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| ERIC COMSTOCK & BARBARA FASANO’S FIRST JOINT CD “PAINTING THE TOWN” DROPS TODAY After four solo CDs each and midway through their 20th anniversary year, singer/pianist Eric Comstock and vocalist Barbara Fasano release their first joint CD, PAINTING THE TOWN, on February 24, 2025. The acclaimed married musical couple ("swinging, artistic, and superbly entertaining" – Ira Gitler) have painted a portrait of their love for one another, the music, and their "brilliant, resilient helluva town." The single, Paul Simon's OLD FRIENDS, dropped on February 3. Eric & Barbara will launch the CD with a concert at Birdland Jazz Club on Sunday, March 2 at 5:30pm. Joining them on PAINTING THE TOWN are their frequent collaborators Sean Smith (bass) and Vito Lesczak (drums), plus their special guest, legendary tenor saxophonist Houston Person. The 15 tracks run an eclectic gamut from well-known standards (Cole Porter's "In the Still of the Night, " Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's "Tonight") to rarities such as "I Cannot Hear the City" (Marvin Hamlisch, Craig Carnelia), "Still in Love" (Billy Strayhorn), and "Brown Penny" (Duke Ellington, John Latouche), and is divided between solos and duets. Other songwriters on the CD include Carole King, Billy Eckstine, Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, Johnny Mercer, Jimmy Van Heusen, Paul Simon, and Joni Mitchell, reflecting their passion for an ever-evolving American Songbook. One of the goals of the project was to recreate the intimate, spontaneous live vibe of one of their sets at Birdland, where they are Resident Artists. "We recorded everything in two days at Reservoir Studios in New York, & there were moments of magic, " Barbara adds. "On day one, we learned that Paul Simon was working in the other studio. When he learned that we were about to lay down "Old Friends, " he spent nearly an hour in our studio, talking to us about phrasing, chord voicings, and instrumentation. He even gave us a change in the lyric! Then we recorded it, now sprinkled with pixie dust by an American icon. It was easy to make the choice that "Old Friends" would be the single." "With all the thousands of tunes we've performed over the years, you might expect wrangling over repertoire, " says Eric. "Yet choosing the tunes was surprisingly painless. And isn't it perfect that we're releasing it as we celebrate our 20th anniversary?" Eric and Barbara's cozy Upper West Side apartment is filled with awards for their concerts and recordings - 9 MAC Awards, 5 New York Bistro Awards, the New York Nightlife Award, and the Mabel Mercer Foundation's Donald F. Smith Award. Eric has been called "the truest heir to the much-missed Bobby Short" (The New York Times) and praised for his "expert musicianship and joie de vivre in equal measure" in The New Yorker. His prior recordings include "Young Man of Manhattan, " "All Hart, " "No One Knows, " and "bBitter/Sweet." Barbara has been hailed by The New York Post as "a gorgeous, soulful singer who has an actor's intensity in whatever she sings" and by The New York Times as "a lyrically sensitive interpreter." Her latest CDs, "Written in the Stars" and "Busy Being Free, " were both awarded the MAC Award for Recording of the Year. In addition to Birdland, they have headlined at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Music Mountain, Saratoga Jazz Fest, Monteverdi Tuscany (Italy), Pizza Express Live (U.K.), and at jazz clubs, cabarets, and festivals throughout the U.S. As Eric puts it, "We feel so lucky that, after 20 years, we're still inspired by one another, the music, and our city, and we're thrilled that now it's 'on the record.'" write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |