Customer Reviews

You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile: Jason Graae Sings Charles Strouse

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Jason Graae has a truly wide-ranging voice, and sings both uptempo songs and ballads with great style on this disc. Don't let the absurd cover photo scare you off -- it's a great disc for fans of vocal pop music.

If you've never been to a real cabaret performance - heck, even if you have - then check out this album. Jason has captured on an album the mood and atmosphere of the cabaret experience. From the entertaining "novelty" songs - which he infuses with his own apt sense of humor - to the ballads interpreted beautifully, he's pulled everything together with selections from the Charles Strouse songbook that couldn't be more appropriate. And then there is his ideal use of the medley format. Oh, and did I mention he's got a great voice to back it all up? This album has it all and still I wanted more.

Jason Graae has created an excellent collection of Charles Strouse songs. The ballads are superior and the uptempo songs good but sometimes a little over the top when they don't have to be. The selection of songs is good.

This is absolutely one of my favorite CDs, and I'm not even a huge Charles Strouse fan. Jason Graae is charisma personified -- I would be surprised if someone who likes musical theater could listen to this without smiling.
A quick run-down of songs:
My favorites are "One of a Kind" from Applause and "You've got possibilities" from Superman - both songs I only moderately like from the cast albums. The modified, context-free lyrics are still funny, and Graae sells the songs quite well. His impressions during "Applause" are funny (if not necessarily genius), and his banter with Kaye Ballard in "You've Got What I Need" is hysterical. And his solo-male-backed-up-by-women version of "Bye Bye Birdie" is great -- re-casting the song as a song Birdie himself could have sung.
It's not perfect -- some of the slower ballads are lacking the special spark that fits the novelty/cabaret-style numbers. And I fully acknowledge that this CD won't be for everyone -- if you prefer musicals more broad and sweeping a la Phantom, much of this would seem silly. But if you love musicals and cabaret-style songs, this'll be a blast.

This is a terrific album. Jason is a warm, captivating, funny performer and he brings out the best in all of these songs by Charles Strouse. I've seen him live a couple of times and he's winning on stage, too. He's got terrific instincts and they serve him well in whatever material he's choosing to tackle. He's got wonderful control of his instrument and we're lucky to have his performances captured on this CD and many other recordings.

I just wish he'd do some more cause I'd buy every one of them!

Jason Graae, a terrific tenor, has put out a very strange recording, which I both love and hate. The ballads are extremely sensitive and moving, but then he does a bunch of novelty songs,that are actually painful! Why foul up a great recording with such junk as a the latin based "I Lost the Rhythm" or the duet with Kaye Ballard. True Graae fans will love the ballads, but don't let the novelties steer you off of buying this album.