Taper Pays Fitting Tribute to Mercer’s Gifts

Johnny Mercer was the quintessential Hollywood songwriter. Despite his lifelong connection with Savannah, Ga., despite the rural imagery that so often cropped up in his lyrics, despite his own soft, drawling accent, Mercer’s words found their perfect arena for expression in the golden era of Hollywood musicals. Set to music by the likes of Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern and Hoagy Carmichael, his lyrics--with their instantly memorable phrases and ear-catching rhymes--moved easily from the film soundtracks into the fabric of American life.

Mercer was also an important member of the entertainment business and philanthropic community, so it was appropriate that he was the honoree for the sixth installment of Salon at the Taper, a series that benefits the Center Theatre Group. Monday’s program at the Mark Taper Forum, titled “Come Rain or Come Shine,” was a well-paced, loving tribute underscoring his music and his many contributions to the welfare of the arts in Los Angeles.

Mercer, who died in 1976 at the age of 66, would probably have approved of the presentation, which was simple and direct--a grand piano, bass and drums placed in the center of a comfortable living room setting--allowing the songs themselves to take the spotlight. And he also would probably have approved of the presence of singer Margaret Whiting (the daughter of his frequent collaborator, Richard Whiting) and lyricist-singer Alan Bergman, whose early career was aided and encouraged by Mercer.

Most of all, one suspects, Mercer, whose own performing style was a model of relaxation, would have approved of the performers’ refusal to present his songs in overly memorialized fashion. With singer-pianist Michael Feinstein setting the tone, a string of talented artists worked their way through the Mercer catalog, acknowledging and discovering the rich currents of life in each of the songs.

Johnny Pizzarelli was smooth as silk with “I Thought About You,” his rendering of Mercer’s romantic lyrics contrasted by Bergman’s humorous, Mercer-esque reading of the witty, tongue-twisting “Spring, Spring, Spring.” There was a superb jazz-tinged interpretation of “Midnight Sun” by singer-pianist Diana Krall and bassist Christian McBride, and a lovely version of “Moon River” sung appropriately and with elegant style by Monica Mancini (Henry Mancini’s daughter), with harmony by Feinstein.