Biologically a child of the 1980s, Sam Braysher was short-changed in the cradle by a Fairy Godmother who bestowed some fine chops on him, but was remiss in not warning him what would be expected of him in the 2020s. Ergo, should you attend one of his gigs you’ll look in vain for long and/or bizarrely coloured hair, tie-dye T-shirts, stressed jeans, visible body piercings and/or tattoos or anti-melodic music. You’ll find instead a short-haired, well-groomed young man, clad in sports jacket and flannels and/or suit and tie, playing music that was written a good 25 to 50 years before he was born.
So it was at Crazy Coqs when, in tandem with vocalist Annie Majin, he embarked on a programme of Lerner and Loewe, who last collaborated in 1974. It was a partnership of highs and loewes and left a rich legacy for Sam and Annie to explore. Alan Jay Lerner encountered Frederick “Fritz” Loewe at the Lambs club in Manhattan in 1942, and within the year they had written their first show, Life Of The Party, a flop. In all they wrote seven shows and two musical films, containing in all around 120 songs from which Sam and Annie performed 11.
In her first number, Follow Me, a somewhat neglected ballad from Camelot, taken at the correct tempo, Ms Majin demonstrated a fine set of pipes and then proceeded to beat them into submission by performing nine of the following 10 selections, ballads or not, at a pace which completely obliterated her fine voice, converting it into a tuneless shriek. However, I must be truthful and state that I was arguably the only auditor who was disappointed by this cavalier approach, the audience in general greeting every number with applause laced with cheers, suggesting they had never heard The Heather On The Hill or If Ever I Would Leave You in their natural habitat. I’ve no idea whether or not Ms Majin drives, but if she does, I’d hate to pick up the tab for repairs, for if she drives like she sings, she’ll pull away from the kerb in third, bypass fourth and make straight for fifth, getting through three or four clutches per annum.
All was not lost, however, for in addition to Mr Braysher there were three more musicians on the stand – Gabriel Latchin, piano, Asaph Tal, bass, and Joe Dessauer, drums. Together they produced an authentic jazz feel, and all three shone individually on solos. Alan Lerner and Fritz Loewe collaborated for 32 years. Utilising just 13 of those years the performers gave us a night to remember.
Sam Braysher with Annie Majin at Crazy Coqs, 20, Sherwood Street, London, W1F 7ED, 27 March 2026
