Jane McNealy | "Marsha Bartenetti sings McNealy & Kuhns"

Advancing years and a stage four cancer diagnosis spurred songwriter, composer, arranger and librettist Jane McNealy to sift through the pages of her songbook of jazz, pop, soul, funk and folk tunes as well as theatrical material penned for stage and screen, selecting what she felt are some of the best songs, many of which she wrote with longtime collaborator Alice Kuhns. Set list in hand and with legacy on her mind, McNealy headed to the iconic Capitol Studios to record the material as she always envisioned the songs to sound. Giving voice to the opulent, exquisitely orchestrated collection is award-winning vocalist Marsha Bartenetti. The album, “Marsha Bartenetti sings McNealy & Kuhns,” drops April 1 on McNealy’s Lo-Flo Records.

One would imagine that assembling a “time capsule” of your life’s work, spanning more than fifty years of music, would be an emotional experience and the album is indeed an emotional listen.

“This album is extraordinarily rich, expressive, layered and complex. It’s a lot to take in in one listen. It is a combination of everything that I love that I’ve written over the years that shows in total what my artistic life has been about,” said McNealy, who was mentored by the late Harold Battiste Jr. and has collaborated with Dr. John, Joyce Dunn, Tami Lynn, Lydia Marcelle, Judy Karp, Henry Butler, Andy Simpkins and Roy McCurdy among others.

Relying upon Mike Watts to masterfully orchestrate and arrange “Marsha Bartenetti sings McNealy & Kuhns,” McNealy knew that key to bringing to life a project that has such meaning and significance was finding the right voice to illuminate the songs. The tracks were already complete when Bartenetti entered the picture.

“Lyrics are everything to me. Whenever I choose songs to record, my first consideration is the lyric and how I resonate to the story…and then, of course, melody. Jane and Alice’s songs paint very evocative pictures – like you are walking into an impressionistic painting. And the lush arrangements of the songs create depth and texture, supporting each lyric. I was very drawn to the longing and hope in their lyrics as well,” said the elegant-voiced Bartenetti, who is also an actor and well-known voiceover artist.

McNealy knew what she found in Bartenetti, saying, “The subtlety and depth of Marsha’s interpretation, the haunting quality that she infuses into each song, her light touch, the fluidity of her vocal range - all this and more is interwoven into a fine tapestry of musical poetry on the album.”

“Marsha Bartenetti sings McNealy & Kuhns” can be categorized as a jazz vocal album although the project is diverse stylistically, offering a wealth of sophisticated sounds akin to a collection of contemporary classics and standards culled from the great American songbook.

The first of three singles that will preview the album, “Why Does The Sky Keep Changing” will drop March 4 along with a video. Dramatic and desirous, underscored by sweeping strings and Bartenetti’s yearning portrayal, the song was penned for the musical “Gauguin” written by McNealy and Kuhns about the French Post-Impressionist artist. A snapshot of a frayed relationship with a straying lover is depicted on “Running Around,” a jazzy single coming March 11 bolstered by Jeff Bunnell’s classy trumpet and Rusty Higgins’ soulful saxophone. Dropping March 18, Bartenetti’s voice beams wistfully and longingly like an amorous dreamer on “Love,” written for the musical “Primrose Hill.”       

The variety show continues as “One Day At A Time” dances to Latin and Afro Cuban rhythms, a soaring jazz number propelled by trumpet, sax and Watt’s gleeful piano, buttressing Bartenetti’s impassioned voice. Vacillating between a gentle waltz and a brisk bebop cadence, “What Is Today Without You” is a showstopper composed for the fantastical musical “To Be Fred” that ruminates on isolation, imagination and ardent pining. Jazz singer and four-time Grammy winner Sarah Vaughan performed “I Never See That Rainbow Anymore,” a bluesy jazz joint featuring yet another knockout performance by Bartenetti about unrequited love. McNealy wrote “Kite In The Clouds” in fond remembrance of her father. The cut is a bright-eyed carnival ride that soft shoes to ragtime piano and whimsical percussion.

“Marsha Bartenetti sings McNealy & Kuhns” is the type of big-budget album the major labels used to make, and you can hear it in the finished product. McNealy is proud of the record and delighted to spotlight Bartenetti. Like uncovering a time capsule buried in the backyard, she hopes that new listeners for years to come will discover these songs for the first time and that people already familiar with her catalogue will fall in love with it as beautifully rendered by Bartenetti. And McNealy acknowledges that the album may present a challenge.

“I think it’s probably extremely difficult to describe this album because it’s almost like eating chocolate mousse seven times. Making it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be treasured forever.”