Janis Siegel & Yaron Gershovsky | The Colors of My Life: A Cy Coleman Songbook

When The Manhattan Transfer performed its final concert at Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall last December, the event brought to a close one of the most storied chapters in vocal jazz history. Several months later, founding member Janis Siegel described her mindset as, “a kind of mourning,” while pianist and longtime musical director Yaron Gershovsky admitted to a deep sense of sadness.

Not that the pair was at a loss for the next step on their musical journeys. Over drinks at the bar following a Transfer concert several years earlier, Siegel and Gershovsky discovered that both had worked with the revered songwriter Cy Coleman – Gershovsky as the vocal arranger for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical City of Angels, Siegel as part of the all-star vocal ensemble for Coleman’s final collaboration with lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman at the Kennedy Center. 

That conversation soon evolved into a full-fledged project: The Colors of My Life: A Cy Coleman Songbook, available now from the Club44 label, features the duo’s spirited interpretations of ten favorite Coleman compositions, pairing Siegel’s unmistakable voice with Gershovsky’s inventive music and vocal arrangements. The album boasts an elite roster of musicians including bassists David Finck and Boris Kozlov, drummer Cliff Almond, guest vocalist Aubrey Johnson, and The Crosby Street String Quartet. 

Despite the timing, The Colors of My Life was never intended to open a new chapter in either musician’s career; it just so happened to arrive at an ideal moment of reflection, as both suddenly had time to pause and think back over their multi-hued trajectories. Its release marks the first songbook album of Siegel’s diverse and prolific career, the first collection in her rich discography devoted to the work of a single composer.

Ten-time Grammy winner Siegel has long enjoyed an acclaimed solo career in parallel with her work with the Manhattan Transfer, including collaborations with pianists Fred Hersch, Edsel Gomez, Cedar Walton, Gil Goldstein, John di Martino, Addison Frei, and fellow vocalists including her former Transfer bandmate Laurel Massé, Lauren Kinhan of New York Voices, Bobby McFerrin, and Bob Dorough.

Gershovsky is a highly accomplished, internationally recognized and award-winning pianist, arranger, composer and producer who has recorded and performed with such artists as Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders, Lonnie Smith, Steve Gadd, Take 6 and the Count Basie Orchestra. His Broadway credits include vocal arranging for the Tony Award-nominated musicals Swing and City of Angels, and serving as keyboardist for Broadway megahits Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera. He has been the pianist and musical director for Manhattan Transfer since 1979.

The personal connection that both collaborators shared with the urbane and jazz-inflected Coleman inevitably helped shape the album’s artistic vision. “There was definitely a resonance in visualizing how Cy might like what we were doing,” Siegel said. “He was always a third, silent partner in this endeavor.”

“Many times as I was toying around with my arrangements or reharmonizations,” Gershovsky added, “I was imagining Cy sitting at the piano next to me, listening and commenting about my choices. The challenge was always to put our personal stamp on the music, with all respect and deference to the music, just to make it a little fresher or more daring.”

Siegel credits the songwriter’s roots as a jazz pianist for the allure of his musical ideas. “I love the sophistication of his harmonic sense and the way his melodies fit with the chords,” she explained. “That's borne out by the types of artists that have covered his tunes: Blossom Dearie, Mabel Mercer, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Mark Murphy – singers that want that kind of sophistication and musicality.” 

The repertoire on The Colors of My Life ranges from familiar standards to more obscure material. The former proved the most daunting for the veteran arranger – how does one put a fresh spin on a song as oft-performed as “Witchcraft,” for instance? Gershovsky’s answer was to return to the lyric, which in Coleman’s case are provided by such wordsmiths as Carolyn Leigh, David Zippel, Peggy Lee, Joseph McCarthy, Michael Stewart, and the Bergmans.

The finger-snapping swing of “Witchcraft” thus becomes an entrancing spell cast by Gershovsky’s mesmerizing piano, while “The Best Is Yet To Come” gilds the song’s optimism with the steely determination so necessary for bringing hopes to fruition. Opening track “I’ve Got Your Number” is playful and sultry, Siegel playing the temptress as a cat toying with an enamored mouse. 

Sourced from City of Angels, “With Every Breath I Take” is, appropriately enough, breathtakingly beautiful, as is the melancholy “Being Without You,” which Siegel took note of during that Kennedy Center workshop and always knew she’d return to. “I’m Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life” is given a contemporary pop gloss with electric piano, shimmering synths, and Transfer-style vocal harmonies. 

The title track is given the hipster elegance of a Henry Mancini arrangement, while the instrumental “Playboy’s Theme” spotlights Gershovsky with a Neal Hefti-style buoyancy and Aubrey Johnson joining Siegel to weave more lush vocal tapestries. The co-collaborators pair off for two voice-and-piano duets: the last-call bop of “That’s My Style” and the wistful “Why Try to Change Me Now.” With this vibrant new collection, Siegel and Gershovsky add several bold and graceful new colors to their already kaleidoscopic collaboration.