ON THE RECORD: "Summer Afternoon" From Sam Davis, Michael Feinstein's "Fly Me to the Moon"

By Steven Suskin
26 Dec 2010

ON THE RECORD: "Summer Afternoon" From Sam Davis, Michael Feinstein's "Fly Me to the Moon"

We listen to a collection of songs by relatively undiscovered theatre composer Sam Davis; Michael Feinstein's new CD; and a few worthy recordings of movie music.

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Love on a Summer Afternoon: Songs of Sam Davis [PS Classics PS-1095]
In an age where opportunities for the production of new musical theatre work by emerging composers is minimal, it can be a daunting task to keep track of the newest crop of young songwriters. They exist, of course; we know their names, and we occasionally hear a song or two on a personality CD or in a cabaret. But random hearings of random songs do not provide a representative hearing. One of these guys is Sam Davis, pit pianist (and associate conductor) for the recent Kander & Ebb musical Curtains. Rebecca Luker chose his song "Greenwich Time" as the title track for her CD last year; it was a song so good that I, for one, immediately noted the composer's name.

The people at PS Classics, which produced Luker's album, were similarly impressed; so much so that they invited Davis to record a full album of his work. "Love on a Summer Afternoon: Songs of Sam Davis" is the title, and it sure serves its purpose. Mr. Davis is a fine theatre composer, even though we haven't had the chance to hear any of his theatrical scores. Fourteen songs, apparently drawn from several musicals; after listening to the CD three times, I want to hear ten of the tracks repeatedly. That's a remarkably high percentage.

The songs are mostly personal, with common themes. This is something you might expect from a composer/lyricist, or even a lyricist; how odd, though, to have this similar voice coming in songs from six different lyricists. Sean Hartley leads the pack, with six entries that are apparently from the revue Dysfunctional Fables. (The liner notes don't offer much information.) These include "Goodbye to Boston," a highly effective song sung by David Hyde Pierce; "The Cookie Boy," a morality tale sung by — get this — Kevin Chamberlin, Danny Burstein, Jim Stanek, and Davis; "Everything," an enthusiastically upbeat ballad (Aaron Lazar); "Land of the Dead," a very good song indeed (Christian Anderson); and the tart "Love and Real Estate" (Edward Hibbert). Mark Waldrop provides lyrics for four songs, including the touching "The Boy He Wanted Me to Be" (Michael Arden) and the swinging "Love Is a Chance You Take" (Malcolm Gets). Georgia Stitt, an intriguing composer herself, provides the lyric for "Invested in You"; Bobby Steggert sings this sprightly Rodgers & Hart-like song, in which Ms. Stitt talks of living on "bread and pickles." Two of the finest tracks have lyrics by Randy Buck: the aforementioned "Greenwich Time," here sung by Gavin Creel, and the similarly effective "Love on a Summer Afternoon" (Philip Chaffin).

I haven't stopped at each song to say this singer or that does a good job, which would be repetitive and redundant. They all do; this recording seems to have been a holiday for theatre singers (of the male variety). Also on the recording, and doing equally well, are Will Swenson, Christopher Sieber, Michael McElroy, Tituss Burgess, Will Chase, and Jason Danieley. PS has given Mr. Davis a band of 25; they have also seen fit to call in a handful of orchestrators — Jonathan Tunick, Larry Blank, Larry Hochman, August Eriksmoen, Ned Ginsburg — who have contributed refreshingly good work. Five of the charts come from Davis himself. This "emerging composer" is quite a talent. Now if only he could find a theatre or two to produce some of his shows.

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