Lee Lessack - Chanteur (2011)

Recognizing the influence of the French chanson on the cabaret scene, Philadelphia performer Lee Lessack's first release since 2005's duets collection In Good Company pays homage to the Gallic songbook with 12 covers of some of its best-loved pieces. Apart from the flamenco guitar on The Thomas Crown Affair's Oscar-winning theme "The Windmills of Your Mind" (one of four tracks featured penned by Michel Legrand), long-term collaborator John Boswell's timeless piano arrangements are the only accompaniment, allowing Lessack's rich baritone vocals to take center stage on renditions of English-language tracks penned by French songwriters (Legrand's "The Summer Knows [Theme from Summer of '42]" and "Pieces of Dreams"), English-language translations of French-recorded numbers (Gilbert Bécaud's "What Now My Love" and "The Importance of the Rose"), and songs associated with French artists (Charles Aznavour's "She," "Yesterday When I Was Young").

Considering his pronunciation of Edith Piaf's "Hymne à l'Amour" appears perfectly acceptable, it's a shame he didn't have the courage to tackle more than one French-sung composition, while the likes of Jennifer Warnes' "Song for Bernadette," the Leonard Cohen-penned ode to the 19th century French saint who claimed she saw the Virgin Mary, and "If We Only Have Love," from the late-'60s off-Broadway musical Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, seem rather tenuous and arbitrary selections. Chanteur is a tastefully arranged tribute to the French greats of yesteryear, but it's probably more captivating as a live cabaret show than a rather perfunctory studio album. ~ Jon O’Brien

Personnel: Lee Lessack (vocal); David Boswell (guitar); John Boswell (piano).