This 2013 92Y concert celebrating songwriting legend Mike Stoller, whose hits with partner Jerry Leiber included such classics as “Hound Dog,” and “Kansas City,” is available free for the first time to audiences beyond the 900 people who packed the concert hall that night. Little do most of you know how much rock and roll owes the Lieber/Stoller collaboration or how varied their output became. Herein an opportunity to a sample introduced by a overly gushing Paul Shaffer- in signature shades.
We open with They say the neon lights are bright “On Broadway.”
Highlights
The sequined-jacket Coasters are always a pleasure to watch, even late in the game. Harmony, gestures, and synchronous kicks arrive (and exit the stage) for such as “Yakety Yack (Don’t Talk Back),” “Smokey Joe’s Café” (from the musical revue), and “Charlie Brown”- You remember- “Whyz everybody always pickin’ on me?!” Karen Akers’ “I’m Ready to Begin Again” (From The Madwoman of Chaillot) is a beautifully realized scene-in-one with three distinctly different emotional passages. She paints with lyrics. (Alex Rybeck, piano)
Peggy Lee’s signature song “Is That All There Is?” is performed by heavy-lidded Sally Kellerman whose theatricality makes up for her small, languid voice. Brenda Braxton captivates with “Don Juan ( Your Money’s Gone),” teasing men in the front row, playing with a red feather boa- all legs and high flirt. Song and dance man Tommy Tune delivers “The Feeling Too Good Today Blues” with elegance and precision, epitomizing the song, leaving us wanting more. (Mike Biagi, piano)
Jazz artist Corky Hale, who walked into the Lieber/Stoller offices hoping to record demos and ended up marrying the concert’s birthday boy, gives us a lovely, unfussy rendition of “I Will Spend My Whole Life Through Loving You.” (Yes, they wrote ballads.) Piano is caressed. Association with Elvis Presley enhanced all their careers. The iconic “Jailhouse Rock,” on the list of Rolling Stone’s top 100 rock songs of all time, is given spirited airing by John Arthur Green who, young as he is, gets it.
Shaffer shares a story about the equally iconic “Hound Dog.” Written for Big Mama Thornton, the song went nowhere when released. Presley recorded it while Stoller was vacationing…on the SS Andrea Doria…which sank. The musician was helped into a dinghy, then onto a freighter. Jerry Lieber met him on the dock in New York. His first words were, “We’ve got a hit with Hound Dog!” “With Big Mama Thornton?!” Stoller said incredulously. “No, some white kid named Elvis Presley,” came the response. Mary Bridget Davis lets it rip with blues yell, lyric rasp, and southern inflection.
A wrenching “I Who Have Nothing” is plumbed for every ounce of dry-teared pathos by veteran Bettye LaVette. The company closes with “Stand By Me,” cited by BMI as the most performed song of the 20th century. (?!)
An 80th Birthday Celebration of Songwriter Mike Stoller
Randy Johnson, Director/Writer
Paul Shaffer, Host
Karen Akers- Alex Rybeck piano; Brenda Braxton; Dee Dee Bridgewater; The Coasters: Primotivo Candelaria, Dennis Anderson, Joe Lance Williams, & Eddie Whitfield; Mary Bridget Davies; Corky Hale; Maria Elena Infantino; Chuck Jackson; Sally Kellerman; Ben E. King; Bettye LaVette; Melissa Manchester; Billy Stritch; Tommy Tune- Michael Biagi piano; Steve Tyrell and his Band Quinn Johnson – Music Director/Piano
Photo Courtesy of the 92Y
The 92Y Archive contains an incredible wealth of concerts and lectures.
