Lee Lessack - In Good Company

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 74:21
Size: 170,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:35)  1. Lee Lessack With Nita Whitaker - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
(3:50)  2. Lee Lessack With Susan Egan - The Look Of Love
(3:09)  3. Lee Lessack With Jon Philip Alman - Sweet Mystery
(4:39)  4. Lee Lessack With  Mary Jo Mundy - Never Saw Blue Like That
(4:56)  5. Lee Lessack With  Brian Lane Green - Opens Arms
(6:15)  6. Lee Lessack With Ann Hampton Callaway - Bring Back Romance
(3:50)  7. Lee Lessack With Johnny Rodgers - Here's To You
(5:13)  8. Lee Lessack With Joanne O'Brien - Summer Wine
(4:54)  9. Lee Lessack With Franc D'Ambrosio - Vincero Perdero
(4:54) 10. Lee Lessack With Maureen McGovern - If You Go Away
(4:05) 11. Lee Lessack With Stephen Schwartz - For Good
(3:15) 12. Lee Lessack With Susan Werner - Blue Guitar
(3:58) 13. Lee Lessack With David Burnham - Let It Be Me
(3:31) 14. Lee Lessack With Amanda McBroom - The Rose
(4:42) 15. Lee Lessack With Ken Page - Vincent
(3:54) 16. Lee Lessack With Stacy Sullivan - Stay the Night
(4:34) 17. Lee Lessack With Michael Feinstein - May I Suggest

No one is working harder than Lee Lessack to keep the increasingly fragile art of cabaret singing on life support. To date, he has released more than 100 discs by some 70 artists (including himself) on his L.A.-based LML label. But never before has Lessack launched so overt an assault as with this 17-track collection that pairs him with a brigade of the genre's top singers and players. The results are uniformly lovely, especially when Lessack joins forces with Susan Egan on "The Look of Love," Maureen McGovern on "If You Go Away," David Burnham on a slow-roasted "Let It Be Me" and composer Stephen Schwartz on the magical "For Good" from his score for Broadway's Tony-winning Wicked.

Trouble is, despite the accuracy of its title, In Good Company lacks cabaret's most essential spice-variety. The all-ballad assortment is like a damask table runner: beautiful and tasteful, but ultimately just passively decorative. The one notable-indeed, soaring-exception is his teaming with keyboardist Johnny Rodgers (who coproduced the album with Lessack and whose band backs each track) on the Rodgers-penned "Here's to You" that pays superlative homage to Simon and Garfunkel. ~ Christopher Loudon  http://jazztimes.com/articles/16099-in-good-company-lee-lessack

Personnel: Lee Lessack (vocals); David Burnham , Franc d'Ambrosio, Joanne O'Brien, Ken Page, Michael Feinstein, Amanda McBroom, Nita Whitaker, Ann Hampton Callaway, Stacy Sullivan, Stephen Schwartz, Susan Egan, Susan Werner, Maureen McGovern, Jon Philip Alman, Mary Jo Mundy, Johnny Rodgers, Brian Lane Green (vocals); Joe Ravo (guitar); Una Tone (violin); Wolfram Koessel (cello); John F. Rodgers (piano, organ); Danny Colfax Mallon (drums); Tom Harrell (trumpet, flugelhorn).

In Good Company

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Lee Lessack - I Know You By Heart

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:56
Size: 112,3 MB
Art: Front

(2:44)  1. Dreamers
(3:26)  2. It Feels Like Home
(4:03)  3. Storybook
(3:21)  4. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
(3:47)  5. I Know You By Heart
(4:41)  6. Dreamscape
(4:23)  7. When October Goes
(2:56)  8. Much At All
(2:41)  9. I Can See It
(4:22) 10. I'll Imagine You a Song
(4:30) 11. Endless Night
(4:15) 12. Right As The Rain / Soon It's Gonna Rain
(3:40) 13. Perfect

The play list for record company executive cum cabaret performer Lee Lessack is like a book of short stories which examine the ins and outs of one of our favorite pastimes and most puzzling conundrums, love and its trappings, especially its darker side. The subject is perfect for Lessack's soft, dedicated delivery. He wears his emotions on his sleeve as he recites the words of songs that are selected for the story they tell, not for their familiarity. It's the character, not the popularity of the song, that matters. Many tunes come from the musical stage. But again, not necessarily the most popular or successful musicals. "Storybook," from the The Scarlett Pimpernel, is done as a lilting serenade, almost Chopin-esque, as Lessack's vocalizing rides atop Boswell's waltzing piano. 

Stephen Schwartz, who provided the music for The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Prince of Egypt, is here with his "Dreamscape." Fading love is captured in the songs of another troubadour of note, Barry Manilow (with John Mercer), in "When October Goes." Here the solemn flugelhorn of Dennis Farias helps create the necessary ambience. More solemnity comes from the cello of Stefanie Fife on such tracks as "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress." Brian Lane Green is featured on "I Can See It" as he joins Lessack for a heartfelt rendition on that tune from Fantasticks. If one were looking for a common denominator to color each of the protagonists in the songs, it would have to be forlorn. While talent oozes from Lessack and his compatriots, there's little glee found in the compositions they play. It may take a couple of hearings to fully appreciate this fine performance. ~ Dave Nathan  http://www.allmusic.com/album/i-know-you-by-heart-mw0000048688

Personnel: Lee Lessack (vocals); Laurence Juber (acoustic guitar); Stefanie Fife (cello); Alex Rannie (harp); Phil Feather (flute, English horn, clarinet, soprano saxophone); Dennis Farias (trumpet, flugelhorn); John Boswell (piano, keyboards); Bob Mair (bass); M.B. Gordy (drums, percussion).

I Know You By Heart

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Lee Lessack - Chanteur

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:11
Size: 101,5 MB
Art: Front

(4:20)  1. The Summer Knows/Between Yesterday and Tomorrow
(3:17)  2. I Will Wait for You (From the Umbrellas of Cherbourg)
(3:28)  3. Importance of the Rose (L'important C'est La Rose)
(2:38)  4. She
(2:21)  5. The Sound of Your Name
(4:16)  6. Windmills of Your Mind/Autumn Leaves
(4:33)  7. Yesterday When I Was Young
(3:56)  8. Pieces Of Dreams
(3:30)  9. What Now My Love
(3:31) 10. Hymne a L'Amour
(4:00) 11. Song of Bernadette
(4:15) 12. If We Only Have Love

Recognizing the influence of the French chanson on the cabaret scene, Philadelphia performer Lee Lessack's first release since 2005's duets collection In Good Company pays homage to the Gallic songbook with 12 covers of some of its best-loved pieces. Apart from the flamenco guitar on The Thomas Crown Affair's Oscar-winning theme "The Windmills of Your Mind" (one of four tracks featured penned by Michel Legrand), long-term collaborator John Boswell's timeless piano arrangements are the only accompaniment, allowing Lessack's rich baritone vocals to take center stage on renditions of English-language tracks penned by French songwriters (Legrand's "The Summer Knows [Theme from Summer of '42]" and "Pieces of Dreams"), English-language translations of French-recorded numbers (Gilbert Bécaud's "What Now My Love" and "The Importance of the Rose"), and songs associated with French artists (Charles Aznavour's "She," "Yesterday When I Was Young"). 

Considering his pronunciation of Edith Piaf's "Hymne à l'Amour" appears perfectly acceptable, it's a shame he didn't have the courage to tackle more than one French-sung composition, while the likes of Jennifer Warnes' "Song for Bernadette," the Leonard Cohen-penned ode to the 19th century French saint who claimed she saw the Virgin Mary, and "If We Only Have Love," from the late-'60s off-Broadway musical Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, seem rather tenuous and arbitrary selections. Chanteur is a tastefully arranged tribute to the French greats of yesteryear, but it's probably more captivating as a live cabaret show than a rather perfunctory studio album. ~ Jon O’Brien  http://www.allmusic.com/album/chanteur-mw0002181069

Personnel: Lee Lessack (vocal); David Boswell (guitar); John Boswell (piano).

Chanteur

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