It was a magical night in New York when two extraordinary artists shared the stage at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center, one of the most beautiful theaters in New York City. This elegant jewel-box venue provided the perfect setting for an evening filled with energy, soul, and unforgettable music. Catherine Russell and her special guest, Cyndi Lauper, brought together two very different musical worlds, creating a concert that was thrilling from beginning to end.

Catherine Russell is jazz royalty. Music is in her blood. Her father, Luis Russell, was the longtime musical director for Louis Armstrong, while her mother, Carline Ray, was a pioneering multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. With such a rich musical heritage, Russell has developed a distinctive style that combines jazz, blues, swing, and the great American songbook.

Russell began recording and touring as a backup singer for major artists in 1980. In 2005, she launched her solo career and has since released nine albums. Two of her projects, Harlem on My Mind and Alone Together, earned Grammy nominations for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Beyond performing and recording, Russell is also dedicated to education, teaching master classes and private students and sharing her knowledge with the next generation of musicians.

One of the pleasures of Russell’s performance was the way she reached back through musical history. Her repertoire traveled from the 1920s through the 1950s, introducing the audience to songs that have become important pieces of the American musical heritage. She brought these vintage selections to life with her distinctive voice, impeccable phrasing, and deep understanding of the music.

Among the highlights was “Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” a 1927 gem associated with the legendary blues musician Blind Willie Johnson. Russell also performed “After Hours,” made famous by Sarah Vaughan, “Don’t Take All Night,” associated with Nina Simone, and “Trust in Me,” a song famously recorded by Dinah Washington. Each selection demonstrated Russell’s remarkable ability to honor the original artists while making the songs unmistakably her own.

Joining Russell for this special evening was the legendary Cyndi Lauper. A groundbreaking Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning songwriter and performing artist, Lauper has sold more than 50 million records worldwide. In 2013, she became the first solo woman to win the Tony Award for Best Original Score for Kinky Boots. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016.

One of the evening’s most memorable moments came when Russell and Lauper joined forces to perform Lauper’s mega-hit “Time After Time.” Hearing these two distinctive voices together transformed the familiar song into a particularly moving musical moment. The performance brought the audience to its feet, creating one of those special live-concert moments that performers and audiences share together.

The combination of Russell and Lauper made for an especially exciting evening. Each artist brought her own personality and musical identity to the stage, yet they complemented one another beautifully. Their performances demonstrated that great music can cross genres and generations.

They were backed by an extraordinary group of musicians: Anthony Hervey on trumpet, John Allred on trombone, Evan Arntzen on reeds, Lauren Sevian on baritone saxophone, Matt Munisteri on guitar, Ben Paterson on piano and organ, Tel Ronen on bass, and Dominick “Domo” Branch on drums.

The musicians were not simply there to accompany the singers. Each was given generous opportunities to step into the spotlight, and their solos added excitement, depth, and spontaneity to the concert. The band created a powerful musical foundation that allowed both Russell and Lauper to shine.

The Rose Theater itself added to the magic of the evening. Its intimate yet grand atmosphere makes it an extraordinary place to experience live music, and on this night, the theater seemed perfectly matched to the artistry onstage.

This was more than a concert—it was a celebration of musical history, individuality, and the continuing power of live performance. Catherine Russell and Cyndi Lauper proved to be a thrilling combination, delivering a night that was truly magical and one that the audience will not soon forget.

Gerrilyn Sohn brought her cabaret show Timeless: A Tribute to Bernadette Peters to Don’t Tell Mama in New York City, celebrating one of Broadway’s most beloved performers while making the evening distinctly her own.

Sohn did not attempt to imitate Bernadette Peters. Instead, she sang the songs that helped make Peters famous, bringing them to life in her own voice and with her own personality. It was a refreshing approach to a tribute show. Rather than trying to duplicate an iconic performer, Sohn showed why these songs continue to resonate with audiences.

Sohn has long been fascinated by Peters and feels a special connection to her. During the performance, she shared with the audience that she had actually met Peters and was deeply impressed by her warmth and friendliness. That personal connection gave the evening an added dimension, making the tribute feel genuine and heartfelt rather than simply a collection of songs associated with a famous star.

Gerrilyn’s performance was further enhanced by several duets with her talented musical director, Tracy Stark. Their musical chemistry added another layer of warmth and spontaneity to the evening. Stark was not only an accomplished musical director but also a wonderful partner onstage, complementing Sohn’s voice and helping bring the songs to life.

The repertoire celebrated the extraordinary range of material associated with Peters, from sophisticated Broadway numbers to songs filled with humor, romance and emotion. Sohn’s performance demonstrated her affection for the material while allowing her own vocal personality to shine through.

The evening was directed by Lennie Watts, whose experience and understanding of cabaret helped shape the performance. Tracy Stark served as musical director, with Marco Panascia on bass.

Timeless was ultimately less about trying to become Bernadette Peters and more about celebrating what makes Peters such an enduring theatrical icon. Gerrilyn Sohn’s admiration was evident throughout the evening, but so was her individuality. She paid tribute to Peters by singing these memorable songs in her own voice—and that made the performance a tribute worth hearing.

There are few places better suited to celebrating John Kander and Fred Ebb than Dizzy’s Jazz Club. On Sunday, October 4, New York was misty beyond those magnificent windows, the room was filled with Kander and Ebb melodies, and, making the evening even more special, John Kander himself was sitting at the table directly behind me listening to his music come alive.

John Kander

Hosted and curated by Deborah Grace Winer, Songbook Sundays: Life Is Kander and Ebb brought together three very different vocalists—Karen Ziemba, Matthew Scott and Vanisha Gould—with music director and pianist Jon Weber, Mark McLean on drums, Jay Leonhart on bass and Sam Chess on trombone. The talent was unquestionable, the musicianship superb and the surroundings quintessentially New York.

Karen Ziemba

Yet I left wanting more as I know this songbook inside and out.

Vanisha Gould, Karen Ziemba, Matthew Scott Vanisha Gould

Not more talent. There was plenty of that. What I wanted was more Kander and Ebb.

Karen Ziemba opened with “Where You Are,” immediately reminding us why she has had such a remarkable career. Ziemba doesn’t merely sing a lyric; she understands what is underneath it. That quality served her particularly well throughout the show, whether she was having wicked fun with “Don’t Tell Mama,” finding the aching simplicity of “My Coloring Book,” or delivering “How Lucky Can You Get.” Kander and Ebb frequently wrote characters who perform one emotion while another one is quietly breaking through, and Ziemba knows exactly how to live in that contradiction.

Matthew Scott has a terrific voice coupled with genuine acting chops, something especially evident in “Not Every Day of the Week” and “Love and Love Alone.” When he arrived at “Theme from New York, New York,” he wisely didn’t try to compete with the ghosts surrounding one of the most recognizable songs ever written about this city. Instead, he found his own way into it, allowing us to hear the song rather than an imitation of the singers who made it famous.

Then there was Vanisha Gould, who possesses a fabulous smoky, growling voice that sounds as though it was made for the 1930s. There is something wonderfully lived-in about her sound, a little dangerous around the edges, and it gave “Funny Honey” and “All That Jazz” an entirely different texture. “Maybe This Time” allowed her to move beyond the sass and into the vulnerability underneath, where Kander and Ebb so often do their best work.

The musicians were every bit as important to the performance.

Weber knows how to support a singer without disappearing beneath one, and McLean, Leonhart and Chess gave the music the swing and bite it requires. “Sing Happy” put the band front and center, while

Leonhart—whose career has included playing for an extraordinary roster of great performers—stepped into the spotlight to deliver his own “Razzle Dazzle.” It was an irresistible reminder that sometimes the musicians have a few tricks of their own.

Ziemba and Scott joined forces for “But the World Goes ‘Round,” another quintessential Kander and Ebb song about continuing when life has other plans. “Cabaret,” naturally, also made its appearance, bringing us back to the musical that remains inseparable from the Kander and Ebb name.

Which brings me to the one thing that bothered me about an otherwise beautifully performed performance.

Jon Webber and John Kander

Perhaps having John Kander sitting directly behind me made me even more aware of the sheer size of the catalogue being celebrated. Here was one of the architects of American musical theatre, listening to songs from a collaboration that stretched across decades, and I kept thinking about everything we weren’t hearing.

Vanisha Gould, Karen Ziemba, Matthew Scott

There were three selections from Chicago and three from Cabaret, along with two each from Flora the Red Menace and New York, New York. They are terrific songs, certainly, and nobody is going to object to hearing them sung this well. But Kander and Ebb wrote so much more.

John Kander, Matthew Scott

Where was The Happy Time, Zorba, 70, Girls, 70, The Act, Woman of the Year, The Rink, Steel Pier, Curtains, or The Scottsboro Boys? There is an astonishing amount of material in that catalogue, including songs that deserve to be rediscovered rather than allowed to sit quietly in the shadow of “All That Jazz” and “Cabaret.”

That is particularly what I look for from something called Songbook Sundays. A songbook series has the opportunity not merely to celebrate the songs everybody already knows, but to open the book a little wider. Give us something we have forgotten or haven’t heard in years. Give a younger audience a song they didn’t know existed. Let us hear the journey of the writers, not simply their greatest hits.

Kander and Ebb were never just Chicago and Cabaret. Their partnership was far richer and stranger than that. They could be cynical and sentimental, sophisticated and vulgar, politically savage and heartbreakingly romantic. Again and again they wrote about people performing confidence while quietly falling apart underneath it. Their characters keep dancing, keep singing, keep putting on the makeup and facing the world because, as one of their greatest songs reminds us, the world goes ’round.

Maybe that’s why I wanted more.

What Winer gave us was beautifully sung and beautifully played. Ziemba remains a masterful interpreter, Scott impressed with both voice and dramatic instinct, and Gould made me want to hear much more from that wonderfully smoky voice. Weber and his musicians gave us sophistication, warmth and swing.

Outside those windows was a mist-covered New York, while inside sat John Kander himself listening to his songs. Really, how much more New York can you get? Except, of course, for a few more Kander and Ebb songs.

I enjoyed Life Is Kander and Ebb immensely. My complaint is actually a compliment: with a songbook this extraordinary, I didn’t want the afternoon to end with so many pages still unopened.

Cool is a peculiar thing. The moment you have to tell everyone you possess it, chances are you don’t. Frank Sinatra had it. So did Bobby Darin, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong and Sam Cooke. Burt Bacharach made it sound effortless, Cab Calloway made it swing, and Tom Jones somehow made an open shirt seem like formalwear. On Thursday, October 8 at 8 p.m., Russell Moss brings that particular breed of American cool back to The Triad Theater with the return of his acclaimed A Night of Cool.

Russell Moss and five piece orchestra – Photo Courtesy DDPR

Moss isn’t simply assembling a collection of familiar songs. He is recreating the atmosphere surrounding them, turning The Triad into a 1960s-style showroom complete with a five-piece orchestra, choreographed production numbers, dancers Brooke Schulte and Shanley O’Brien, and guest artists Hannah Celeste and Evan Buckley Harris. It is a throwback to the era when going to see an entertainer meant exactly that—you expected to be entertained.

At the center is Moss, a singer and showman who has performed everywhere from Las Vegas to New York and clearly understands the difference between singing a great song and knowing how to sell one. A Night of Cool moves through music associated with Sinatra, Armstrong, Jones, Presley, Hank Williams, Darin, Cooke, Don Ho, Bacharach, Calloway and Cole, allowing Moss to wander through several decades when singers had distinctive voices, orchestras mattered and personality was part of the arrangement.

Russell Moss & Hannah Celeste – Photo Courtesy DDPR

Joining him is Evan Buckley Harris, who knows a thing or two about stepping into the shoes of an American music legend. Harris played Johnny Cash in both the national tour and Las Vegas productions of Million Dollar Quartet and has also appeared as Corny Collins in Hairspray, Huey in Memphis and Kenickie in Grease. Hannah Celeste, meanwhile, began her professional career at eight in Annie under the direction of the musical’s creator Martin Charnin, and has since appeared in productions including The Diary of Anne Frank and The Miracle Worker.

Then there is the band—which is hardly background decoration. Music director Andy Warren leads on trumpet, joined by Grammy Award winner Paul Francis on drums, Grammy nominee Stan Killian on saxophone, Peter Brendler on bass and Antongiulio Foti on piano. Andrea Bodine supplies the choreography. With musicians of that caliber in a room as intimate as The Triad, there is nowhere for the music to hide—and absolutely no reason it should.

Moss says the evening is ultimately about “great music, laughter, and that wonderful connection that happens between a performer and an audience,” and that may be the most old-fashioned thing about A Night of Cool. Before concerts became oceans of cell phones and performers became content, there was simply a room, a band, an audience and somebody charismatic enough to make everyone forget about everything outside.

That kind of cool never really went out of style. It was simply waiting for somebody to bring the band back.

A Night of Cool plays Thursday, October 8 at 8 p.m. at The Triad Theater.