Pop and Jazz Reviews : Webb Weaves Simple Spell at Cinegrill

Although from the very beginning Jimmy Webb has had a unique musical vocabulary, his compositions reach across an enormous stylistic expanse--from pop songs with hooks to emotionally multileveled love ballads and angry social anthems.

Webb’s decision to keep things simple--voice and piano alone--for his engagement at the Cinegrill proved to be a good one at Tuesday’s opening. Hearing those songs stripped of orchestral enhancement, performed in the raw naturalness of their composer’s voice, with only his incisive piano accents as accompaniment, was an illuminating experience.

Webb (who continues through Saturday) included several new numbers, most notably “Winners Tell Jokes,” a wrathful song aimed at the last decade’s selling of American assets, and “What Does a Woman See in a Man,” a pointedly sardonic piece from an in-the-works Broadway show. They underscored Webb’s skill as a musical miniaturist who can squeeze complete short stories into the framework of 32-bar popular songs.

Perhaps best of all was a passionate closing reading of “Didn’t We”--one which demonstrated that as a performer, Webb can reveal fascinating new perspectives in his own compositions.