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ERIC COMSTOCK & BARBARA FASANO
with SEAN SMITH, bass

Hailed as “smart, funny, and utterly delightful” and "a hotbed of pleasure" by The New York Times, ERIC COMSTOCK (piano/voice) and BARBARA FASANO (voice) bring their singular, soulful showmanship home to Birdland for two Tuesday nights in September. Drawing from an ever-evolving American Songbook – Jazz and pop classics by Ellington, Arlen, and Porter to singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Bruce Springsteen, plus surprising gems – the married musical couple’s electrifying combination of warmth, wit, swing, and sensuality have made them the nightclub world’s most celebrated team. Their performances have taken them from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to Saratoga Jazz Festival, Music Mountain Twilight Jazz, London’s Pizza Express, Italy’s Monteverdi Tuscany, and nightclubs and music festivals across the country. Their new CD, PAINTING THE TOWN, featuring tenor saxophone legend Houston Person, drops later this year.

Joining them will be eminent bassist Sean Smith, known for his collaborations with Jacky Terrasson, Bill Charlap, Benny Carter, and Gerry Mulligan. Barbara, Eric, and Sean have been performing together for 15 years, and their connection with each other and their audiences makes for an exhilarating blend of passion and joy. 

Every bit as entertaining as they are musically savvy, The New Yorker praises Comstock's “expert musicianship and joie de vivre in equal measure.” Fasano has been hailed by The New York Times as "a lyrically sensitive interpreter with a special affinity for Joni Mitchell" and by The New York Post as "a gorgeous, soulful singer who has an actor's intensity in whatever she sings."  Her CDs BUSY BEING FREE and WRITTEN IN THE STARS both won the MAC Award for Major Recording of the Year. Winners of 9 MAC Awards, 5 New York Bistro Awards and the New York Nightlife Award, Eric and Barbara recently received the Donald F. Smith Award from the Mabel Mercer Foundation, acknowledging their artistry.

Although they’ve been compared to Bobby Short and Lena Horne and Fred and Ginger, Eric and Barbara’s style is all their own, with a wide choice of material that brings the generations together. Eric and Barbara make all of it fresh, new, spontaneous, and fun – and their audiences feel they’ve been to a terrific party where the music and the stories have been equally great.

In the words of revered jazz critic Ira Gitler, they “have it all, and then some … artistic, swinging, and superbly entertaining.”