If you're a performing musician in New York City, and you're booked into a gig at Union Hall in Brooklyn, your biggest problem may not be screaming groupies or a misbehaving sound system or bad lighting. Instead, you may be most perturbed by the bocce balls rumbling overhead during the quieter moments of your set. For singer/songwriter/keyboardist Lee Feldman (check him out), the bocce tournament in the main room above him thankfully took a back seat to the music during his all-too-brief seven song set in Union Hall’s basement.
To anyone who will listen, I always categorize Lee’s music as an acquired taste that should be mandatorially placed on mankind’s “to be listened to” menu. In critical reviews and fan comments of Lee’s work, the adjectives are streaming: wry, quirky, soothing, quaint, simple, somber, playful, catchy, challenging, and on and on and on. Feldman’s style and demeanor can be summed up as somewhat Randy Newmanesque with a bit of Woody Allen tossed in. In essence: hard to pin down, but very easy to listen to. Lee told me he was raised mostly on classical music rather than the “popular” stuff, although The Beatles were always a presence in the aural atmosphere of his youth.
His show started with “Lee Feldman,” not as much a song as a few “I’m warming up my voice and fingers” measures of music in which he shares his name, his social security number, and his feelings toward the audience.
A highlight of the show was “Airplane,” which Lee said he feels comfortable playing again after shelving it for a few years due to 9/11. The tune is a bouncy, up-tempo flight over earth and sea in which passenger Lee tries gracefully and genially to suggest that “Mr. Pilot” avoid crashing while also warning “Mr. Farmer” that something may be landing in his field very soon.
Other songs highlighted the small dramas and dreams of everyday life, and the beautifully intricate instrumental “Waltz For A Sad Girl” brought a few aahs and sighs of praise from the audience. The subject of “If I Were You” describes a lonely life of “silent night, get up in the morning, put on your shoes.” Each of Feldman’s songs is a sometimes sweet, sometimes sour slice of everyone’s life.
For those interested, further insight into Lee’s personality and music can be had by viewing a recent documentary focused on Lee titled, “Lee Feldman, Lee Feldman.”
Set List
1. Lee Feldman –- I’ve Forgotten Everything
2. If I Were You –- Living It All Wrong
3. Airplane -– Man In A Jupiter Hat
4. Suburban Song -– Living It All Wrong
5. Waltz For A Sad Girl -– I’ve Forgotten Everything
6. Morning Train -– I’ve Forgotten Everything
7. Me and My Sara Remaining –- I’ve Forgotten Everything
