Chelsea Table & Stage New York, NY
Contact: kati.neiheisel@gmail.com
Web: mariacorsaro.com
Players: Maria Corsaro, vocals; Gregory Toroian, piano; Skip Ward, bass; Dave Silliman; drums; Mark Fineberg, sax, flute.
Celebrating the release of her new CD, “Love Makes the Changes,” Maria Corsaro takes us on a musical and educational journey, with a deep dive into her choice of repertoire. This is her third show at this venue, each one bearing a different theme. Corsaro treats each selection with kid gloves, often relaying the song’s backstory or a germane anecdote from her life.
The show examines love from various perspectives. Kicking off the set with “If you Never Fall in Love with Me,” written by Sam Jones and first released as an instrumental with lyrics added later, is an up-tempo number brimming with optimism and hope that mutual love will prevail: I loved you so since that first day/The angels let you leave and come my way/Don’t you see what a lost lady I’m libel to be/If you never fall in love with me. Followed by “In April,” a Bill Evans tune, also written as an instrumental with lyrics added by Roger Schore (who was in the audience), shares the promise of spring and all that comes with it: Love blossoms all around in April/Not a single care/Your lonely heart has found a home today/And in the space of a minute you’re swept up in it. The set continues with songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Michel Legrand, and Roger Kellaway, among others.
Much of the show’s success is due to the interplay between Corsaro and her backing trio. With consummate arrangements by pianist and musical director Gregory Toroian, they seamlessly highlight Corsaro’s thoughtful phrasing. They are so intertwined that it’s hard to imagine one without the other. Sporadically adding sax or flute to the mix brings in another musical flavor rounding out the band’s sound.
Three quarters of the way through the set the mood suddenly changes. We hear a haunting a capella vocalese leading up to “Portrait in Black and White (Zingaro).” Written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Roger Schore, the song recounts the dissolution of a marriage in all its gut-wrenching reality, balancing out the set’s lighter moments.
With her folksy delivery when introducing a song, Corsaro’s straightforward performance style makes her accessible to the audience, never seeming lofty or pretentious when sharing her knowledge of the repertoire. Her love and execution of the material is impressive and it’s refreshing to hear these songs that you don’t often hear live these days.
