Johnson on bass.

“I’ll be doing my least-requested song,” she promises, “‘Swingtime in Honolulu,’ by Duke Ellington. It replaced ‘I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart’ on one of his Cotton Club revues. When audiences hear it, they will understand why it replaced that song — and why it has remained in obscurity.”

Go hear Sherman. You won’t be disappointed.

DARYL SHERMAN BRIGHTENS MONDAYS

by William Wolf
Wolf Entertainment Guide

The Oak Room at the Algonquin is too much of a gem to waste a night. Especially if it can have “Mondays with Daryl Sherman,” currently the weekly attraction apart from the regular Oak Room schedule. Sherman began March 16, and her remaining shows are March 30 April 6, 13 and 20, 2009. The set-up is dinner at 6, Sherman at 8 and jazzy memories of her thereafter. With Sherman softer is louder. That is to say she makes her impact with easygoing piano playing and lyrics sung quietly rather than blasted with force. The effect is intimacy, accentuated by her chatting about her music and experiences. Sherman’s forte is jazz. She riffs on a variety of songs that offer her range to roam freely, and she doesn’t seem obligated to select trendy hits.

Sherman smiles a lot and tries to enlist her audience in having a pleasant time by cozying up and listening carefully to what she does with a melody and a lyric. She’s also a good pianist, and she is working with two excellent musicians, James Chirillo on guitar and Boots Maleson on bass, each of whom is capable of providing a strong solo when not blending with Sherman to enhance the overall impact with the effect of a good combo. Her program will vary according to her moods or preferences, On the night I went, for example, she gave her own pleasing interpretation of “Mr. Bojangles. ” There was a creative rendition of “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To,” with a fine solo by Maleson. Sherman did a lot with “Mardi Gras,” and recalling the show “Jumbo,” she did her own thing with “Little Girl Blue,” the Rodgers and Hart number from it. Count on her to sing about anything ranging from love to cats. On occasions the enunciation of her lyrics can get lost in their adaptation to jazz, but then it is the jazz that distinguishes her style and creativity.

New Swoon On Monday

by Rex Reed
The New York Observer

Get rid of Monday. That’s been the lament of hip New Yorkers who for years have searched in vain for something to do on the dullest night of the week. Theaters are dark, cabarets are closed, and there’s no place to go. The Algonquin has a cure for all that. The great Barbara Carroll is already playing classy jazz piano for Sunday brunch. Now Daryl Sherman, one of the coolest, most accomplished and hardworking singer-pianists in town, is holding court in the Oak Room for discerning cats looking for an alternative to Monday night Chinese takeout and bad movies at the neighborhood multiplex. Since she lost her long-standing gig playing Cole Porter’s Steinway in the Waldorf-Astoria’s Peacock Alley last May after 14 years, her appearances have been rare. Now she’s got a new home, and if her opening night was indicative, her living room is standing-room only.

Daryl is not one of those obvious jazz singers who scat lyrics, distort harmonies and improvise melodies. With her, it’s not about the singer, but the song. Whether she’s crooning her way through Cole Porter’s exquisite “Ours” or singing across the bar lines on Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke’s “Island in the West Indies,” she plays chords that form musical conversations with her bass player, Boots Maleson, and her swinging guitarist, James Chirillo. She calls her style “minimalist,” without flashy technique, and her Champagne bubble of a voice is so reminiscent of Blossom Dearie that it’s no wonder she shines so brightly on Blossom staples like “They Say It’s Spring” and “I’m Shadowing You.” But within her subtlety, there’s still a lot going on. She explores the subtext in both the singing and the playing. She’s no stranger to daring arpeggios and flatted fifths, but she doesn’t try to dazzle you with versatility or put you to the test with music that sounds like mathematics. Her chords are clear and sure, her phrasing is pristine, her songs are accessible and fun. If you want to get technical, she can sing a four-bar strain of notes, stretch it into the next measure, and at the end of the four bars still land on her feet. Turning the Gershwins’ bouncy “Things Are Looking Up” into a slow, wistful ballad is a surprise, and on Johnny Mercer’s charming stalking song “I’m Shadowing You,” written with Blossom Dearie, she milks it of so many flavors it’s like a Ben and Jerry’s jubilee. (Her new CD, out next month, is a tribute to Mercer’s centennial year celebration.) I guess the best thing I can say about Daryl Sherman is that she interprets standards without reconstructing them. She creates moods that turn each song in her vast repertoire into a miniature painting. In 60 minutes, with a diverse crowd to please, she manages to send everyone home balanced and happy. With high hopes that this weekly gig goes on forever, I can think of nothing better to do than spend an intimate musical Monday with a mellifluous meadowlark.

Jazz Brunch At The Algonquin With Daryl Sherman

by Gregg Culling
Songbirds, Sun Jan 4, 2009

What could possibly be more cool, or more sophisticated, than Sunday Jazz Brunch at The Algonquin Hotel with the likes of singer/pianist/entertainer Daryl Sherman and her good friends Boots Maleson on bass and James Chirillo on guitar? I ask you. There’s nothing cooler, and besides the good music, the food and the service are delicious and wonderful, too. What’s not to like? And then, for Sherman to begin her set with “Sunday Afternoon” by Blossom Dearie and Len Saltzberg, well how appropriate is that!? “Goin’ far in our motorcar… to learn who we are!” It’s gotta bring a smile to your face, and anyone who can do that in these stressful times deserves a medal. “Do you want to go?”

Put Daryl Sherman on any stage and just let her go. She will not only entertain you, but also supply you with thoughtful messages, informative information about music, life and living, and make you feel good. From her recent recording New O’Leans she offered “S’Mardi Gras” (Spedale) as a time to get out of bed and party, and it really got the toes a tappin’ with some swell riffs by all the musicians. It was a wonderful way to wake us up on an early Sunday afternoon. Keeping with the same location, she paid a tribute to the minstrels who line the streets of New Orleans with “Mr. Bojangles” (Walker) that was played with a very light touch as her twinkling keys helped us to visualize the dancing Bojangles. Sublime.

Moving on to the theatre, she commented on the recent revival of Pal Joey, pointing out that the reviews have been, shall we say mixed, but hey she said, you gotta have a Joey that fits. Her suggestion for Joey: Arnold Schwarzenegger! Okay then. From that show she chose “Do It the Hard Way” (Rodgers/Hart) sung with a rhythmic bass and guitar, and she truly made it easy sailing, along with some fine fingering by Maleson and Chirillo. She also serenaded us with that show’s very wise “Bewitched,” after a nod to Stockard Channing’s rendition in the current production. Her summing up at the end was beautiful to behold.

Of course, no Sherman program is complete without some Cole Porter, even after 14 years of playing his own Steinway at the Waldorf-Astoria. She admits she misses the regularity of performing there, but most especially she misses the opportunity to meet all the travelers and drop-ins in the legendary lobby. But for now, she is situated in the Oak Room of The Algonquin for three Sundays, the home away from home for the likes of Dorothy Parker, Noel Coward, and of course, the royal Matilda the cat! Daryl admits she has been trying to acquaint herself with Matilda who has been “professionally friendly,” but is not really that easy to know. This was an interesting segue into her own special composition “Wendells’ Cat” about an abandoned cat who lived in the center of where Katrina hit, and how she survived.

To get us away from this all this for a moment, she treated us to Vernon Duke (and Ira Gershwin’s) “Island in the West Indies” with a cheerful calypso beat. There were appreciative smiles all around the room, which included singers: Wesla Whitfield, Julie Wilson, Nancy Stearns, Pamela Luss; songwriters and musicians: Ervin Drake (and his beautiful wife Edythe), Roger Schore, Mike Greensill; song and music lovers: Will Friedwald, Madeline Kerns and so many more. For Ervin Drake she sang his song of sadness and despair, “Good Morning Heartache” and made it her very own. And for George Shearing fans she played a delightful “Lullaby in Birdland.”

In closing, she remarked on this “hermetically sealed bubble of existence” we share here in the Oak Room to listen to “our” kind of music. Next up for Sherman will be her recording of some of the songs of Johnny Mercer to celebrate his centenary. A sample, perhaps, was the very jazzy snazzy “At the Jazz Band Ball” which also included the great Maleson on bowed bass and the amazing Chirillo picking at his guitar as if a banjo. Pure delight. She sent us out with more Mercer (and Mancini) drifting along on a dreamy “Moon River.”

Daryl Sherman, Dirty Martini at Le Monde

by Alison Kerr
Glasgow Herald, July 23, 2012

Unless you’re going to a gig in a concert hall, there aren’t really very many opportunities to get dressed up for an evening of jazz these days — which made Daryl Sherman’s opening night show at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival on Friday all the more special.

The sassy and classy New York-based singer, pianist and raconteur made her jazz festival debut in a new venue for the festival, the Dirty Martini, which is upstairs at the boutique hotel Le Monde. And what a wonderfully atmospheric and upmarket jazz-friendly venue it proved to be; perfect for a performer whose longest-running gig was at Manhattan’s Waldorf Astoria hotel.

The piano she played there wasn’t electric (as Friday night’s was); it belonged to a certain Cole Porter — so it was little surprise that his songs made up a significant part of the programme.

Among the many Porter gems she played and sang — as she swivelled around on her stool to draw in every section of the decadently decorated room — were the uptempo It’s Too Darn Hot and the bluesy Where Have You Been? Both of these were jaw-dropping masterclasses in simultaneously executing a complicated arrangement on the piano while singing the vocal line. I Concentrate On You, on the other hand, was a piano-less duet with bassist Roy Percy.

Other treats included “the quintessential song about the battle of the sexes” — the Rodgers and Hart number Everything I’ve Got (Belongs To You), which highlighted the fact that Sherman is a vocalist who makes you understand lyrics in a way you might not have done before.