I'm glad to have caught the final (of four performances) of Dane Vannatter's shows at The Metropolitan Room Saturday night. He's always a pleasure to hear and see, but this show obviously had special meaning to him, mainly because he was offering songs from an album in his father's extensive collection: Tony Bennett's "Alone Together" (oddly not available on CD). He mentions that as a teenager, he usually listened only to the music of his own generation, but once he heard Bennett's album he decided he wanted to become a singer himself.

Stylistically, about the only comparison Vannatter has to Bennett is that they both are comfortable in jazz arrangements, have perfect pitch and employ great phrasing. There is no obvious imitation, intended or otherwise; just wonderful singing of fine American standards, beginning with the title tune by Dietz and Schwartz, done with a smooth Latin rhythm, long drawn lines, and remarkable playing from a his trio: Enrique Haneine on piano, Thomson Kneeland on bass and George Farrell on drums. For some reason, his September Saturday evening shows seemed to have occurred at a time of hurricanes (both Hannah and Ike), wind and rain, (including this night), and oddly several of the tunes mention the weather: "I'm Always Chasing Rainbow" (Carroll/McCarthy) began with a walking bass and was sung in a loose tempo, "It's Magic" (Styne/Cahn) - "explain those rainbows when there isn't rain" - done extremely slow, with great personal emotion; and "Gone With the Wind" (Wrubel/Magidson) which he punched out, displaying his jazz chops.

Some of the center section of the set was perhaps a little too ballad heavy, but he completely put his own stylistic stamp on each song, and his lyrical interpretation cannot be questioned. Arlen's "Out of This World" and "Poor Butterfly" (Hubbell/Golden) were both powerfully sung, with broad, dramatic drawn-out lines. Vannatter is very generous in sharing the stage, recognizing his excellent musicians, particularly the exceptional playing of Enrique Haneine. What a great player this young man is. I hope to hear more of him.

Vannatter mentions that he grew up in rural Muncie, Indiana, so when first listening to Bennett's album, he hadn't been fond of Bart Howard's "A Walk in the Country" because he said he found it a bit corny. However, he sang this rarely performed piece beautifully, melding it with the more popular Howard tuner "In Other Words," which began very slowly with the verse before picking up steam in the chorus. Haneine's work at the Yamaha was particularly fine here. "After You've Gone" (Creamer/Layton) provided worthy solos by all, with a particular nod to Kneeland on bass.

Hats off to this Hoosier crooner, now Boston-based, in his salute to our own Astoria crooner.

~ Gregg Culling, NYC

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The show was excellent!!! Dane Vannatter is a truly wonderful singer. He is passionate about his music. I would HIGHLY recommend this show to anyone interested in The Great American Songbook.

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