“And It Begins”

Chris Lowe

(Lojo LOJO01)

Born in Massachusetts, raised in Hawaii, Chris Lowe grew up listening to Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, the Miracles and the Temptations. Then, in his early teens, he discovered Broadway. Lowe’s aptly titled debut CD is his tribute to the Great White Way and an excellent demonstration of what he can do with good material. Co-producer Pierre Grill provides the instrumentation as Lowe covers eight decades of Broadway classics in impressive style.

Lowe excels at singing big dramatic songs such as “Some Enchanted Evening,” the great love song from “South Pacific,” and “The Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha,” but those show-stoppers represent only one section of his repertoire. “Bring Him Home” demonstrates Lowe’s ability to go high and sing with delicacy. The experience he gained doing musical theater in high school and college also enhance his renditions of songs from “Oklahoma!” and “Guys and Dolls.” If there are songs here that the listener is not already familiar with, Lowe makes them welcome discoveries.

Lowe gets superb support from Grill. The multi-Hoku award-winning producer does what is probably his career-best work here as Lowe’s studio orchestra. True, there’s nothing comparable to the sound of a “live” symphony orchestra and chorus — at least when a producer has an unlimited budget to work with. Few if any first-time recording artists have that luxury these days. Grill’s studio wizardry provides full and satisfying orchestration and makes Lowe’s debut album a complete package rather than an artist’s demo.

Broadway classics have been bowdlerized over the years either in the interests of political correctness or by directors who chose to indulge their personal egoistical notions of what a great lyricist “should” have written. Diamond Head Theatre artistic director John Rampage set an admirable example in 2014 when he decided that DHT’s production of “Showboat” would be performed with the lyrics of the original 1927 show, even though they included what is now commonly referred to as “the N-word.” Lowe is more cautious with his arrangement of “Ol’ Man River,” one of the show’s most memorable songs; he uses a later version that includes the reference to “the white boss” heard in the original but omits the “N-word.” The most important thing for people who buy Lowe’s beautifully crafted album is that his choice of lyrics doesn’t reduce the power and passion of his performance.

“Free At Least” from “Big River,” Broadway’s take on Mark Twain’s classic adventure novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” closes the album with similar strength and emotion.

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