The Mabel Mercer Foundation presents The Music of Jimmy Van Heusen - New York City Article

The Mabel Mercer Foundation presents:
“All the Way: The Music of Jimmy Van Heusen”
Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall
57th Street & 7th Avenue
Friday May 18

You probably know and love more songs by Jimmy Van Heusen than you realize - especially “Come Fly with Me” and “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head,” which, in recent years, seems to be heard on the soundtrack of virtually every third movie and commercial. Yet if the name itself doesn’t ring any bells (other than the shirt company that he named himself for), it’s undoubtedly because Van Heusen (1913-1990) wrote for superstar singers, like Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, and, most of all, his carousing buddy Frank Sinatra, and for Hollywood movies (garnering four Oscars) - as opposed to Broadway shows, where such colleagues as Irving Berlin and Rodgers & Hammerstein were more likely to get their names above the titles. That Van Heusen was a world-class melodist and a composer for the ages will be shown in this highly-welcome concert produced by the Mabel Mercer Foundation, including the best of his collaborations with lyricsts Johnny Burke, Sammy Cahn, and Johnny Mercer. One is especially heartened that that the MMF’s Madame Chairwoman, KT Sullivan, has, admirably, lined up all the major Van Heusen specialists in New York for this auspicious occasion: Jeff Harnar, Nicolas King, Marissa Mulder (also appearing in her own highly-recommended show on Saturday at the Beach Cafe), Shana Farr, Eric Yves Garcia, newcomer Joie Bianco and the priceless duo of Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano. As wordsmith Sammy Cahn once famously quipped regarding his two most famous associates, “The trouble with Sinatra is that he thinks he’s Van Heusen.”

Click here for more info and tickets.