Mama Told Me Not To Come...

The Jazz Bus: Mama, told me not to come…
A few months ago Randy Newman and his piano thoroughly entertained a very sparse crowd for two magnificent sets of music from his long, storied catalogue. A lone spotlight led the man of the evening to the grand piano which was slightly off center of the C.W. Post College’s Tilles Center stage. A quick bow to acknowledge the few in the house and IT’S MONEY THAT I LOVE led the way. Off and running, the first few selections seemed somewhat rushed and pedestrian, without spirit. Prior to the fourth number Mr. Newman who seemed perplexed addressed the audience, telling his first of many humorous anecdotes. Complete with an impressive 19 Academy Award nominated songs ( 1 Oscar) ,five Grammy’s ,three Emmy’s to his credits, and a few gold records songs thrown in , this man with an acerbic tongue commented on how and why the “ rich people dressed as empty seats” so as not to be seen as a fan of his. A few nervous laughs from the crowd, a sip of water for the pause he needed for it to sink in and both he and the collective we seemed a bit more relaxed. With SHORT PEOPLE he had the audience in the palm of his hands, by POLITICAL SCIENCE which ended the first set, he had us standing.
During the second set which featured many songs from HARPS AND ANGELS he commented about the children in the audience and stated with tongue planted firmly in cheek, “if I knew you were going to bring them, I would have played the Toy Story stuff early so you could go home”. He then described his reminisces of the Dick Cavett’s interview of Lester Maddox which prompted Newman to pen the song “Rednecks”, a funny song better understood after the story was revealed. The 33 song double set offered on our night was in anticipation of the May 1 release of RANDY NEWMAN SONGBOOK #2, “picking up from where #1 didn’t go”. A shout of “We Love You” from one member of the audience was met quickly with (the profanity removed) “Next time bring some X-ing friends”. Ah, a night to remember…Jazzbus@gmail.com