This entrancing, brand new collection from the fabulous Barb Jungr is subtitled “the new American songbook,” and functions on two levels. The first, as a record of her triumphant debut last year at New York’s posh Cafe Carlyle Supper Club, and secondly, as a valentine to some of the songwriters responsible for these "new classics" of our time. They include absolute gems from the likes of David Byrne, Neil Diamond, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, Todd Rundgren, David Gates, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Jimmy Webb, among others. As is her tradition, Ms. Jungr deconstucts each of these selections and tailors them to her singular,extraordinary style.

The Village Vanguard is celebrating its 75^th Anniversary this month, February of 2010, and Lorraine Gordon is still at the helm! This week she brought in a talented, award-winning group of young musicians to perform at the renowned jazz club, the Gerald Clayton Trio. Gerald Clayton (best known for playing with Roy Hargrove) was on piano, Joe Sanders - bass, and Justin Brown was the drummer.

Grab your mink and don your top hat, we’re off to the Coconut Grove or some glamorous boite of yesteryear. The age of the sumptuous supperclub is back in business if the lush song stylings of Elena Bennett are any indication! Elena, where oh where have you been? Like some crazy mixture of Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Lena Horne and any number of other uber-divas, she knocks each and every song on this stellar collection right out of the ball park!

I must reveal, the first few tracks did not thrill me. Nothing wrong with them, they just seemed pedestrian, but suddenly Ms. Brown launched into an infectious arrangement of the oh-so-famous Charlie Chaplin composition “Smile,” and her joyous rendition of this classic song, set to a rousing samba, grabbed and held my attention!  In case you don’t know, Ms. Brown was the original Mary Poppins, in its Broadway incarncation, and this album is a testament to how she landed this prestigious engagement. I would have preferred she had opened the disc with one of the uptempo selections (“Saturday Night Is The Lonliest Night Of The Week” or “Let’s Fall In Love”),

Pianist/Composer Emilio Solla and the “Tango Jazz Conspiracy” came to the Jazz Standard on a night in February, 2010, rejoicing in the release of their new CD, Bien Sur! It was a pretty packed house on a Tuesday night, as a lot of people enjoy Argentinean tango and jazz, along with good food from Blue Smoke Restaurant.

Watching a singer like Rosemary Loar who brings a bright jazz swing and a subtle, good-humored sexiness to almost everything she sings makes you realize the crucial role good instincts play in the too often self-conscious, overly-confessional and sometimes overwrought world of cabaret singing. Such traits are on display in her new ambitious show, oddly named Sting, Stang, Stung!