09/06/17 Melissa Manchester

Making It! with Terry Wollman

Let’s hear it for the boys! More than 25 years after Melissa Manchester released Tribute, her 1989 album that honored the great female singers who influenced her, she turns the tables with The Fellas, a radiant encomium to the men, including Frank Sinatra, Mel Tormé, Tony Bennett and Dean Martin, and the iconic songs they made famous.
Singing with a verve and emotional vulnerability that immediately captivates, the Grammy winner inventively reimagines these be-loved standards. She turns “Chances Are” into a sly bossa nova and scats with seemingly impossible ease on “Love Is Just Around The Corner,” while bringing an understated urgency to “Night and Day.”
Many of these tunes embedded themselves into Manchester’s musical DNA while she was growing up on New York City’s Up-per West Side. “These were the artists and songs that were on the radio as my family ate dinner,” she says. “I am deeply familiar with this world.” Indeed, Manchester brings a nuanced understanding to the songs’ delicate phrasing and lyrical construction that would baffle lesser singers.
With The Fellas, Manchester completes a journey that began more than a quarter century ago, while also creating an exciting new chapter for her and her fans. And she’s already thinking ahead to a possible second volume. “With all of these singers, for every song I chose, there were 20 more I could have chosen,” she says. “There’s so much music to mine. I’m happy to be my fans’ guide.”