Spencer Day

With Jack Petruzelli and Rayna Dae at The Cabaret in The Savoy Room

Reviewing Jessica Molaskey's appearance at the Savoy Room cabaret series just last month, I made note of her eclectic song choices, her improvisatory, jazz-oriented performance style and her “cool, '50s hipster image”. Now, preparing to discuss singer/songwriter Spencer Day's performance at the same venue, I'm strongly tempted to use some of the same words.

Day's performance style is similar and, like Molaskey, Day goes far beyond the classic American Songbook to include material by Gene Autry (“Tumbling Tumbleweeds”, from the 1935 Republic western of the same title), Marty Robbins (“Devil Woman”) and Thelonious Monk (“'Round Midnight”). The similarity even extends to the number of performers with whom he shares the stage. Molaskey had Tom and Ray Kennedy; Day has New York guitarist Jack Petruzelli and vocalist Rayna Dae.

Superficial similarities aside, however, Day has a take on the cabaret genre that's all his own. He is, to begin with, a capable pianist as well as singer. He's also a prolific songwriter, with kind of hip, urban sensibility that reminded me of (among others) Billy Joel, Kurt Weill and Lorenz Hart. Day's own compositions, in fact, take up the bulk of the evening, thereby providing Savoy Room audiences with something they rarely hear there - brand new songs. And pretty darned good ones, at that.

“Moon Over Manhattan”, for example, is the story of a couple on the run from the New York mob, anchored by a driving ostinato inspired by Gene Krupa's drumming on “Sing, Sing, Sing”. “Good Time Guy” takes the kind of cheerfully jaundiced view of romance you often find in the songs of Burt Bacharach (to whom it's dedicated). “Movie Of Your Life” asks the listener to review his life as a film, making clever use of movie critic clichés in the process (“Was there too much that it lacked? / Did you want your money back?”). And “If Tomorrow Never Comes” makes an anti-war statement quietly, without preaching. Perhaps that a bit of the Kurt Weill influence?

Speaking of influences, my ears detected bit of Elvis (Costello, not Presley) in the lower, darker end of both Day's vocal range and, occasionally, his subject matter. An example of the latter is the quartet of songs that takes up much of the second half of the program. The titles, if I'm deciphering my hastily scrawled notes correctly, are: “Out of My Hands”, “You'll Come Back to Me”, “Don't You Worry About Me” and “Last Train to New Jersey”. Each one represents a progressive deterioration in the mental state of the narrator as he tries - not very successfully - to come to grips with a failed love affair. I'm reminded of Ira Gershwin's lyric in “But Not for Me”: “With love to lead the way/ I've found more clouds of grey/ Than any Russian play/ Could guarantee”.

Fortunately for everyone's mood, he completes the set with the darkly comic “Stalker Serenade” (“I've got a restraining order...”) and the program as a whole with the inspirational “Show Me the Way”.

Day delivers all this with a kind of casual and self-effacing elegance that creates a quick bond with the audience, and gets solid support from his co-stars. Rayna Dae, looking and even sounding a bit like the young Bonnie Raitt, provides solid backup vocals and does fine solo work on “'Round Midnight”, while Jack Petruzelli's guitar work displays impressive versatility. Put it all together, and you have yet another solid entry in the Savoy Room series.

The current season concludes on March 22nd through 25th [2007] with an appearance by Broadway star Marin Mazzie. For more information, call 314-533-9900 or visit the web site. For more information on Spencer Day, including upcoming appearances and samples of his music, visit his web site.

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