Hilary Gardner and Ehud Asherie have a new release out called “The Late Set’ and we were treated to a lovely afternoon performance at our studios in Seattle.
The two met while both studying classical music together in Brooklyn, NY and quickly transitioned to jazz while playing the after hours set at Mezzrow Jazz Club in Greenwich Village. Those late night performances were the impetus for this new release.
They kicked off their performance with the 1930’s song ‘Sweet And Slow’ by Harry Warren. Ehud who heard a version performed by Fats Waller brought the song to Hilary’s attention, the song was originally written by Harry Warren and lyrics by Al Dubin, for the movie Broadway Gondolier in 1935.
Gardner’s voice had a lovely light timber in her higher range with a full lushness in her lower register. She says her influences ranged from Joni Mitchell to Ella Fitzgerald.
The next song they performed was ‘I Never Has Seen Snow,’ written by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Truman Capote. The song is from the musical House of Flowers, which is based on a novella written by Capote. A commonly recognized song from the show is ‘A Sleeping Bee’ made popular by Nancy Wilson. Gardner joked that it was an odd choice of lyrics to by sung by someone from Wasilla, Alaska.
They rounded out their set with ‘After You’ve Gone’ by Turner Layton and Henry Creamer. It gave Ehud a chance to stride out in the old-style piano popular to the time the song was written in 1918.
