By Steven Suskin
13 May 2012

	Leslie Uggams
	Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Listening to the Uptown Downtown CD, I find Uggams' act just as dazzling as it was at Lincoln Center on that snowy February night. Twenty-one tracks there are, many of which are so good that it is foolhardy to pick out a few. But let me mention that opening, which combines Sportin' Life's "Boat to New York" with Lenny & Betty & Adolph's "New York, New York"; "Them There Eyes," an old standard that sounds better than I ever heard it; "My Own Morning," with which Leslie opened Hallelujah, Baby! 44 years ago, and in which the undiminished optimism of 1968 has been burnished into a weathered perseverance; "Sunny Side of the Street," which the child singer used to feature in her act and still sounds pretty good; a wonderful set of impressionistic homages to her mentors on the bill at the Apollo, Louis Armstrong ("Up a Lazy River"), Ella Fitzgerald ("A Tisket, A Tasket") and Dinah Washington "(I Wanna Be Around"); a lovely "Up on the Roof" to solo guitar (Steve Bargonetti); a dashing "Hello, Young Lovers" accompanied by solely by drummer Buddy Williams, which I don't expect is something that Mr. Rodgers ever anticipated but comes off swell.

And that only takes us through the first 10 tracks. Uggams is terrific, and her band swings. Recording values on what seems to be a make-it-yourself recording — produced by Grahame Pratt, husband to the star — are fine. (The album is widely available online.) The insert, alas, has three great photos but little information. One assumes that this studio recording reflects the Pasadena engagement and includes the Pasadena musicians, although that's just a guess. Don Rebic, who served as musical director in New York and Pasadena, is presumably doing the same here. He is credited as orchestrator of 10 of the tracks, in each case with his name misspelled. (Sometimes it seems like nobody cares about the poor orchestrator.) Rebic's work is very good, as are Luther Henderson's charts for the Apollo Theatre segment. Luther died in 2003, suggesting that Uggams first performed this 12-minute routine — including the Armstrong-Fitzgerald songs — back in the '80s or '90s.

Uggams appeared hereabouts in March in the City Center Encores! presentation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Pipe Dream. The show very much benefited from her infusion of musicality and energy, in a role which has heretofore seemed problematic. But Leslie's Pipe Dream only hinted at the talent displayed in her one-woman show. I would certainly recommend this CD to anyone who likes this sort of thing. And should Leslie Uggams and Uptown Downtown turn up in your town, don't hesitate.