Sunday in New York - Christine Ebersole and Billy Stritch

Theoretically, whenever a singer performs to modest accompaniment, the result cannot help being intimate. But when Christine Ebersole sings on Sunday in New York, she conveys something that only the rare best can, that she is singing only for you.

How is this done? It is impossible to define, which is true of all great art, necessarily containing something ineffable. But let me try, anyway.

There is something about Ebersole's timing that catches the tempos of your feelings; about her use of dynamics that know exactly when to emulate a confidential whisper, duplicate intense yearning or let loose with an outcry of joy. It has to do almost as much with psychology as with artistry.

Here, too, is Billy Stritch, not just accompanying on the piano, but actually co-creating as inspired partner. And when he plays a solo, as he does in "I Only Have Eyes for You," we only have ears for him. He is an accomplished jazz singer, and his vocals, too, are a happy contribution in solo or duet.

Ah, yes, jazz. Without being a true aficionado, I do appreciate jazz in its place. But of the 13 items on this CD, several of them arranged into jazz versions, some do not adapt felicitously from their original form. As in literature, some translations work better than others, but all, by the very fact of being translations, lose something. So, for instance, "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" translates quite nicely, but "Tea for Two" becomes less spontaneously heartfelt.

[IMG:R]Quibbles aside, every number here amply justifies its presence. And at least one or two are bound to be special favorites of yours, while others may become so hereafter.

My own favorites are Irving Berlin's "What'll I Do" and Korie and Frankel's "Will You?" which belong together not just for ending in question marks. One is a ballad of shatteringly hopeless longing; the other, of fearful, but still optimistic yearning.

You may recall how effectively "What'll I Do" figured on the soundtrack of the otherwise not particularly distinguished movie version of The Great Gatsby; well, what Ebersole does with it here is no less compelling, no less moving. As for "Will You?" besides being a splendid song from the musical Grey Gardens, it brings back Ebersole's Tony-winning dual performance in that show and is sung here, if anything, even more soulfully. It would be nice, though, if "as I lay here" were emended to "lie."

Praise is due also to the bass playing and backup vocals of Steve Doyle, and the good drumming of Tony Tedesco. And, of course, to the wonderfully eclectic selections, ranging from early Sondheim, "So Many People," to "Walkin' in New York," by Brenda Russell of The Color Purple fame.

I do have two further cavils. I don't care how clearly lyrics are sung—and they are perfectly communicated here—it is always good to get a booklet containing them. More important, there are, charily, less than 40 minutes' worth of song here, even though the CD is based on Ebersole and Stritch's award-winning show at the Metropolitan Room, which ran longer and no one thought overlong. Why not replicate it in full?