Chanteur
Award-winning recording artist Lee Lessack premieres his newest concert, Chanteur. Conceived and directed by Tony Award® nominee Brian Lane Green, Chanteur is an homage to the Great French Songbook – from an American perspective.
From Mercer to Brel • from the Broadway stage to the streets of Paris • from Sinatra to Aznavour • from Leonard Cohen to Michel Legrand • from the Great White Way to the Champs-Élysées!
Lee Lessack
LEE LESSACK’s graceful lyric baritone vocals and sophisticated yet endearing persona have made him a shining star of the international concert scene. Billboard Magazine calls his singing, “Cabaret romanticism of a high order.” Touring extensively in the United States and Europe to sold-out performances and releasing five albums, Lessack has proven himself both as performer and recording artist.
Lee’s newest concert is titled CHANTEUR and is an homage to the Great French Songbook, celebrating music by Michel Legrand, Jacques Brel, Gilbert Bécaud and Charles Aznavour to name just a few. “Chanteur” also marks Lessack’s seventh recording and fourth solo album. In addition to his solo concert appearances, Lessack also tours with critically acclaimed vocal trio, 3 MEN AND A BABY…GRAND!, and appears in concert with television favorite, Linda Purl (“The Office,” “Matlock,” “Happy Days”.)
His fifth and most ambitious recording to date, In Good Company, was released to great acclaim. Intimate and impeccably produced, the album beams with outstanding performances. Featuring duets with music notables like Michael Feinstein, Maureen McGovern, Amanda McBroom, Ann Hampton Callaway and Stephen Schwartz, it has earned a MAC and Bistro Award for Best Recording of the Year.
Mr. Lessack, who attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, has also released four other critically acclaimed albums, including a live recording of a 2001 concert tour Too Marvelous For Words: The Songs of Johnny Mercer. “Too Marvelous,” recorded at the famed Cinegrill in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, was chosen for the preliminary ballot for 2002 Grammy Awards®.
Other recordings include Mr. Lessack’s self-titled debut solo album, his GLAMA Award®-winning, I Know You By Heart, the cast recording of An Enchanted Evening: The Music of Broadway, and a LIVE recording of his critically acclaimed vocal trio, 3 Men and a Baby…Grand Salute The Rat Pack.
A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Lessack makes his home in Los Angeles, where in 1996 he founded LML Music (www.LMLmusic.com), whose catalog of CDs includes over 100 of the country’s top live recording artists and performers.
People are saying...
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“Lee Leesack's masterful new cabaret show offers a Francophile's journey through French (and French influenced) material, from Charles Aznavour and Michel Legrand, of course, to Broadway's Lerner and Loewe (C'est Moi) and Rodgers and Hammerstein (Dites-Moi). Along the way, he reveals both his own intimate connections to his choices and also illuminates it with fresh insights, too. This is the best kind of cabaret: personal as well as passionate it is revelation of an incredibly rich repertoire.”
— Mark Shenton, The Stage (UK) -
“American pop music has a plethora of songs with French titles. Take, for example, Rodgers' & Hammerstein's "Dites-moi", and Lerner and Loewe's "C'est moi" from the world of Broadway. And, legendary French pop singers of the past like Chevalier, Piaf, Brel and Aznavour are almost as well known in the US as Dylan, Presley and Sinatra. So, we should not take for granted the effects of French culture on American music. International singer Lee Lessack concurs as he presents an outstanding cabaret of mixed French and American tunes with a French flavor called Chanteur, vibrantly conceived by director Brian Lane Green.
— Don Girgware, BroadwayWorld.com
Lessack's towering presence and gentle charisma with his audience are strong and his interpretation of the material intense especially with the music of Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour. He really has a good ear for these classics, digging deeply into the emotions and playing out the quick dramatic twists and turns to the utmost effect. He manifests an uncanny mastery of Brel's "In the Port of Amsterdam" and "Madeleine" and Aznavour's "She" and "The Sound of Your Name". Also highlighted is the remarkable Michel Legrand. Lessack goes to the very heart and soul of "Pieces of Dreams", the haunting "Windmills of Your Mind", and fiercely romantic "I Will Wait for You". Lessack's loving encore "Song of Bernadette" by American composers Leonard Cohen, Jenifer Warnes and Bill Elliott richly conveys the undying beliefs of the young French saint in 1858 Lourdes, making universal her hope for the redemption of mankind.
Chanteur adds greater dimension to Lee Lessack's already vast musical repertoire, putting him within la creme de la creme of pop musical artists. His rich vocal style and understated charm make his concerts a sell out wherever he goes. This new and exciting French program should delight Parisiens.” -
“The BEST male cabaret singer to come along since Michael Feinstein”
— Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune -
“A riveting performance that touches every emotional chord”
— Washington Blade -
“Lee Lessack will take your breath away. A wonderful romantic crooner”
— InTheater Magazine -
“Impeccable selection of songs, superb phrasing, a cumulative effect that guarantees a smile on every listener's face. Ample quantities of warmth, joy and intelligence. RARE, SUPERB, and thoroughly enjoyable!”
— Rex Reed -
“His tone is remarkable; He floats phrases in a sort of half-whisper, his dusky tenor rippling with just a touch of vibrato.”
— Daryl Miller, LA Times -
“A superior vocalist, whose perfect phrasing, tonal purity, and fluent, whisper-soft tenor place him in the category of singers in cabaret whose voices should be heard by wider audiences.”
— John Hoglund, BackStage -
“This is a beguiling album, full of charm and freshness. One that will only enhance Lessack's already enviable reputation as one of the best singers around.”
— Cabaret Showcase, London -
“This disc further establishes the singer, who blends a smooth sound with a striking emotional honesty, as one of the most moving song interpreters in the world.”
— Andrew Gans, Playbill Magazine -
“It is not just his crystalline, easily produced sound, or his immaculate phrasing, or his sensitivity to the lyrics that makes it happen, it is Lessack's complete connection with the soul of a song and his ability to carefully share that soul like a delicate gift with the listener that makes the experience deliriously dangerous. All at once you feel like crying and laughing and hugging yourself with joy as you should in the presence of any truly talented artist.”
— Cabaret Hotline
