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New JerseyJazzSociety
Jazz Social | The Elegant Style of Ronny Whyte
March 21 | Shanghai Jazz
Story and photos by Tony Mottola Jersey Jazz Editor
For his first number at NJJS’s Sunday
afternoon Jazz Social March 21 at
Shanghai Jazz, Ronny Whyte chose Jerome
Kern and Johnny Mercer’s “I’m Old
Fashioned.” It was the perfect choice for the
polished singer and fine pianist whose style
recalls the charm and elegance of the golden
age of American song.
Whyte, it seems, was destined for a life in
music. “My parents met on the dance floor,”
he said, noting his early memories of a
piano bench full of music. “I think Sinatra
was the first word I learned how to say.”
The fledgling pianist learned to play jazz
in the U.S. Air Force and became hooked
on the music. Soon after he headed for
New York City where he “wanted to do
everything — jazz pianist, singer, actor.”
He landed in the city at a time when
piano bars abounded and soon found work,
also having the good fortune to befriend
Bobby Short and Mabel Mercer who served
as early influences.
Over time the versatile artist tried his hand
at writing Off Broadway plays and went on
to star with Hilary Kole for a two-year run
in Our Sinatra, as well as its two national
big band tours to more than 90 cities. He
was featured twice at New York’s JVC Jazz
Festival and was inducted into the Cabaret
Jazz Hall of Fame. He is also producer of
the long-running and now twice weekly
Midtown Jazz at Midday at New
York’s St. Peter’s Church.
Whyte has left the dwindling
piano bars behind, appearing
mostly on the concert stage these
days, and the show at Shanghai
recalled those halcyon bygone
days when the price of a drink
would buy an hour or two of
up-close and intimate song. The
singer mixed standards like
Tommy Wolf’s “Spring Can
Really Hang You Up the Most”
(in honor of the unusually balmy
March weather) and lesser known
gems like Ellington’s “Tulip or
Turnip.” One standout was a raucous
“Lulu’s Back in Town,” with additional
updated lyrics by Jack Burns (“Gotta get
my hair all spiked with gel…”).
The singer is also a talented songwriter and
lyricist and his two sets included a halfdozen
examples, including “It’s Love…or
Not,” “Bohemia After Dark” (Whyte’s lyric
set to Oscar Pettiford’s bop tune), the
bittersweet “Forget the Woman” (recorded
by Tony Bennett on The Art of Excellence)
and his new “It’s Always Christmas in
New York” (“That was the world premiere,”
he announced).
Throughout the afternoon Whyte displayed
a wry sense of humor, remarking for
example, his tongue in his cheek, “I’m
sure no one here has ever heard of Dave
Frishberg,” before launching into the
near hysterical “Blizzard of Lies” and
concluding with “The Hampton Blues,”
his own tune set to Jack Burns’s lyric
(“My Prosac isn’t working and
my yacht is in dry dock”).
A fine and funny afternoon indeed.
The house was full and left
happy, many after snapping up
one of the singer’s CDs. For more
information visit www.ronny
whyte.com. For upcoming schedules
of Midtown Jazz at Midday
visit www.saintpeters.org JJ .
The current Jazz Social series
concludes with a presentation by
pianist Lenore Raphael on May 16
and will resume in September after
a summer hiatus.
May 2010
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