Lee Cadena: Press

UNDER THE RADAR


And for another cabaret singer's songs, come under the moon and under the radar and under the spell of some loving moods with ...

LEE CADENA
LOVER'S MOON


An evocative slow-burning, slow-dancing romantic mood with a Tex-Mex flavor comes via Lee Cadena's Lover's Moon. The debut album of this Texas-born singer/ New York City transplant with a mellow croon is very enjoyable. An ingratiating version of Marc Shaiman and Ramsey McLean's "A Wink and a Smile" begins the CD in a relaxed, take-off-your-shoes manner and then things get more seductive and/or tender. Lee's intimate style of singing is made even more vulnerable when his vibrato comes into play, as in "Unchained Melody."

Some numbers completely or partially in Spanish add to the atmosphere. They may be familiar since some were pop hits with English words. Some may recall "You Belong To My Heart" ("Solamente Una Vez") was sung in films by Ezio Pinza and Roy Rogers and was a chart hit for Bing Crosby, though I know it more from a Disney cartoon, The Three Caballeros. "Manhã de Carnaval" by Brazilian guitarist Luiz Bonfá is sung with its sorrowful English lyric (by Carl Sigman), but Lee sings the melody line so tenderly and with lack of melodrama that its beauty wins out over the lonely despair of the words.

"I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love" (by Peter Allen/ Carole Bayer Sager, employed in Broadway's The Boy from Oz) shows a more cabaret style impassioned singing. Lee gets out from the Lover's Moonlight there into the cold light of day. But having it placed as the final track prevents it from breaking the mood and ends the album with an invigorating sense of strength rather than a whimper or lover's sigh.

Federico Chavez plays piano on the bittersweet title track written by Glenn Frey of The Eagles; otherwise the only musician is master mood maker, keyboardist-guitarist Dan McLoughlin who also produced and engineered the album.

With an easygoing, smooth sound, the CD has a relaxed sense of sultriness without a sleaze factor. The layered background vocals are also Lee's voice. This is a great late-night album, and what I especially like about it is that the calmness never becomes too droopy; there's a sincerity in the legato singing. Well programmed, the tracks flow into each other, and there's subtle variety in style and mood. Sometimes it borders on getting too mushy, meaning both dripping with sentiment and muddier accompaniment in the bed of sound.

There is expressed gratitude "to the composers of these beautiful songs" in the liner notes, but it's an oversight not to have their names found anywhere. What is found everywhere is straight-from (and to)-the-heart vocalizing.


We'll be taking off next Thursday for Thanksgiving, but there are some extra things to be grateful for above. Coming up will be looks at more interesting albums, including Carols for a Cure, this year's Christmas album sung by stars of Broadway shows. The strike on Broadway closing most shows has hurt awareness of the release of this annual pleasure, a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, but you can find out about it and buy it and other CDs at their website.


- Rob Lester