Sandy Stewart - Sandy Stewart Sings The Songs Of Jerome Kern (1995)

THE MARRIAGE OF THE LYRICS TO THE MUSIC THAT KERN wrote is so perfectly realized and so easy to sing because there’s not a line or a note that doesn’t coincide with perfection, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been singing his songs since I was a little girl. Moose [Charlap, Stewart’s late husband] said once that every jazz composer thinks of Kern’s “All the Things You Are” as the perfect song. It’s like the National Anthem but better. No offense to America—I’m very patriotic! As I get older, I find more creative things to do with the melody and the lyric itself, which hopefully you’ll notice in the show. You just can’t miss with a Kern song.

Kern is a giant. Everybody knows it, it’s common knowledge in America and across the world. I lived in a time in my youth when there was such magic in the theater and such total creativity, and it was not so much competition between the great composers as much as it was a wonderful time on Broadway.

I grew up. I got older. I learned about loss, great loss in my life, great joy in my life, and it’s a matter of using your life experiences and transferring them to your audience. When I sing a great song, I want the audience to know that these people took time and effort and joy and love to write these wonderful stories, and I want to tell it like it is and not just sing the song. How can I explain it? I know one of my great experiences was when I was singing one of the old ballads and after I finished, no one applauded. I thought everyone had left the room. I didn’t know what was going on. But then I realized what a great complement they were giving me, because I touched their hearts, and that’s something I love to do, because my heart was touched and I want to convey that experience to them. ~Theresa Anna