In October 2004, songwriter, arranger, and pianist
Wally Harper died, robbing
Barbara Cook of her accompanist and musical partner of more than three decades' standing. Not surprisingly, she has reacted by dedicating this album to him and including on it four of his songs ("The World Must Be Bigger Than an Avenue," written for the 1973 Broadway revival of Irene; "I Never Knew That Men Cried" from the 1974 musical White Nights; "Another Mr. Right Left"; and "Sing a Song with Me," performed as a medley with
Irving Berlin's "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy," which she has recorded several times before). But the selection can also be taken as a tribute to songwriter
Harold Arlen at his centenary ("I've Got the World on a String," "Out of This World," "Last Night When We Were Young") and to
Arthur Schwartz's 1951 musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ("I'm Like a New Broom," "I'll Buy You a Star," "Make the Man Love Me"). And then there is a handful of great show tunes
Cook somehow has never recorded before (Lerner & Loewe's "Hurry, It's Lovely Up Here" from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever;
George Gershwin's "Nashville Nightingale" from Nifties of 1923;
Jerome Kern's "Bojangles of Harlem," first sung by
Fred Astaire in the film Swing Time; Charlie Chaplin's "Smile"). In
Harper's absence,
Cook is accompanied by
Michael Kosarin, augmented by a small orchestra. While there are certainly moments of sadness, particularly in "Last Night When We Were Young" and "Smile," that will call to mind
Harper's passing to those aware of it, this is hardly a melancholy album, and anyone hearing it without knowing the context is liable to take it simply as another
Barbara Cook album in which her sweet voice caresses another set of high-quality songs mostly borrowed from vintage musicals in a mixture of standards and little-known gems. ~ William Ruhlmann