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Don't Tell Mama, cabaret theatre in NYC
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Volunteer to entertain senior citizens
Cabaret Hotline, information about cabaret
Nite Life Exchange, it's all about entertainment
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SPEAKING OF JIM A Conversation with Jim Speake By
Daryl Glenn
How long exactly does it take to become a cabaret performer in big bad NYC? Well, I suppose the question
is extraordinarily open to interpretation, especially if you take a good look around at the great variety of newbies at the
gate each and every year! But in general, most folks try their luck at some point earlier than their 60th birthday. Not so with folksy, friendly and fascinating entertainer Jim Speake. A week or
so ago Mr. Speake and I sat for a chat on the steps of a statue in Madison Square Park, and he filled me in on how this unusual
turn of events took place.
It isn’t as if he didn’t
have some theatrical aspirations as a youth in Decatur, Alabama, but they were not particularly championed by his parents.
Not unusual for the time, and doubtless not so unusual today, unless perhaps "American Idol" comes calling! So,
off to school he went where he obtained degrees from both the University of Alabama (Business) and the University of Georgia
(Landscaping & Architecture), which eventually led to the creation of his own extremely successful company specializing
in outdoor furniture. Still, Speake always had a passion for showbiz in his blood, which he fed by singing with the choruses
at both of the institutions he attended. It was in Atlanta at the tender age of 48, that Mr. Speake began serious voice lessons
and he finally decided to take that leap of faith, landing in the Big Apple in 2000. Right from the start he had the good
fortune to participate in classes at the renowned HB Studios with esteemed teachers such as KT Sullivan and guest teacher
Eric Michael Gillett, as well as voice instruction from Broadway star David Sabella (Chicago) and well known cabaret performer Patrick DeGenarro. All of this led, eventually,
to his fortuitous enrollment in the popular and long running, Summer in the City seminar series taught by cabaret royalty Lennie Watts and Lina Koutrakos. The lessons
learned and friendships made there eventually led to what was to be Speake’s NY debut show (0 to 60 in a NY Minute) which played at the now defunct room “Mama Rose’s.”
The show was intensely autobiographical, tracing Speake’s journey in song to his current state. Speaking of states,
Speakes tells me he was overwhelmed and thrilled with the turnout. “I had people from Alabama, Georgia, Washington DC…about
55 people were from out of town.” And to make extra sure his entrance into the NY cabaret society was complete, two
gals from Alabama arrived with suitcases filled with cheese straws for the tables. After all, “Mother always said it’s
not a good party unless you have cheese straws!”
When the time rolled around to formulate his latest endeavor, Mr. Speake took his cue from an arrangement
class (with Watts and always ingenious musical director Steven Ray Watkins) where he performed a highly successful entwining
of the classic tunes "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and "You are My Sunshine." “I enjoyed it
so much and performed it a couple times and people seemed to love it. I thought, I love that music that I grew up with, let’s
do a show around it!” And that’s exactly what he did, creating a new revue, still very personal and yet
incorporating (and limited to) familiar and fondly recalled (at least to Mr. Speake and me!) melodies from the '60s and '70s
pop canon. This fresh, popular concoction was titled Jim Speake Sings My Generation, which also became the moniker of his recently released debut recording.
Working on the new evening with Watts and Watkins, Mr. Speake found ever so clever ways to relate the interesting story
of his life through the rings and rhymes of popular artists as diverse as Carly Simon, James Taylor, Carole King, Stevie Wonder,
Billy Joel, Paul McCartney and more! The show has already had several successful runs at fabled and famous Times Square cabaret
club Don’t Tell Mama, where it will return Saturday, October 9th at 5:30pm to celebrate
the release of the CD! Attendees will receive a copy of the disc as part of the cover and who knows, we can always close our
eyes and wish real hard for one of those cheese straws. Odder things have happened, like suddenly becoming a very well
liked and respected NY cabaret performer in your 60's! Cheers!
Nite Life Exchange.com
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NEW
CD OF THE WEEK - October 30, 2010
JIM SPEAKE SINGS MY GENERATION
CDs come in many "flavors".
The first CD we covered in this series was a "compilation" CD, created by Christine Lavin that featured Holiday
Songs called "Just One Angel" and featured 22 songs by 21 artists. The songs were recorded individually, and probably
in several studio locations. Last Saturday we covered John Barr's "All I Am", which was a "studio" recording,
featuring one artist and recorded in a professional recording studio. This week (by accident, not design) we're going to write
about a third type: the live recording. In cabaret circles that means a recording of an actual live performance in a cabaret
room before a real audience. Sometimes 2 or 3 performances are recorded, and the best tracks of each show are spliced together
for the final CD. Jim Speake's debut CD "Jim
Speake Sings My Generation" was recorded at DON'T TELL MAMA in October of 2009, and was released just a few weeks ago.
I happened to receive my copy in the mail on Thursday. I immediately popped it into my iMac and loaded it into iTunes - then
downloaded it into my iPod for listening. Naturally, the sound quality of a "live" recording in an actual cabaret
room (with a live audience) is not the same as a pristine studio recording, which allows instant re-takes and dubbing. But
this is more than made up for by the "real" feeling of a "real" cabaret performance. The reactions and
applause of the audience to each of the songs is documented. This show, which I actually saw "live" twice and might
even have been in the audience when it was recorded, lends itself easily to this type of CD. It's a "laid back"
kind of show, by a "laid back" kind of guy. It's a collection of songs from "Jim's generation", the 1960s
and 70s. If you're over 40 you'll love
this CD - and under 40's will certainly get a great taste of the songs their parents enjoyed in High School & college.
Songs like "Up, Up and Away", "Up on the Roof", "The Long and Winding Road", "It's Not
Unusual". Jim is joined by back-up singers Wendy A. Russell and Lennie Watts (who directed and appeared in the cabaret
performances). Musical director is Steven Ray Watkins, with Jerry Smith on drums and Dan Fabricatore on bass. There's even
a "bonus track" of Jim performing at the age of 4! The songs are all performed with no frills, bringing back memories of those days we sang in the back of the
bus on the way home from High School, or to the 8-track in the car headed for the beach. True un-adult-erated fun, a CD you
will listen to often (and a great gift for folks of Jim's generation) The CD is available at http://www.jimspeake.com/ and other outlets where quality CDs are sold, including iTunes. Stu Hamstra THIS ITEM WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE MEMBERS ONLY NEWSLETTER ON OCTOBER 30, 2010
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JIM SPEAKE SINGS of MY GENERATION By Sherri Rase, (Q)on Stage New York’s Performance & Arts Reviews Jim Speake certainly has a way with a song. Nowhere is this more apparent than in his brand-new CD
"My Generation." On the CD, subtitled "Songs of the 1960s and 1970s," Jim does a diverse range of hits
that will have you tapping your foot along with him, if not actively singing along. But don't sing with him until you've really
given him a listen.
Including songs like "Up, Up and Away" and, of course, "My Generation"-with
a bit of a twist-this is a live album gleaned from his hit cabaret show, under the direction of Lennie Watts and musical direction
of Steven Ray Watkins.
It is difficult for me to listen to a live album and not wish that I had been there. Jim
covers ballads like Jim Croce's "I Got A Name," and hits like "Up On The Roof," "Last Night I Didn't
Get to Sleep at All," and a song that seems like it might be an anthem for him, "I Believe in Love."
Whether
it's his Chicago medley, or "I've Got the Music in Me," there's something for everyone. I have to say, however,
that my favorite cut on the album is the bonus track-a recording of Jim at four years old, singing "Shanghai Lil"
and already showing the verve and charm he has in such abundance today. He's really tapped the zeitgeist of people in all
generations.
CD of Jim Speake sings My Generation
is available at CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/speakejim and iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jim-speake/id380601898.
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12/14/2009 Jim Speake Sings My Generation
By: Joel Benjamin at
TheaterScene.net Jim Speake, the affable singer, brought his autobiographical show, Jim Speake
Sings My Generation to the cabaret mecca, Don’t Tell Mama. All eighteen songs were decidedly of Seventies’
vintage and all of them were familiar to those of us in our late forties and beyond. It was smart to use material that automatically
induced ready-made feelings and images in his audience. Mr. Speake cleverly sang arrangements--by his Music Director Steven
Ray Watkins--that kept the essence of these songs as we remember them, yet brought out Mr. Speake’s special persona,
which includes a fine, deliciously rough-edged tenor and a boyishness that bordered on the shy. He is a slender, handsome
man with graying hair, who projects pleasantness to the n-th degree.
Interspersed
between the songs Mr. Speake spoke of his upbringing in Alabama, his parents, Annie Lucille & Otto—“spelled
the same backwards and forwards!”—and his unavoidable decision to go out on his own, winding up in New York City
where he has had a reasonably successful career as a singer/actor. Casually dressed in a black blazer, jeans and white shirt,
he presented a gimmick-free program that opened with “Up Up and Away” and finished with “I’ve Got
the Music In Me.” At first he seemed a bit stilted in his movements, but opened up both vocally and physically with
Jim Croce’s “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim,” to which he added a mini-medley of other songs. Once
warmed up, he still moved about minimally, but seemed more full-bodied and connected with the material. By the time he sang
the last three songs, “Solitaire,” by Neil Sedaka, Billy Joel’s “My Life” and the afore-mentioned
“I’ve Got the Music In Me,” by Bias Boshell, he was firmly committed to the sub-texts of the songs and their
meanings and My Generation became a fulfilling expression
of both his strong vocal instrument and his life story.
His back-up singers, Wendy A. Russell and Lennie Watts (who doubled as the show’s
director) were remarkable in their ease and comraderie. Along with Mr. Watkins on the keyboard were the terrific musicians
Jerry Smith on the drums and Dan Fabricatore on the bass guitar who let Mr. Speake shine in his own right while keeping the
musical standards high.
JIM SPEAKE SINGS MY GENERATION
December 14th
2009 at 7:30 PM Don’t Tell Mama
343 West 46th St. New York,
NY Information & Reservations: 212-757-0788 & www.DontTellMamaNYC.com Contact Jim Speake at www.jimspeake.com Contact Joel
at TheaterScene.net
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QUOTE: “ When I saw Jim Speake’s cabaret show “I’m A Brass Band”, I had sort of a
revelation. It realizes the three “C”s of the genre: connection to song, connection to self, connection to audience.
Mr Speake is a natural for cabaret.” Stu Hamstra, Cabaret
Hotline Online, 23 April 2007
Jim Speake - Jan Wallman Review Friday,
19 September 2008 14:06 At 2:30
PM on a Saturday afternoon, the houselights dimmed and plunged the Metropolitan Room into darkness to allow Jim Speake and
his musicians to get in place on the stage to present I’m a Brass Band, a tribute to songwriter Cy Coleman. When the
stage lights came up, they centered on Speake sitting on the piano! I have always disapproved of this use of a defenseless
musical instrument. My first thought was, "How did you get yourself trapped into this assignment, Jan? You're going
to hate this show!" But after a few bars, this completely- unknown-to-me--- but very attractive and well-dressed
--- man climbed down from his perch on the Yamaha, greeted his audience and proceeded to deliver one of the best programs
of its kind that this reviewer has seen in a long while! All the elements came into play: There’s the comfortable
venue, the inspired Steven Ray Watkins Trio (with Fred Kennedy drums, and Matt Wigton on bass), those great Cy Coleman hit
tunes written with some of the cleverest lyricists of their day (Dorothy Fields, Carolyn Leigh, to name a couple), lights
and sound by Michael Barbieri, direction by Lennie Watts and this ingratiating performer- what more can an audience ask for? With a minimum of talk, most of it utterly
charming and to the point, Speake, a captivating Southern gentleman who has morphed into a sophisticated urbane New Yorker,
gave us a show to remember. Culled from Coleman's best songs written over several decades, first for his own jazz trio, and
pop/jazz singers (think Sinatra and "Witchcraft") to a string of Broadway shows in later years, notably Sweet Charity
and Barnum. These songs celebrated the career of one of the high priest composers of the Great American Song Book. Speake has a strong emotional
connection to this material, all of it top drawer. High points were the Carolyn Leigh section where he sang the lesser known
but utterly delightful "I Walk A Little Faster" and, for me, a definitive version of "The Rules of the Road,"
a number that has been done a lot, but never better. Then, he moved on to Dorothy Fields (Sweet Charity): a rousing
exercise of "I'm a Brass Band" and entreated us to "Come Follow the Band" written with Mike Stewart for
Barnum. I swear to you that if the trio led by Jim Speake had marched off the stage playing this stirring piece, the
entire audience would have marched along out to West 22 Street with him. This was truly exhilarating Cabaret and we
can hope to see and hear more of Jim Speake. (Editor’s Note: Well, folks, now you can! See dates above.) Don’t
Tell Mama, where the act is seen this October, is on Restaurant Row, 343 West 46 Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.
Phone number for reservations is 212-757-0788. There is a $15 cover charge and a two-drink minimum. MAC/AEA/Cabaret
Hotline discounts apply to cover charge. Cash only. More on this singer at www.JimSpeake.com Nite Life Exchange.com
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