Ron Kaplan: New York

Kapland Records, no #, www.RonKaplan.com
Classy Ron Kaplan returns with a sleek
concept album that does all the Big Apple
classics right. While somebody or another
has done the definitive version of each of
these, Kaplan, a leading member of the
American Songbook Preservation Society
(www.greatamericansongbook.org), sings
with loving care and feeling, and has his crack
band executing exquisite arrangements: these
are keepers. He leads off with a good-as-Billy
Joel “New York State of Mind,” then, with
his cool, clear diction, delivers an instructive
“New York New York” (the Tin Pan Alley
“Helluva Town” one your gran’pa was always
humming.) He’s got similar, you-gotta-hearthis
versions of “Lullabye of Broadway” and
“Harlem Nocturne,” but when he “Takes This
A Train,” he has the conductor slow to an ohso-
leisurely stroll. The effect is remarkable.
This subway with scenery makes New York
city vivid and real, even to those who’ve never
been there, and also shows off what a great
piece of music Billy Strayhorn’s composition
is – in case anyone needs convincing. Another
knockout is a revived “On Broadway.” Kaplan
brilliantly avoids the expected slinkiness, and
cuts it the way Sammy Davis Jr. or Lou Rawls
would have done it, big and loud and funky
and swingin’. When the CD ends, just try not
to hit “replay!” Dare ya! (Tom Petersen)