Cole Rumbough

Cole Rumbough

Le Cirque Café, NYC, April 27, 2015

 Reviewed by Elizabeth Ahlfors for Cabaret Scenes

Cole Rumbough is only 24 years old, but his musical soul is all about the Great American Songbook. He is a popular feature at society benefits and has been seen at Birdland’s Sunday Jazz Party and Jim Caruso’s Cast Party. He presented an original song, “Pour l’Amour du Chocolat” at the Mabel Mercer Cabaret Convention at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He took part in the Cabaret Marathon at the Metropolitan Room in January, singing, “Day In, Day Out” (Rube Bloom and Johnny Mercer).

Recently, Rumbough has appeared at Le Cirque Café on Musical Mondays where, crooning and swinging his classic standards, he is attracting a chic young audience. In an issue of Greenwich Look magazine, he commented, “I love the glamour, the clothes, the cars and the lifestyle of the ’20s through the ’50s.” This is the music that drew his attention in childhood and cabaret is the venue he aims for. This isn’t hard to understand since his grandmother, actress Dina Merrill, took him to his first cabaret show, featuring Christine Andreas, at Café Carlyle. Cole was entranced and found his career.

On a recent Monday at Le Cirque, Rumbough, with his jazz trio—pianist Sterling Overshown, Devon Gillingham on bass and Mario Irigoyen on drums—offered a special press preview. Meticulously dressed and gracious, he showed his smooth tone, precise diction and a generous songbook. While ballads reveal sincerity, he reaches valid authority in light swinging numbers with jazz snap, like “I Don’t Know Enough About You” (Peggy Lee, Dave Barbour).

Le Cirque Café is more of a bar than a cabaret and, while not a saloon singer, Rumbough was at ease with the background chatter. This might be the reason for his lack of patter. He knows his craft well and his phrasing tells the story, but for a cabaret show, he also needs verbal communication with the audience. What does he have to say about his song choices and how do they affect him and us? Singing “That Face,” he neglected the song’s opportunities to charm the table of young ladies in front of him.

Most likely, future outings will show him off to full advantage.

Tags: American Songbook, Birdland's Sunday Jazz Party, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, Café Carlyle, Christine Andreas, Clubs, Cole Porter, Cole Rumbough, Composers, Crooner, Dave Barbour, Day In Day Out, Devon Gillingham, Dina Merrill, Elizabeth Ahlfors, Great American Songbook, Greenwich Look, I Don't Know Enough About You, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jim Caruso's Cast Party, Johnny Mercer, Judy Schiller, Le Cirque Café, lyricists, Mabel Mercer Cabaret Convention, Mario Irigoyen, Metropolitan Room, Musical Mondays, Musicals, Nightclubs, NYC, Peggy Lee, Popular Song, Reviews, Rube Bloom, saloon singer, Show Tunes, Singers, Songbook, songwriters, Standards, Sterling Overshown, Supper Clubs, tribute show, Venues, Vocalists

Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews