Jeff Harnar - A Collective Cy: Jeff Harnar Sings Cy Coleman (2023)

Heigh Ho, dear lovely rainbow tribe, welcome back to Bobby’s CD sandbox where we offer our broken-down breakdowns of new music releases. So, strap in and get ready, as Bobby goes on the record ABOUT the record.

This week’s album entry in the BobbyFiles comes from Jeff Harnar and his forty-year Musical Director Marriage to Alex Rybeck (the two friends even did an anniversary concert earlier this year that had 54 Below packed like a Streisand concert). A COLLECTIVE CY is a kind of cabaret a cast recording of Harnar’s award-winning show of the same title, which the genial cabarettist has been playing for, oh, a minute now to rave reviews and, sold out houses. SRO shows seem to be a bit of a thing for Mister Harnar, but, then, he is the best in the business. You see, my dearlings, Jeff Harnar has mastered something that, while not quite a lost art form, is becoming more and more rare and that is the A-R-T of cabaret. Our adorable boss, Broadway World Cabaret editor Stephen Mosher, likes to use the phrase “Cabaret and Concert” when discussing the industry of small venue performing, and he is right to do so because modern times have seen more and more concerts playing the stages that, once, were dominated by cabaret artists. And while the umbrella created by “Cabaret and Concert” gives loads of lovely artists of every genre a place to call home, there is an actual difference between a cabaret show and a concert... and nobody knows that better than La Harnar, and nobody shows off that art form better than La Harnar. A COLLECTIVE CY is a gorgeous dream album of a recording that shows off both of Jeff's mad skills at cabaret storytelling and music making, at the same time.

A right and proper cabaret, either in person or on Spotify, is a little bit theatrical (you all know how Bobby loves theatre), requiring a scooch more of an arc than just a musical "set," but within that arc is a grouping of anecdotes, each one of them designed to stand alone as its own story, and each one of them treated like a musical monologue. A COLLECTIVE CY sets the tone right out of the gate with Mister Rybeck’s jazz-infused arrangement of YOU FASCINATE ME SO. with that smooth-as-silk Harnar voice singing the notes while interpreting the words until the listener gets to the very last word of the song and BAM! … there is acting. Sorry, darlings, Little Bobby will not be spoiling Rybeck and Harnar’s intentions - you’ll have to listen to the album to hear that of which we speak. Listen how, as the set of 14 songs creates a definite mood with a most definitely Sixties/Seventies bop to MY PERSONAL PROPERTY and MY CITY from Sweet Charity (1969) and Seesaw (1973) - you can almost see the Go-Go Dancers in psychedelic mini skirts with holes cut into the midriff and little gold chains holding the material together. This is what happens when two proficient professionals go to the drafting table with vision and intent, and Harnar and Rybeck accomplish the tasks they set for themselves.

The Boyz didn’t work alone on the album, though, because two’s company but six is a party. Jeff invited some of his friends of the cabareting persuasion to join him in his Cy Coleman tribute, and if Jeff Harnar is enough to make a recording great, this cast of characters makes A COLLECTIVE CY grand. There is a sultry, tongue-in-cheek performance of I’VE GOT YOUR NUMBER (from LITTLE ME) with jazz icon Ann Hampton Callaway, a tender, soulful IT AMAZES ME (a hit for Tony Bennett) with Sean Harkness, the greatest guitarist on God’s green earth, and a groovylicious RHYTHM OF LIFE trio between Jeff and singers Danny Bacher and Nicolas King (OHHHH the harmonies!) with Bacher bringing out his sax for a sweet sounding solo. But wait, there’s more! Harnar and Rybeck also offer a duet of Jeff singing OUR PRIVATE WORLD from ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY with the one and only Liz Callaway (another Rybeck long hauler), and a trio of A DOODLIN’ SONG (DOOP-DOO-DE-OOP) that features the greatest bassist in the free world (a direct quote from Nancy LaMott), Jay Leonhart, and Mister Rybeck himself. These recordings of Jeff and friends make one wish for an entire album of duets, a la Sinatra.

But, even so, dearest Bobby fans, a duets album isn’t necessary because Jeff Harnar is enough. The proof is in every cut on A COLLECTIVE CY, and all you need is a bright and hopeful SOME KIND OF MUSIC backed by the full orchestra that the gentlemen employed for the album to get you going every morning. It’s liquid joy in Harnar’s loving hands, to say nothing of his lovely, lovely voice, but two tracks stand out as really special, the first being SO LITTLE TIME (from BARNUM) which is so contained that it’s deceptive since, halfway through the song, you realize that the performance is bigger than the sky. The second surprise on the album is WITCHCRAFT (a hit for… you guessed it… Sinatra) that features vocals by Jeff Harnar that Little Bobby didn’t know existed. If you know, you know, and Bobby didn’t know. It has to be heard to be believed. Sensational.

In all, dear Bobby Readers, A COLLECTIVE CY is a perfect representation of what it is to be a cabaret artist, and listening to it makes Little Bobby wish that there were a performance of the show from whence cometh this sigh-inducing listening experience because A COLLECTIVE CY gets our full.