By Will Broaddus
Staff writer
---- — MARBLEHEAD — Three decades of great music will be covered in one night this weekend at Marblehead Little Theatre.
“We call it classics of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s,” said Ken Dantzig, drummer for The Follen Angels. “Not just songs from those years, but the real popular hit songs.”
The Follen Angels are billed as “international cabaret and jazz artists,” and lead singer Hildy Grossman often sings music from France, Germany and Russia. But the tunes they are featuring Saturday are all American.
Songs like “’S Wonderful” and “Lady be Good” by Ella Fitzgerald from the 1940s, “Tears on my Pillow” by Little Anthony and the Imperials from the ’50s, and “Georgia on my Mind” by Ray Charles from the ’60s.
“Every song hits you deep in the heart and has some special meaning and staying power,” Dantzig said. “These are songs that have lasted through years and generations.”
The title for the show, “In the Still of the Night,” comes from a famous doo-wop song by The Five Satins, a group from New Haven, Conn., that Dantzig played with once.
“I was working with The Five Satins — it’s been 35 years,” Dantzig said. “So for me to be able to play it with The Follen Angels, it’s a great treat.”
In addition to being timeless, many of the songs are romantic and were chosen to help celebrate Valentine’s Day weekend.
They include numbers like “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge, “My Cherie Amour” by Stevie Wonder and “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole.
“These are some of the best love songs, and best-loved songs, of all time,” Dantzig said.
“Bei Mir Bist Du Schon” by The Andrews Sisters falls into the romantic category, while also paying tribute to Patty Andrews, who was the last living sister before she recently passed away.
This is the third time in recent years that The Follen Angels have appeared at Marblehead Little Theatre, where their performances have sold out.
The group takes its name from Follen Street in Cambridge, which runs past the Longy School of Music, where Grossman studied. She and Dantzig have been performing together for 15 years.
Grossman will be joined in this concert by vocalist Emily Browder of the E.S.P. Trio, a name drawn from the initials of its three singers, who have been performing in the Boston area for more than seven years.
“They’ll be doing individual leads, they’ll be switching back and forth,” Dantzig said. “Emily is a wonderful vocalist, just a very sweet voice.”
Dantzig defined the group’s style as “not a strict cabaret — I would say it’s cabaret and slides into jazz.”
The Follen Angels have been known to come up with creative arrangements for familiar tunes, such as Cole Porter’s “I Got You Under my Skin,” which was often performed by Frank Sinatra.
“We play it not quite in the Sinatra way,” Dantzig said. “In my arrangement of it, it’s like a soul funk tune, which by the way we recorded on our latest CD.”
Though the music the Angels will play was first enjoyed by past generations, Dantzig said young people seem to enjoy their concerts as much as their parents.
“It’s music that a lot of people of younger generations enjoy,” he said. “They may not know it by name, but the songs are recognizable.”
IF YOU GO What: "In the Still of the Night: Classic Hits of the '40s, '50s and '60s" performed by The Follen Angels When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Where: Marblehead Little Theatre, 12 School St. Tickets: First 100 tickets $22 (or until theater sells out) by phone charge only at 800-418-7771; $23 at Arnould Gallery and Framing, 111 Washington St., Marblehead, 781-631-6366; or $28 at Marblehead Little Theatre box office, night of show only. More information: www.mltlive.com or 781-631-9697
