Barb Jungr performed her New American Songbook show at the St James Theatre Studio, London
The Men I Love: The New American Songbook – Barb Jungr at the St James Theatre Studio, London.
The second of four Fridays with that real singer’s singer Barb Jungr at the plush St James Studio was always going to be a treat, provided you were prepared to cast aside preconceived ideas about how hugely popular songs of the last 50 years should be sung.
Jungr’s show featured the work of great male songwriters of the last half-century, not least Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Webb and Neil Diamond, putting a new spin on material that has stood the test of time, songs like ‘Wichita Lineman’, ‘I’m a Believer’, ‘The River’, ‘You Ain’t Going Nowhere’, ‘Everything I Own’, ‘Can’t Get Used to Losing You’ and ‘Red Red Wine’.
Some work better than others, one’s view often dependent on how you viewed an iconic treatment of the song in the first place, but there’s no denying the thought that Jungr has put into every interpretation, in collaboration with her regular accompanist Simon Wallace on piano.
Everything comes up fresh and always interesting. The slowed-down ‘I’m a Believer’ took some getting used to and ‘Wichita Lineman’ definitely wasn’t what Jimmy Webb had in mind at the time, but for infusing new life into familiar and much-loved material, this two-hour trawl was never less than fascinating.
Jungr, from Eastern European stock via Rochdale and Stockport, is one of the few British cabaret artists who is known and respected in the States and this New American Songbook show was first tried out at the famed Cafe Carlyle in Manhattan. The last time I saw her, she was the only British performer at the 2008 New York Cabaret Convention. The New York Times called her “a fearless iconoclast who dives into the deepest waters of popular song to wrest exotic treasure from the ocean floor” and nobody would argue with that.
In the four Fridays of July she is showcasing at St James her four highly-praised albums From Stockport to Memphis, this one, then Barb Jungr Sings River, her collection of the redemptive and cleansing nature of the river, metaphorical and real (a taster for which we got here with Springsteen’s ‘The River’), and finally her take on her favourite man in Barb Jungr Sings Bob Dylan. Jungr has already put together two albums of the great songwriter’s work and a third is to follow.
No wonder she has been chosen as a headliner at the London Festival of Cabaret which will be running at various venues throught the capital in October and November. Her show at the Soho Theatre from 22-26 October called Mad About The Boys and No Regrets is a must for any aspiring singer.
Many new-generation stars would benefit from spending time in learning exactly how a song should be performed and projected. It certainly doesn’t hurt that apart from a terrific voice, outstanding timing and a top register that never wavers, Jungr also has a winning sense of humour and delightful linking patter that makes an evening in her company an unusual pleasure and a true eye-opener.
Do try and catch her if you can.
Jeremy Chapman
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