CELIA:
This is the second suite of songs in our FOUR SEASONS OF SONG EPs. Compared to Spring, the vibe is much more relaxed. And Bálint has given me opportunities to do new things stylistically.

When people listen to these tracks, they may think they are hearing multiple musicians. In fact, there is only one musician — one wonderful musician — playing all of Bálint’s incredible, layered arrangements. It is such a pleasure to be joined by Ethan Hack-Chabot on guitars and ukulele.

BÁLINT:
We wanted to make a big contrast between seasons in the arrangements and instrumentation. We’re really playing with styles, ranges and articulations. For Spring, we had violin, viola, cello and guitar. For Summer, we decided to only use guitars — electric and acoustic — and ukulele, to bring a freshness and playfulness before foreshadowing Autumn with Sondheim’s THE GIRLS OF SUMMER.

Music by Ben Schaechter/Lyric by Dan Kael
Ben Schaechter and Dan Kael

Celia Berk, vocals
Ethan Hack-Chabot, guitar

CELIA:
In 2016, my friend Binyumen (“Ben”) Schaechter invited me to join the cast of a revival of IT HELPS TO SING ABOUT IT, a revue of songs written with lyricist Dan Kael. I accepted with pleasure and with curiosity about what the other cast members would be singing. One song that immediately caught my ear was APPLY, which was sung by the wonderful Marissa Mulder. Marissa has a distinctive voice that evokes Blossom Dearie, so the risqué lyrics landed as though without guile. I remember admiring the song, admiring her interpretation, and promising myself that I would sing it in my own very different vocal range someday.

My first opportunity was in June 2018, at Manhattan’s Beach Café. What better way to begin a set than with a song talking about making “a friend at the beach”? It was still on my mind in 2024 when Marissa and I ended up on another evening of music together. I told her I wanted to record APPLY, without being completely sure when that opportunity would arise. But a few months later, when I handed Bálint a stack of possible Summer songs, it was up at the top. I was delighted that he immediately agreed to include it, and that Ben and Dan gave me the rights to do its first commercial recording.

DAN:
Ben and I wrote our first version of APPLY in 2008 as a submission for “Hangin’ Out,” a co-ed naked revue that Bob Schrock was developing as a sequel to his internationally successful — and male-only — “Naked Boys Singing.” As it turned out, “Hangin’ Out” never got past its initial limited run, and APPLY wasn’t even accepted for that. (Go figure.) Eight years later, when Ben and I were pulling songs together for our own revue “It Helps to Sing About It,” we retrieved APPLY, re-wrote the too-wordy bridge, cut one verse, and ended up with a fun song that even a fully dressed woman could sing. When that woman turned out to be the radiant Marissa Mulder, we felt duly rewarded for our efforts.

We were thrilled when Celia approached us about recording APPLY. Pleased as I was by the prospect, I shared a concern (yes, I tend to worry too much) — would the humor come across without an audience? Doesn’t the song need chuckles to propel it along? Celia immediately put me at ease. She reminded me that the song isn’t just a collection of clever lines, but rather a progression. In the end, it’s not about applying sunscreen; it’s about reaching out for what — or who — you want.

When a singer of Celia’s caliber pitches your own song to you, you can only say “Yes! Thank you!”

BEN:
I first met Celia in 2011, when she and music director Alex Rybeck were looking for a Yiddish song about a bird. A very niche request… which eventually led to my creating a singable translation of Puccini’s “O, mio babbino caro” as the centerpiece of her YIDDISHA NIGHTINGALE number. That became one of her signature songs, and that was the beginning of our beautiful friendship.

Separately, Celia took an interest in the (English) songs I wrote with Dan, and in 2013, after performing MY APARTMENT a number of times, she asked us to write a comedy number for her based on her frustrations performing in cabaret rooms. She brought down the house with that song, I’LL WAIT, in our show “It Helps To Sing About It,” and then again at the 2018 Bistro Awards. One of her performances of it can be found on YouTube.

Relatedly, also in 2013, we rewrote one of our ballads for Celia, MANHATTAN IN JULY, using her suggestion to take the lyric of the last verse in a different direction. She ended up performing that number beautifully and soulfully in our show, as well – and that, too, can be found on YouTube.

So, it’s kind of funny that the first song of mine and of ours that Celia has decided to go into a studio and record, APPLY, isn’t any of the ones we composed, translated, or revised with her in mind! To quote the old Yiddish adage, “Who’da thunk it?”

When we wrote APPLY in 2008, it was in the typical Schaechter-Kael sequence: Dan would write the intro, and once we agreed on it, I then set it to music. Then he wrote an A section, and I set *that* to music, and then after he wrote the 2nd A, he continued with the B section, for which I then contributed my part, and the same with the rest of the lyric including the coda. We were sure it was a shoo-in for the revue “Hangin’ Out” that Dan mentioned… but the director informed us that they couldn’t use it because the dance break in the middle mentioned a comically large bottle of sunscreen, and they wanted to do the show without props. (!) Over the years, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to sing the song myself for small groups, and each time, in doing so, I relished channeling my inner Marilyn Monroe… With Celia’s rendition, she doesn’t look to do the same… but rather, channels her inner Celia Berk, which works wonderfully for me!

Words and Music by Joe Sherman & George David Weiss
Concord Music Group, Inc. o/b/o Abilene Music LLC and Sony/ATV Tunes LLC o/b/o Erasmus Music Inc.

Celia Berk and The Gramercy Nightingales, vocals
Ethan Hack-Chabot, guitars

CELIA:
As Bálint and I were looking at Summer songs, I told him how much I had enjoyed doing backups for Irving Berlin’s MANHATTAN MADNESS on my Manhattan Serenade album. That marked the debut of my “sisters” The Gramercy Nightingales, a girl group named after my record label. I asked if we could find a suitable song for Wren, Robin and Lark to return to the recording studio, this time singing three-part harmony.

We agreed THAT SUNDAY, THAT SUMMER fit the bill perfectly. If you know the song, you probably know Nat King Cole’s iconic 1963 swing ballad version. Joe Sherman and George David Weiss share the songwriting credit, but Sherman wrote the music and Weiss (who wrote the lyrics for LULLABY OF BIRDLAND, TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT and WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD) wrote the words.

Bálint wrote close harmony and vocal stylings à la The Boswell Sisters, and the Nightingales went off to learn their individual parts. Kudos to engineer Alex Venguer for keeping the girls in balance with each other and with Ethan’s acoustic and electric guitar parts.

Words and Music by Stephen Sondheim
Chappell and Co.

Celia Berk, vocals
Ethan Hack-Chabot, guitar

CELIA:
As we did with our Spring Suite, the fourth song of this EP serves as a pivot to the next season – in this case, Autumn. It moves us from a laid-back sense of summer enjoyment into something more reflective and wistful.

The song began its life as incidental music for S. Richard Nash’s 1956 play THE GIRLS OF SUMMER. Producer Cheryl Crawford asked Sondheim to write a trumpet solo to be played by one of the characters. She told him to approach it as a theme to which he could add lyrics, with the intention that the song would eventually be used for promotional purposes. So the song title was set before Sondheim began to write. He later said that this was his second attempt at imitating Harold Arlen, and he wrote with Lena Horne in mind. It’s not a stretch to imagine her singing it, and it’s a shame she never did! (That makes it the second song inspired by Horne that I’ve recorded. Ann Hampton Callaway wrote YOU CAN’T RUSH SPRING with Horne in mind, and that one almost made it into Horne’s last album.)

A lot of wonderful singers have picked up The Girls Of Summer, and I appreciate that Bálint found a distinctive sound for our version. Ethan’s electric guitar is certainly a striking contrast to other arrangements, and it challenged me to be equally sharp, pointed and bluesy in my vocals. Not a hard assignment when you have Sondheim lyrics to work with, especially ones with such an interesting final twist.