Sandra Piller: Sings the Hit Parade Music of Ruth Roberts
Sandra Piller
Sings the Hit Parade Music of Ruth Roberts
Tom Rolla’s Gardenia, West Hollywood, CA, October 9, 2015
Reviewed by Elliot Zwiebach for Cabaret Scenes
Sandra Piller gave new life to a series of songs written by Ruth Roberts, her late mother-in-law, in an evening recalling some terrific music recorded by some terrific artists that nevertheless may not have gotten the exposure it should have in its time.
Perhaps its time is now.
Roberts wrote music and lyrics with various partners — all of it very melodic and singable, managing to convey complex emotions in a simple, straightforward manner — and Piller was able to add her own twist to several of them with arrangements that belied a hint of the country style with which she is most comfortable.
Her take on “Blue Piano” (based on music by Duke Ellington, with lyrics by Roberts, Bill Katz and Stanley Clayton) was warm and solid, with less of a jazz sound than the version recorded by Freda Payne in 1964. There was a definite Latin beat on “Dark Eyes and Pink Champagne,” (Roberts/Katz/Clayton), recorded by Lawrence Welk in 1967.
The show also featured the Duke Ellington instrumental, “C Jam Blues,” for which Roberts, Katz and Bob Thiele wrote lyrics in 1967 to create “Duke’s Place,” a swinging, spirited number delivered enthusiastically by Piller. She was right in her comfort zone with “Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues” (Roberts/Katz/Clayton), with its strong rockabilly sound that made it a hit for Buddy Holly in 1957 and was subsequently recorded by the Beatles, who were Holly fans. She was also right on point in conveying the clear, deep emotions on two haunting ballads — “Illusion” (lyrics by Roberts, music by Roberts’ son, Mike Piller) and “Winter Snow” (Roberts/Katz), an unrecorded song given to Piller by Roberts.
Piller also demonstrated a keen ability to delight an audience on several up-tempo songs: a toe-tapping “Strike While the Iron Is Hot” (Roberts/Katz/Clayton), recorded in 1957 by Red Foley; “Fair Weather Sweetheart” (Roberts/Katz), recorded in 1959 by Teresa Brewer; a wonderful counterpoint song called “If I Had You on a Desert Isle” (Roberts, husband Gene Piller and Katz), originally sung by Jeanette Davis and Arthur Godfrey, but performed here by Piller with an adept vocal assist from pianist Charlie Harrison; and one of the best songs of the night — the bouncy, swinging “All in a Night’s Work” (Roberts/Katz), recorded in 1962 by Dean Martin — which here featured strong work by Dan Sawyer on saxophone and Henry Newmark on drums.
There was also a medley of classic sports songs that Roberts wrote — the New York Mets’ theme, “Meet the Mets” (with Katz); the Los Angeles Dodgers’ theme, “It’s a Beautiful Day for a Ball Game” (with Katz/Gene Piller/Harry Simeone); and the football classic, “Mr. Touchdown USA” (with Katz and Gene Piller).
There was also a wow moment of recognition for some older audience members when Piller performed “Just Young,” (written by Roberts under her mother’s name, Lya S. Roberts), which Paul Anka recorded in 1959; and a pleasant memory to hear Jimmy Dean’s 1965 hit, “The First Thing Ev’ry Morning” (Roberts).
Category: Cabaret Reviews, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Cabaret Reviews, Regional
