Several weeks ago I was driving in my car. I was listening to KJAZZ and there was a beguiling song being performed. Though both the song and the singer sounded familiar to me, I couldn’t place either. Thankfully the Shazam app on my phone cleared it all up. The song was Midnight in Paris and the singer was Mark Winkler.
So I did some research and found that the song was specifically written for Woody Allen’s 2011 film of the same name. Winkler wrote the lyrics and the music was written by Bill Cantos.
I also found out that Winkler’s written lyrics for over 150 songs. And he’s the co-writer of Naked Boys Singing. (If you’ve never seen that show, it is exactly, and I mean exactly, what the title implies.)
My searching the web took me to the website for Upstairs at Vitello’s in Studio City. There I discovered that Winkler will be performing on Friday night with Cheryl Bentyne. If her name sounds familiar, it is because she is a member of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer.
Winkler and Bentyne have recorded two albums together. The first was 2013’s West Coast Cool. The second album is Eastern Standard Time. The latter recording includes such songs as “Walk on the Wild Side,” “The Best Is Yet to Come” and “Devil May Care.”
These are two very fine singers who are performing in the intimate space at Vitello’s. When making your plans for entertainment this weekend, we consider Friday’s show to be the this weekend’s highlight.
For tickets go here.
