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'Tonight Show' favorite to perform at Liberty
Marilyn Maye just smiles cheerily when she thinks about a special Christmas concert she will perform in next month in Fort Scott.
"It's just going to be a great big wonderful party," the critically acclaimed singer said of the concert during a Wednesday interview.
The 78-year old accomplished jazz cabaret singer and recording artist, credited with a record number of guest appearances (76) on the popular "Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," was in Fort Scott this week to plan the concert, which is scheduled for 8 p.m. Dec. 16 at the Liberty Theatre, 113 S. Main St.
During that concert, Maye will perform much of her own material, as well as some Christmas songs, and will be backed by about 18 members of the Fort Scott High School Select Ensemble and members of her own traveling band. Several of the songs will be children's songs taken from one of the many albums she has recorded over the years, Maye said.
Other songs include selections taken from her newest album titled "Maye Sings Ray," that features the music of legendary artist Ray Charles. She will also give the audience a glimpse of a show she will perform as a tribute to her long-time friend, Johnny Carson, who died in early 2005. That show will be performed at the Carson Theater in Carson's hometown of Norfolk, Neb., Maye said.
"And there, young singers, is the way it's done. She's a super singer," Carson said after one of Maye's appearances on his show.
Maye said she developed a "deep bond" with Carson, mostly from their conversations that took place behind the scenes of his show. Maye and Carson were both native Midwesterners, one of the many traits they shared in common, she said.
"Some people say he was aloof, but he wasn't aloof at all. He was a bit shy, but a great businessman," Maye said.
Doc Severinsen, who was Carson's long-time sidekick and conductor of the Tonight Show orchestra, said, "The two greatest things about Kansas City are barbecue and Marilyn Maye."
Aside from her appearances on Carson's show and other television programs, Maye has recorded several albums and performed in several live shows -- many in the 1950s and 1960s -- including a tribute show to cabaret singers last month in the Metropolitan Room of New York's Lincoln Center. Maye closed that show and received an overwhelming standing ovation from the sold-out crowd that featured several famous people and musicians.
Maye has received rave reviews from music critics nationwide, including long-time newspaper columnist Rex Reed, who still writes for the New York Observer.
"Marilyn Maye rocks," Reed wrote in a recent review. "She turned a one-night stand into a love affair for life. She's the real deal. Marilyn Maye is a true original."
Singer and pianist Charles Cochran, who has performed in the New York and Florida entertainment scenes, also wrote about a recent Maye appearance in New York.
"I was immediately taken back to the days when singing acts not only sang but performed and entertained," Cochran said in his review.
Maye enjoyed another honor when, more than 20 years ago, the Smithsonian Arts Council chose one of her songs to be placed on a list of the 110 best songs by the top 81 American composers of the 20th century. Maye's recording of the Lerner and Lanes' tune, "Too Late Now," was placed on that list, called the Smithsonian Collection of Recordings. Her voice now resides on a compact disc collection with the likes of other famous singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra.
Maye, who now lives in the Kansas City area and also in Galveston, Texas, said she heard about the newly renovated Liberty Theatre through a mutual friend that she shares with theater owner Jim Smith. Maye said she wanted to come down and view what she called "a great, beautiful theater." Maye said the theater's close location to the metropolitan Kansas City area should put more people in the seats for her concert and other future performances.
"It's close to Kansas City, which is good, so I hope people will come down from there," she said.
Next month, Maye will bring with her a group of musicians she has traveled with and come to know very well over the years, including New York pianist Billy Stritch, her drummer of 40 years, Jim Eklof, bassist Gerald Spaits, and guitarist Rod Fleeman.
"They're just world class musicians," Maye said of her band members.
Maye was born in Kansas and hails from Des Moines, Iowa. She performed her own radio show as a teenager and later married a man from Kansas City who was a dancer, Maye said. The couple traveled a lot in pursuit of their respective careers in the performing arts, she said.
Now, Maye said, she is just happy doing what she loves and taking what life throws at her.
"I'm alive and well and singing," she said. "But this is not just my hobby, it's my business."