By Ward Morehouse III

Two of greatest and most inventive cabaret and jazz singers have been heating up Manhattan after dark. Ann Hampton Callaway, in my view the greatest jazz and cabaret singer of her generation, and Chris Barrett, perhaps the most brilliant pianist-singer since the late Bobby Short and Cole Porter himself, have cast spells of unbounded joy at Birdland and La Rivista, respectively.  And at 80 years "young," Cookie Stark, the indomitable singer/director Eric Michael Gillett's latest "discovery," is delightfully droll at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. As Myra Chanin of Times Square Chronicles had said about Cookie in TSC: "Regrets? I have only one. That Cookie wasn't a singing octogenarian between 1956 and 1962 when Steve Allen or Jack Parr would have made her household word."

Ms. Callaway's new show at Birdland called “Bridges” – inspired by the song by Brazilian composer Milton Nascimento --  featured such songs as George and Ira Gershwin's "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off", and Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water.” And her rendition of the late Billy Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge," an homage to one of London's famed Thames River crossings, was as bewitching as a couple in love in the London fog. 

"Ann Hampton Callaway is one of the leading champions of the great American songbook," said Broadway World in its rave review of her show at Birdland on 44th Street just west of Eighth Avenue. "Her gifts as a singer, composer, lyricist, arranger, actress, educator, TV host and producer have given her one of the most unique careers in music today."  I would go further:  Ann Hampton Callaway is as great as the late Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. Put Ann Hampton Callaway and Tony Bennett, who many consider the best singer alive today, side by side and you'll never hear such sensational sinopation.

With its distinctive Brazilian flare, "Bridges" is a sultry, torrid, joyous fiesta. But by the time Ms Callaway sings her 10th song, Paul Simon's, the audience is in for a shock: her show won't go on for another hour - or two! -- so spellbound she had it. Her all-star trio featured fabulous Ted Rosenthal at the piano, masterful Martin Wind on bass and a just terrific Tim Horner on drums. Significantly, “Bridges” also explores how people move beyond their differences and fears.  Says Callaway:  “During the recent election, people became so hostile, forgetting about what they had in common and focusing only on their differences.  Music has the power to heal and so I am offering a show that puts a new light on things for this new year, using the symbol of a bridge as a beautiful image to contemplate in all its forms.”

Ms Calloway shot to international fame for writing and singing the theme for Fran Drescher’s hit TV series 'The Nanny" and has written over 250 songs including the Platinum Award winning hits for Barbra Streisand "At the Same Time" and "I've Dreamed of You".  

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