Best (and worst) music

Kenny Mellman, Neal Medlyn and Bridget Everett of Our Hit Parade

Photograph: Erica Beckman

1. Our Hit Parade at Joe’s Pub (Monthly)
Downtown stars add fizz to pop in this must-see, madcap celebration-subversion of America’s favorite songs. Read more

2. Barb Jungr: The Men I Love at Café Carlyle (March)
The astonishing English singer blew new life into the Carlyle, and the room has never seemed less stuffy.

3. Christine Ebersole at Café Carlyle (January)
The Broadway star showed off the rainbow colors of her voice in a dazzlingly eclectic return to form.

4. Barbara Cook: Here’s to Life at Feinstein’s (April–May)
Cook made a rich meal of the Great American Songbook in her latest master class on the art of maintaining standards.

5. Paula West at the Oak Room (October–November)
Rhythmically surprising and emotionally charged, West’s distinctive jazz pulled you happily into the swing of things.

6. Maude Maggart: Parents and Children at the Oak Room (April–May)
Maggart found rich notes of feeling in a show that marked her growing maturity as an artist.

7. Lesley Gore at Feinstein’s (May)
Bubblegum no more, Gore performed songs of clear-eyed self-knowledge in a voice of brushed steel.

8. Jane Monheit: The Lovers, the Dreamers & Me at Feinstein’s (January-February)
Monheit has always had a gorgeously smooth voice; her confidence and interpretive skills are finally catching up.

9. Gay Marshall: Piaf—Queen of Heart at the Metropolitan Room (September–October)
It takes a brave singer to take on the Edith Piaf songbook; it takes a special one to pull it off so heart-piercingly.

10. Sideshow at the Ritz (Weekly)
Bridget Everett goes gloriously berserk in this unbridled cavalcade, which is not for the faint of humor or heart.

—Adam Feldman, Cabaret writer

See more Best and worst of 2009