New Versions of ‘A Chorus Line’ Anthem Showcase Flexibility of American Jazz Songbook

Between 1975 and 1990, it was all but impossible not to see “A Chorus Line” on Broadway. It was, at the time, the longest running show in history — even today, it’s still in the top ten — and anybody with the slightest interest in musical theater or the American songbook was obligated to see it. It would be the one blockbuster in the careers of both composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist Edward Kleban, who died at the young age of 48.Unlike such giants of a slightly previous generation, such as John Kander or Jerry Herman, neither Hamlisch nor Kleban would ever write anything that went on to become a jazz standard. (Though the argument might be made for “The Way We Were,” Hamlisch’s 1973 movie hit with a lyric by Alan and Marilyn Bergman.)There are relatively few jazz versions of “One,” which is what show folk call “the eleven o’clock number,” the big song that climaxes the second act of a Broadway musical. Tony Bennett actually recorded a version of the song in 1970, well before “A Chorus Line” was even conceived, but that master has never been released. In 1975, he cut it again, in a hard-swinging big band arrangement by the talented Torrie Zito, which wasn’t issued until his 1979 album “The Special Magic of Tony Bennett.”Terry Waldo at the Appel Room. Terrywaldo.comIt’s something of a surprise, however, that in recent months, two jazz piano versions have been released of the song, by two very different contemporary jazz piano masters — Ted Rosenthal and Terry Waldo. Both of these new versions offer testimony to the overwhelming diversity of jazz and the flexibility of the American songbook.As composed by Hamlisch and Kleban, and heard in “A Chorus Line,” “One” was part of the legacy of new theater songs that were written to sound like old time showbiz. As with Jerry Herman’s “Show Tune” in the 1960 “Parade” (which later became “It’s Today” in the 1965 “Mame”), “One” was an ode to old-time showbiz itself, and it’s easy to imagine it being performed by Judy Garland, Eddie Cantor, or even George M. Cohan. It’s also part of the lineage of what we might call built-in nostalgia songs, such as Peter Allen’s “Everything Old Is New Again.”“One” is essentially two tunes in one. One, the famous vamp, which sometimes seems like an homage to John Kander, who made such memorable introductions a quintessential part of such songs as “All That Jazz” and “New York, New York.” The second melody is essentially the tune itself, which most of us refer to as “one singular sensation,” taking the first line of the lyrics.The musical theater has a longstanding tradition of playing with cultural time, which is why we have shows like “Ragtime,” “Chicago,” and “Grease” which were composed to sound like they were created in earlier eras. Mr. Waldo makes “One” sound like it was much older, almost like Scott Joplin, whereas Mr. Rosenthal makes it sound much more modern, more like Oscar Peterson. Both interpretations are equally thrilling.Mr. Waldo’s “One” is part of “Then & Now,” a collection of 16 tracks by the pianist and bandleader going back to 1971 and including five newly-recorded songs.Ted Rosenthal, Quincy Davis, and Noriko Ueda. Photo courtesy Chris Sulit, Lesley RosenthalMr. Waldo, who was born in 1944, was a student and protegee of the legendary pianist and songwriter Eubie Blake, and his arrangement recalls not only Blake, but the other great pianists of the 1920s, including such stride masters as James P. Johnson and Willie “The Lion” Smith. The track, which features a seven-piece band arrangement that recalls Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers, was taped in Columbus in 1996.Mr. Waldo is intrinsically comfortable with the song’s time signature, in which the jaunty two-four of a show tune becomes a dixieland two-beat. The leader mostly keeps the vamp going throughout, playing behind trumpeter Roy Tate and trombonist Jim Snyder. He plays the vamp as an interlude and then there’s a vigorous shot chorus where the horns, including clarinetist Frank Powers and Mike Walbridge on tuba solo more or less heterophonically, in a very exciting ensemble “shout” chorus.The ending is a surprise: we expect a big finish, but instead it just goes into a gradual fade out, as if to indicate that the band is playing for dancers, and that the dance isn’t going to end anytime soon.Ted Rosenthal, who is currently 66, is more associated with modern jazz, although he is hardly a diehard bebopper. He works with any number of cutting edge players, but he also was the pianist of choice to deputize for George Gershwin during most of the centennial celebrations for the “Rhapsody in Blue” in 2024. Mr. Rosenthal also prioritizes the opening motive, at first stating it as we are accustomed to hearing it. But almost immediately he starts playing around with the time signatures. The piece settles into a 4/4 swing groove, spotlighting plenty of interaction with bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Quincy Davis. He hammers the famous vamp so aggressively that he eventually twists it into an entirely new shape.This is a perfectly arranged trio track, which reveals all the inherent possibilities still to be found in the venerable format of piano, bass, and drums. Mr. Rosenthal builds to big thunderous crescendos and also throws in daring, unexpected rests — those trapdoor silences — to make room for a bass solo and at the same time, underscore the terpsichoric nature of the piece. In spite of all the boppish inflections, this is still a dance number. Another factor that Mr. Rosenthal and Mr. Waldo have in common is that they are both extremely prolific, recording and releasing multiple albums in a short time. Mr. Waldo also has three relatively recent releases on Turtle Bay Music, including “I Double Dare You” with the fine vocalist Tatiana Eva-Marie (reviewed in these pages) and a two volume series titled “Treasury.” Mr. Rosenthal has three other CDs coming out in 2025 and 2026, also including “The Ted Rosenthal Songbook,” “Classics Reimagined: Imprompt2” and “The Good Old Days.”Surely, the late Hamlisch and Kleban, who were both jazz fans, would approve. These performances by two very different but equally excellent pianists should serve to encourage jazz musicians to explore the musical theater of the last 50 years for source material. When it comes to great songs from contemporary shows, clearly, there’s more than one.

New Versions of ‘A Chorus Line’ Anthem Showcase Flexibility of American Jazz Songbook

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