Of all the albums Barbara Cook has released over the years, her second Carnegie Hall recording “It’s Better with a Band” from 1980 ranks as my personal favorite. I’ve own and enjoy all of them, and have had the opportunity to see the star in her Mostly Sondheim concert. But there’s something about this particular live set from that one night only concert that’s just perfection. From her voice, her deep understanding of a lyric and her warm Southern personality, the Tony-winning soprano has long been one of my favorite performers.
When Broadway roles started to become scarce in the early 70s, Cook turned to the concert stage and reinvented herself becoming one of the most acclaimed cabaret artists working today. She returned to Broadway this year in Sondheim on Sondheim, but the star – who turns 83 today – is still in demand for her intimate, warm solo engagements. Her first appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1975 was a major return for Cook, who sang many of her signature songs from her various musicals and its accompanying live album was a huge success. It would be five years before she would return to the venue.
Cook’s set was eclectic, combining old standards with contemporary favorites, show music with original showcases, such as the sharp “The Ingenue” (“And movie roles you live to play/They give to Shirley Jones to do”) and the title song. Her longtime accompanist Wally Harper did the sublime musical arrangements and led the orchestra from the piano. Cook is in stunning voice throughout, from the opening (Irving Berlin’s “I Love a Piano”) to her plaintive final encore (Noel Coward’s “If Love Were All”) singing in that lovely soprano that was her trademark. She sings a lush “Lullaby in Ragtime,” gives Jerry Herman’s “Marianne” from the short-lived The Grand Tour a second chance and gets her jazz on with a spirited “Sweet Georgia Brown.” Cook also sings an astounding 10 minute medley of Leonard Bernstein with material from Mass, West Side Story and On the Town. And for those who only know “Sing” from its countless renditions on Sesame Street will be delighted to hear Cook sing it here, with her trademark “Sing a Song with Me” (in both French and English!). It’s an album I would bring to the proverbial desert island.
To promote the album’s release, Cook made several appearances around the world. These clips are from a 1980 concert televised on PBS. The first is Cook giving a revisionist look at “Them There Eyes,” the jazz favorite accompanied by a tuba and banjo (she also busts out an instrument of her own). The tubist is Sam Pilafian.
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The second is an original piece, sort of the eleven o’clock piece of her set. Written by Harper, with lyrics by David Zippel, the song is a tribute to the instruments of the orchestra and builds to a thrilling climax, complete with coloratura flourishes.
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Happy Birthday, Barbara!