Two Billy Joel Tributes Honor New York’s Utmost Piano Man

Back when I wore a younger man’s clothes, and Billy Joel was still creating his classic albums, I regarded his songs as usually falling into one of two categories. The first group consists of songs where he’s relatively happy and upbeat, like “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,” “Uptown Girl,” and “Just the Way You Are.” Billy Joel tends to be especially upbeat when referencing earlier pop styles. Then again, Mr. Joel’s music is possibly even more enjoyable when he has a little bit of an attitude and is slightly annoyed, as “My Life,” “Big Shot,” “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” and “You May Be Right.” Somehow it seems even more life-affirming when Mr. Joel is decidedly pissed off. My affection for Billy Joel songs rose a few steps upward in the last week with two first-rate presentations of his songbook, one with a jazz flavor given by the excellent singer, pianist, and bandleader Tony DeSare at Birdland, the other presenting a parade of pop and rock stars at Carnegie Hall, produced by Michael Dorf of City Winery.During the “virtual” second act of the Carnegie show — since there was no intermission during the two and a half hour presentation, there was no actual second act—the Brooklyn based singer Sammy Rae introduced a stunning, optimistic version of “The River of Dreams” by observing that Mr. Joel’s songs touch on a wide variety of styles, from pop to rock to soul to folk to R&B as well as those oceanic genres known as jazz and classical. He added that Mr. Joel’s music renders the very notion of categories irreverent. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the Carnegie event, which Mr. Joel, 76, attended but did not perform at since he is recovering from a brain disorder, was an omission. It was a mystery how they could have devoted an evening to one of New York’s greatest songwriters in New York’s greatest concert hall and in front of a room full of nearly 3000 New Yorkers and not do “New York State of Mind”; at Birdland, Mr. DeSare sang it using the “Rhapsody in Blue” as a framing device.There are two distinct ways to interpret Mr. Joel’s songs: the first is to take them just the way they are, the other is to do something new and different with them. At Birdland, Tony DeSare kept the original flavor of the songs while transferring the specifics into the jazz vocabulary, playing everything with a largely acoustic trio, with Dylan Shamat on bass and Mike Klopp on drums. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” felt kinder and gentler than usual, and more personal, not least because Mr. DeSare’s given name is actually Anthony. Mr. DeSare also delivered a thoughtful piano instrumental take on “The Stranger,” substituting jazz improv for Mr. Joel’s whistling on the 1977 original, leading directly into “Don’t Ask Me Why.”At Carnegie, the principal accompaniment was the actual Billy Joel band, led by musical director David Rosenthal. This was mostly for the good, but it underscored a tendency, mostly for the many male singers, to try and do more of a direct imitation of Mr. Joel—this being more of a tradition in rock-driven tribute shows. Some of these were fine and moving, like Rob Thomas singing “Vienna” —Tony DeSare has also posted an excellent rendition of that same song.Most of the glory at the Carnegie show went to the female artists, starting with Yola, who came forth with a powerful gospel take on “Movin’ Out,” as did Ledisi with “Turn the Lights Back On.” Nearly all the ladies triumphed with very warm and intimate, highly moving renditions of Billy Joel perennials: Mary Chapin Carpenter with “And So it Goes,” Natalie Merchant with “Allentown,” and the remarkable Bettye Lavette with “He’s Got a Way.” These were almost always with just a piano, often their own, or guitar. As far as the male singers went, I found myself also drawn to those who sounded least like Mr. Joel himself, like Rufus Wainwright on “Lullaby, Goodnight my Angel,” the rapper Wyclef Jean on “My Life,” for which he was joined by an ensemble of four student musicians and four backup singers from the Music Will program, sponsored by the Joel Foundation. Then too, the band itself provided a few highlights: Mr. Rosenthal offered an ingenious piano instrumental take on “For the Longest Time,” rendered after the fashion of the Mozart “Sonata facile.” The seven musicians of the band also gave us an epically cinematic treatment of “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” as did Mr. DeSare at Birdland.The piece that defies interpretation is Mr. Joel’s signature, the 1973 “Piano Man.” It doesn’t make sense to try anything new because no matter what you do, the crowd is going to sing along and barely hear you. At Carnegie, Andrew McMahon did a letter perfect recreation of the original track, even with a harmonica that replicated the exact sound of Mr. Joel’s own. At Birdland, Mr. DeSare slowed it down even while leaning into the waltz time signature, and dispensed with the harmonica altogether. Neither performer had to encourage the house to join in on “Piano Man” —rather, just try and stop us. We were all in the mood for a melody. Now about that younger man whom I spoke of earlier: he called me recently, to let me know that he wants his clothes back.

Two Billy Joel Tributes Honor New York’s Utmost Piano Man

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