Michael Poss: Silver Screen Serenades

Michael Poss is a West Coast cabaret performer and this album captures two live appearances at the Roosevelt Hotel's The Cinegrill. The title is a bit misleading. While there are many movie tunes included there are also some composed by Poss. But they are likely what Poss would write for the screen if asked. The matter of the accompaniment is also a bit cloudy. The liner notes lists players fewer players than obviously are present. Either this is dubbed in or the player list is incomplete. Whatever, what's important is the outcome and it isn't bad at all. Like most all cabaret singers, most of the material on this album will be unfamiliar except to the most dedicated cabaret fans. The tunes are picked to let Poss exercise the cabaret singer's gift for story telling, which Poss does quite well. So of the 20 songs on the play bill, only about five will be familiar to most.

The stock in trade of a cabaret singer is to be able to deliver lyrics clearly. Also following the rules of the cabaret game, his playlist mixes up tempo, often witty tunes with those telling a tale of lost love, never be to found or rekindled. All of this Poss accomplishes with elan using with his baritone with slight vibrato to excellent effect. On occasion, he gets close to the tenor level as his voice moves up pretty high on the scale on such tunes as "On Such a Night As This." Now and then, Poss gets carried away trying to sing louder than his voice is capable of and it ends up closer to shouting than to vocalizing as on "To See Your Face Again." But this doesn't happen enough to prevent a recommended rating for this hour's plus worth of cabaret.