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... by Joanne Corsano ... joanne@picturelake.com

Zoë Lewis jumps for joy
click thumbnail to see a photo gallery
of the concert

Chatham First Night -- performers were:
Too Marvelous for Words: The words and music of Johnny Mercer at St. Christopher's Church. John Murelle (vocals), Brandon Santini (piano), two voice students of John Murelle's.
Swing 440, gypsy jazz inspired by Django Reinhardt at the Congregational Church. Tomoko Iwamoto, violin. Other instruments were clarinet, guitar, and standup bass.
Zoë Lewis at the Chatham Orpheum.

Swing 440

Zoë Lewis "Prince Of Love"

Too Marvelous for Words: The words and music of Johnny Mercer at St. Christopher's Church. John Murelle (vocals), Brandon Santini (piano).

After quite a few years of attending Chatham First Night, concert going partner and I have mastered the technique of getting it right. First Night is more crowded than it used to be back in the early 2000s when we first started going, and advance planning is critical. One factor is that our primary interest these days is seeing Zoë Lewis. But another factor is the opportunity to catch a concert by performers we'd be unlikely to see otherwise and broaden our musical horizons.

This was definitely the case with the first of the three performers we saw today, "Too Marvelous for Words: The words and music of Johnny Mercer" at 1 pm at St. Christopher's Church, a beautiful Episcopal Church near the downtown Chatham rotary. I can't say I knew anything at all about Johnny Mercer, who was a popular songwriter and singer contemporary with Frank Sinatra. But many of his songs were indeed familiar, including "That Old Black Magic," "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive," "Jeepers Creepers," and "Moon River." The singer, John Murelle, sang beautifully, accompanied by Brandon Santini on piano, and gave engaging and informative introductions to the songs and the life story of Johnny Mercer, who was extremely prolific as a songwriter and won a gaggle of songwriting awards. Two young voice students of John's each had one lead vocal during the concert. It was a very enjoyable 45 minute set of a type of music I probably wouldn't usually hear, thanks to First Night!

Swing 44 at the Congregational Church. Tomoko Iwamoto (violin), other musicians on clarinet, guitar, and standup bass.

The second band that we saw was Swing 440, led by violin player Tomoko Iwamoto. This four piece band plays a form of lively instrumental music they call gypsy jazz inspired by Django Reinhardt. Tomoko introduced each song explaining a bit about the history of the music. She was lively and engaging on stage and her enthusiasm for playing this traditional type of jazz music really sparkled. They performed a 45 minute set at the Congregational Church at the northeast corner of the downtown Chatham rotary. We had seen Tomoko play once before when she backed up Zoë Lewis at a previous First Night, and it was a lot of fun to see her heading up her own band.

After the set by Swing 440, we had an hour before Zoë's first set, so we went across Main Street and to our delight discovered a small restaurant right next to the Orpheum called Diana's, went in and had a coffee. They had just opened five days before. We wished them good luck; hopefully they can survive the quiet season before the tourist season starts up.

Zoë Lewis at the Chatham Orpheum.

Patrons from the previous show were leaving and we headed down to our usual front row seat. It was a frantic few minutes as the previous band members were breaking down their instruments and Zoë was setting up all of her various equipment. But she started almost on time and had the audience happily singing along immediately with a song even older than the Johnny Mercer numbers I'd heard earlier in the day, the 1920s hit "I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Baby)," which she plays on the piano but also vocalizes a trumpet and demands that we shout along with the word BABY! The first of two sets was especially nice as she treated us to two songs not often heard, "Forget" and "That Thing." In the case of "Forget," she dedicated it to a nice young couple, Paul and Tonya, who had come down from Waltham, MA to hear her perform and had requested the song.

She played two 45-minute sets, with entirely different songs in each set, and ended with the song "Gringo," which was the first song I'd ever heard her play, at First Night thirteen years ago, and at that time I was immediately hooked! She played piano, guitar, ukulele, whacked herself with spoons, sang the new song "Enough" about being happy with what we've got, included the laugh-out-loud funny "Breakfast Blues," and got one little dancing fiend, Emmitt, who brightened up the second set with a dance floor made for one 5-year old just in front of the stage. Happy New Year to Zoë as she's off to her annual residency in Mexico; we'll keep the Cape cooled and fresh for your return!

Set List 4:00-4:45: I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby {Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields} - 78 - Chili - Enough - Boxcar - Between Dog and Wolf - Forget - That Thing - Welcome to the Circus

Set List 5:00-5:45: Prince Of Love - Blink - Always a Sixpence - Little Bit Of Lovin' - Breakfast Blues - Never Too Old To Be Young - Gringo

After Zoë's set we took off and navigated around the east side of the Orpheum, succeeded in entirely missing the Noise Parade, got into the car, drove off to Rte. 28, succeeded in finding Old Queen Anne Road, and were on our way back to our end of the Cape without much fuss at all. Getting home early on New Year's Eve after a fine afternoon of music is my idea of how to ring in the New Year.

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