The DeGENNARO Generation

Jim Caruso’s Broadway at Birdland series has brought back singer/songwriter Patrick DeGennaro for a gig on Jan. 19. DeGennaro, who has had two sold-out shows at the venue, won a lot of fans – and a MAC Award for Outstanding Male Vocalist – with his debut show The Bacharach Songbook, and his own work has been nominated for 2008 MAC Song of the Year. The Bronx-born, Long Island-raised DeGennaro is proud to be compared to fellow Islander, Billy Joel, but that is only the beginning of the stylistic trail he hopes to blaze.

Question: Are you excited to return to Birdland?

Patrick DeGennaro: I am. I love that venue. And, this is my third time there, so it has really been nice. It’s a beautiful room that is very comfortable for my audience as opposed to some of the rock clubs that might not be as classy or sophisticated as Birdland.

Q: What is your approach to cabaret?

DeGennaro: I’ve always felt that the rooms allow for anything you want to do. There’s the typical – and I don’t mean that in a bad way – American Songbook that you see often, but there are also original writers and people who are writing their own material, and the material I write is very top 40, pop-rock, and nobody seems to mind. My show is definitely on that angle, but Broadway is getting a lot more pop-rock, too, so even under the heading, “Broadway at Birdland,” it’s not that far a departure – I don’t think – these days.

Q: Aside from the venue, the Broadway at Birdland format is so great, as run by the inimitable Jim Caruso.

DeGennaro: Absolutely, when I decided to do the Burt Bacharach show, that was probably the most commercial show I’ve ever done, but even that was a very hip treatment of Bacharach material, but Birdland was the room I had hoped for, and I was thrilled when Jim welcomed me into the series.

Q: Who are the songwriters and singers who have influenced you?

DeGennaro: Billy Joel has played a big role in influencing my singing as well as my writing. I like Maroon 5, Rob Thomas, I always liked Simon & Garfunkel, and I’m a huge Beatles fan as well.

Q: Were you a natural showman as a kid?

DeGennaro: I was. I couldn’t shut up. I started playing the piano when I was seven and degennaroleading300 immediately started singing along. Neighbors would run into my mother at the supermarket and say that they could hear me down the block. It’s all I ever really wanted to do.

Q: Do you like a good New York song?

DeGennaro: I do. The first show I did, titled Only in New York, was a lot of the most famous New York songwriters: George Gershwin, Billy Joel… and I did songs of friends of mine like Ann Hampton Callaway, whose music I love. My first CD was called “Only in New York,” and I did songs of all of my very talented New York City writing friends: Keith Thompson, John Bucchino, Wendy Robbins, Ann Hampton Callaway, Rick Jensen, and none of my music was on there yet, and it was awhile before I started to put my own music out there.

Q: What do you think makes a great song?

DeGennaro: It’s funny, people have been interviewed about that, and I know a lot of highbrow musicians will look down on top 40 pop music, but writing a good pop song is one of the hardest things. I think it has to have a simplicity to it, it doesn’t want to be so difficult. You want to remember it, you want it to stick with you, but you also want it to be about something that immediately means something. The emotional content has got to be relevant to today, which is why I don’t sing the Great American Songbook. That doesn’t really resonate for me.

Q: Do you set aside time to write or does your writing come naturally?

DeGennaro: It comes naturally, which any songwriter will tell you is not a good way to work [laughs], but I can’t seem to force myself any other way.

Q: I see Annie Golden will be a part of your Birdland show. How did the two of you connect?

DeGennaro: I’ve been a fan of hers for many years, and I met her last year at a reading of a musical that she was doing and introduced myself, and this year I decided that I wanted to reach out and see if I could make a connection. Not only was she lovely and agreed to be my special guest, but as we started singing together, we started to write something together as well, so we have our first collaboration – a duet – in this show as well. It is hard to remember not knowing Annie Golden now.