Photo credit: Monique Carboni

By Paul Freeman (March 2010)

The best music transports the listener. And when cabaret artist extraordinaire Maude Maggart steps in front of a microphone, you can close your eyes and gently drift off to another place, another time.

Her glorious voice, with its warm vibrato, is at once powerful and vulnerable. She manages to make even the most familiar tunes sound fresh and new. On her "Maude Maggart Live" album.(recorded at New York's legendary Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel), she works wonders with such favorites as "Deep Purple" and "My Funny Valentine." Maggart teamed with Brent Spiner ("Star Trek: The Next Generation") for the 2008 CD, "Dreamland," which recalls radio's golden age.

Maggart has been featured on "Prairie Home Companion""and has been profiled on NPR. But it's her enchanting live cabaret performances that have earned her an ever growing following.

Music is in Maggart's blood. Her grandparents toured with a swing band. Her parents - Brandon Maggart (whom many will remember from Showtime's "Brothers" sitcom) and Diane McAfee - met as original cast members of Broadway's "Applause." And Maggart's sister is singer-songwriter Fiona Apple, who dropped her last name at her record company's suggestion. Maude Maggart was born Amber McAfee Maggart and adopted the stage name in honor of her great-great grandmother, Maude Apple.

Maude Maggart is as charming in conversation as she is in performance. She took time to chat with Pop Culture Classics, while preparing for her current engagement at The Razz Room at Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St., San Francisco, 8 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday, March 23-27; 7 p.m., Sun. March 28; Tickets: $35; 866-468-3399 (TicketWeb); info at www.therrazzroom.com or 415-394-1189.

Maggart's performances feature predominately vintage tunes, but she blends in some more contemporary material, including a Joan Baez song and a few Marshall Barer ("Once Upon A Mattress") compositions.

POP CULTURE CLASSICS
Is it difficult to weave newer material into the set and have it appear seamless?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Actually, when you have a really well-constructed song with a beautiful melody and something that tells a story, it's not that hard to make it fit in with songs from the Great American Songbook.

PCC:
Do you try to think of the evening as a whole, rather than a collection of individual songs?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Oh, that's essential. I have to have a thread running throughout the entire show. It's never just a collection of songs, which can be fine, too, but it doesn't really turn me on. I get excited by making it a little story.

PCC:
Are you conscious of establishing certain moods in the course of a concert?

MAUDE MAGGART:
I suppose so. The songs really do that for themselves. But the way they're put together, to tell a story from the beginning of the evening to the end, contributes to that, as well.

PCC:
What effect do you want to have on the audience, ultimately?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Ultimately, I want them to feel like they've just spent an hour in another world... and when they leave, they feel moved.

PCC:
It must be a great sort of connection you can develop in the intimate atmosphere of a venue like the Rrazz Room or the Algonquin.

MAUDE MAGGART:
Oh, yeah, you have them right where you want them - a little room, no windows. There's no escape. [She laughs.]

PCC:
When you began, was it intimidating to be out there in the spotlight, all by yourself?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Yeah, sure. I think that cabaret is one of the scariest venues of performance, because it is so small, so intimate. Everybody can see everything about you. So it's not like you have big, bright lights glaring and you can't see anybody. You can see everybody. You can see what they're doing and it's very, very personal. So, yeah, I was totally intimidated in the beginning.

But then, I really liked it. And now, I can't stand it, if the lights are too bright. I want to see everybody, because I understand how magical the connection is, between a performer and the audience.

PCC:
Your family's history in show business, did that give you any comfort level with performing?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Sure. My grandparents were in show business, too. But I never saw them perform. And I never really saw my mom perform. But my father, yeah, I saw him in a bunch of shows.

PCC:
So your Mom had retired when she got married?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Yeah, she retired before I was born.

PCC:
So did she really relish you and your sister having musical careers, since she had given up her own?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Oh, yeah. Both my parents were really supportive. They love it.

PCC:
Was there music all around as you were growing up?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Yes, there really was. It's funny. It's not really that way anymore. My parents don't really listen to that much music now. But yeah, there was always Broadway soundtrack music. My father was always in a show. So, like when he was in 'South Pacific,' we would listen to 'South Pacific' on our record player. And all the normal stuff that little kids would listen to in the late '70s, like Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb, that album [she laughs].

PCC:
Was it an eclectic mix? You were listening to the pop music of the day. Did you get into rock, as well?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Oh, yeah. I got into everything. I'm still into everything. I loved standards and I loved music of my generation and classic rock and everything.

PCC:
Did it seem inevitable that you would go into some type of performing? You attended a performing arts high school.

MAUDE MAGGART:
I didn't know what else I could really do [she laughs]. I didn't really have an interest in anything else... and I didn't even have such a strong interest in performing, per se. I always loved singing. But performing, I could take it or leave it. Now I love it.

My high school thing was just because we couldn't afford to send me to private school, so I thought, well, if I'm going to a public school, I have to have some fun. Something I like. So that's why I went there.

PCC:
You grew up in New York and then moved to L.A.?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Yeah, well, my parents separated when I was very young. My father is an actor, so he moved to Venice Beach, because he got a series on TV. So my sister and I would stay in New York City with our mother during the school year and then we would spend summers out in Venice Beach. It was really great for a kid. It just made us very cool to all our friends.

PCC:
And you had formal training along the way? Didn't you study operatic singing at one point?

MAUDE MAGGART:
I just studied opera for like a summer in Santa Barbara. I had dance training my whole life. That's the one thing I studied. And then I took voice lessons in high school. But no, training was never really a big part of my upbringing.

PCC:
At what point did singing become a serious pursuit for you then?

MAUDE MAGGART:
When I realized I had to do something with my life [she laughs] and I shouldn't be scared anymore. I was terrified. I think when anybody decides to really do something, to really sink their teeth in, especially when it has to do with something so close to your heart, it's scary. So I didn't really make that decision until I was 25.

PCC:
Had you changed your name by then?

MAUDE MAGGART:
I didn't even really ever change my name. I was doing this staged reading of a musical by Marshall Barer and Hugh Martin, which was really fun. Michael Feinstein was in it. That was how I really met him and got to be friends with him. And my father was in it. Ronnie Graham. Betty Garrett. All of Marshall's old friends. And Marshall Barer suggested that I change my name. I said, 'Oh, okay.' But it was just for this little staged reading. And I don't know, it just stuck.

PCC:
Was the name a tribute to your great-great grandmother?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Yeah, I just liked the sound of it.

PCC:
Once you realized that you wanted to make singing your path, what made you take a path towards the past?

MAUDE MAGGART:
I always knew that I had the kind of voice that would lend itself really easily to that kind of music. And Andrea Marcovicci, who was my great mentor, she always thought that I had a voice that sounded like it came out of the 1920s. It really did sound that way back then. It's grown now, so that it has more of a life than just that. But, yeah, Andrea suggested to me that I concentrate on earlier music. So I did. And that was a really wonderful piece of advice, because it allowed me to enter into another world, a very specific world. Like one year, I did strictly women's songs from the 1920s. When you narrow down your choices, it's a lot easier for me to work that way. When there are fewer things to choose from, you can concentrate and focus on one element of the past.

PCC:
Once you had that focus, what was it about the songs of the era that really resonated with you?

MAUDE MAGGART:
They certainly sounded like they came from long ago, especially on older recordings. But I found that, when I sang them, and told the story, they really were just human stories. They weren't stories about old people. They were very human stories about what women go through. I mean, 'love me or leave me,' who hasn't thought that, in any generation. And they were just so beautifully constructed. I had so much respect for the songwriters.

PCC:
Your dad had taken you to see Andrea Marcovicci perform?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Yeah. I was about 16, 17. He took me to the Gardenia [in Hollywood] to see her. Blew my mind.

PCC:
What was it about her performance that had such an impact on you?

MAUDE MAGGART:
She just made this little world where all I cared about was what she was doing and this gorgeous world that she created. She read poetry and sang beautiful songs. She presented music and poetry in a way that I had never imagined. It was breathtaking. I was totally in love. Really, it just blew my mind.

PCC:
How did she become your mentor? How did you develop that relationship?

MAUDE MAGGART:
We had this Marshall Barer connection, the songwriter. She knew Marshall. There's kind of a little web here [she chuckles]. My father was friends with Marshall. And Marshall was friends with Andrea Marcovicci and Michael Feinstein. And Marshall would throw these parties at his house in Venice [California], because he also lived in Venice. At these Sunday soirees, he'd have all his performer friends gather around his white baby grand piano and everyone would sing. So we all met that way. But I was very young. I was like 11 or 12. So I'd seen Andrea and I really admired her, but I didn't really get to know her until Marshall died in 1998. I sang one of his songs at his memorial service. And Andrea was there. She'd never heard me sing before. And that's when she said, 'I'd really like to help you.' I was 22, 23.

PCC:
And when did that take place?

MAUDE MAGGART:
In '98.

PCC:
What sorts of valuable advice did you get from Andrea?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Oh, God, how long do we have? [She laughs]. One of the first pieces of advice she gave, which I always remember, is, 'Love your audience. You should really, truly love them.' And I know that sounds very vague. But it's something that I understood immediately, because I saw her do it, every single time.

And just choose songs that ring true for you. You don't have to do what anybody else tells you to do.

Just to be respectful of the kind of audiences that you play to, because oftentimes, you'll play for a predominately older audience and I'd have to remember that the way I speak, in my generation, is not necessarily the way that will make an older audience comfortable. There are ways that you can alienate your audience, without meaning to. So that was really important for me to know, because it's something that you don't really think about, because once you get up on stage, you just want to be normal and forget about censoring yourself or anything like that. But it's very important. Not that I would get up there and turn into Sam Kinison or something. {Another laugh] Just little things.

PCC:
Do you find that young audiences also tend to relate to the music, if they're willing to give it a chance?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Absolutely. The same way in which I did. I fell in love with the music, because I felt, 'Oh, this is my story, too.' And, in some way, it's a means of understanding your grandparents better, because this was their popular music. And then, when we understand it today, it's a really powerful link.

PCC:
Were some of those early female recording artists you studied who really grabbed you, influenced you?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Oh, yeah, Helen Morgan, for sure. She's probably number one. Ruth Etting. Libby Holman, Helen Kane. I did an entire show about the women of the '20s and those were the singers that I featured.

PCC:
Was it the emotional quality of their voices or the techniques that registered with you?

MAUDE MAGGART:
They were so different. Lots of people don't give the old records a chance. If they can't get over the scratchiness and the old-timey way of singing, they won't get it. But there are humongous differences. Helen Morgan had a really vulnerable, almost dying angel quality. Then, of course, you had Helen Kane with her cute little Betty Boop voice.

PCC:
Were you conscious, while you were studying all these other voices, how you were going to meld them into something that was distinctly yours?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Yes, absolutely. I never wanted to do like an imitation or anything. That's fine, but, if you don't sing with your true voice, then you can't really get people to believe you're going through something. So I just sang the songs over and over and discovered how it would be true for me to sing them.

PCC:
When you're performing a classic tune, how do you walk that line between remaining true to the source material and adding your own touch?

MAUDE MAGGART:
My m.o. is to always stay true to the construction of the song. I really rarely change a single note. The only thing I do is to possibly play with the phrasing. And that's it. But I think that's a very fair license for a singer. Should a song always be sung exactly the same way? That's hardly giving the song a life. But I really, really have so much respect for the construction of a song, that I feel, 'Who am I to tamper with that?' I never change a melody and, oh God, never change a word. No way!

What are you thinking, like you're better than Larry [Lorenz] Hart? Yeah, Larry Hart didn't think of that, but you did. [She laughs.] So stupid.

PCC:
Are you constantly digging for songs, trying to uncover lesser known gems by great writers?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Oh, absolutely. And I have such good friends in Michael Feinstein and Andrea. And they're really passionate about doing that very thing. Feinstein is basically an archivist. And I'm fortunate that I have really good friends who come to my shows and they will give me music that I've never heard, sheet music and stuff. It's wonderful. And it's exciting, like finding a buried treasure... or an old photograph of somebody that you really loved and you didn't know the photograph existed.

PCC:
Did your Dad give you much career advice or did he wait for you to ask?

MAUDE MAGGART:
My Dad was really wonderful. He only encouraged me and helped me, but never pushed me. So it was like the perfect combination. When I came to him for advice, he gave it to me, but never unsolicited. Except, if he saw that I was kind of struggling, he'd ask if I was struggling and I would say yes and he'd help me. Really perfect.

PCC:
And your sister Fiona, was she able to give you advice, in terms of being in the spotlight?

MAUDE MAGGART:
My father and my sister were both really wonderful. But I think the only way to do it is to just find out for yourself what works for you. I think that way about, basically, everything. Because, when somebody plants an idea in your head about how to do something, it can color your own imagination, your own freedom to discover for yourself what works for you.

The one big thing my sister did, I was so excited when I got my first New York Times rave and I told her and she was totally not excited. And I said, 'Isn't this great?' And she said, 'It is great, but, I just want to give you a piece of advice. If you are excited by the good reviews, you might be devastated by the bad reviews. So just keep that in mind,' which is a good piece of advice.

PCC:
It must be nice that you and your sister have sort of separate corners of the music world in which to showcase your talents

MAUDE MAGGART:
Yeah, it is. It's really great. I often wonder, what would it be like, if we were in the same field. But it is wonderful, because we really and truly admire one another. But we are actually planning to do a project together, at some point. We want to do something with harmonies together, probably older songs, like the Boswell Sisters... minus one [She laughs]. That's somewhere in the works, down the line.

PCC:
Did your 'Prairie Home Companion' appearances get you a lot of attention?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Oh, yeah, they really did. That was great. That was huge. I loved that experience.

PCC:
Garrison Keillor had seen you perform live and invited you to be on the show?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Yes, he came to the Algonquin and, wouldn't you know it, I was doing a show about the year 1933 and, of course, there's a lot of material about radio in that show. So I talked a lot about radio and, oh my God, he was sitting right in the front, like three feet away from me and I thought, 'Oh, Maude, you moron, you're going to talk about radio in front of like the foremost authority on radio.' But, luckily, he really liked it. So he talked to me after the show and invited me to come to Town Hall. And a few months later, I went to the Hollywood Bowl, and sang there, on his show.

PCC:
What's the next project for you?

MAUDE MAGGART:
I'm working on a new show that I'm going to do at the Algonquin. It's called 'Three Little Words.' The show deals with how the great songwriters were able to express gigantic emotions in just three words. It just occurred to me that it's amazing how they did that, how they could express so much, so concisely.

PCC:
Will that lead to a new CD?

MAUDE MAGGART:
We were thinking about doing a CD very soon of this show. But I also have to record my other two shows, which I'm sort of combining a little bit, for The Rrazz Room. It's interesting. It's almost a new show, because it's a marriage of the last two. One is about dreams and the other is about family - parents and children. So I'm excited about putting those together.

PCC:
And the 'Dreamland' album you recorded with Brent Spiner had an interesting concept. How did that come about?

MAUDE MAGGART:
That came about, because Brent Spiner heard me on Jonathan Schwartz's (WNYC/Sirius XM radio) show. He was driving and heard me and pulled over. He found out my name and how to get into contact with me and I said, 'Yeah.'

PCC:
And you had fun working with him?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Wow! We had so much fun, no one wanted to leave. We were so upset when the project was over. But I thought Brent was courageous to do something so kind of wacky. A very unique project. He was wonderful, very patient with me. Because there's speaking, you're playing a part on the CD, I told him right off the bat, 'Brent, I'm going to ruin your CD. I'm not an actress.' He said, 'No, no, no, you'll be great.' He helped me a lot. I still think I was terrible. But he was wonderful.

PCC:
Do you tend to be self-critical?

MAUDE MAGGART:
When it's appropriate, yeah. But I'm also self-congratulatory. I think I have a pretty even head about it. I'm not one of those people who beats themselves up about everything.

PCC:
Working with Brent, did you acquire a 'Star Trek' following, by association?

MAUDE MAGGART:
I was hoping to, but it didn't really happen [laughing].

PCC:
You must have quite a following from the prestigious venues you play. The Algonquin - is that a special atmosphere?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Oh, yes, that's like the motherland. The mother lode. The Super Bowl.

PCC:
Do you feel the history when you're on stage there?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Oh, absolutely. It's funny, it's a really awkward room to play, because it's so long. It's like a skinny rectangle and you're right in the middle of it. So like when I said Garrison Keillor was right in front of me... I mean, he was right in front of me! There's one banquette in front of you and you're constantly playing to either the right side or the left side. So it's really an awkward room to play, but it somehow works. There's a certain magic to it. And yes, it's hallowed halls.

PCC:
What have you found to be the greatest rewards of performing?

MAUDE MAGGART:
Money [Laughs]. No. Joke. No, the greatest reward, hands down, is moving people, when you allow somebody to feel something that was inside them, but you've unearthed it. It usually comes out in tears. But they're not sad tears. They're cathartic tears. That's the biggest reward of live performing.

And it's the feeling of having made good music. When I feel that I've done justice to a song and if the songwriter were alive, he or she would be proud, that's a wonderful reward. You can never really know. But if I feel that they'd be proud, then that's a big one.

Discover Maude at The Rrazz Room or The Algonquin, if you're in those areas. You can also hear her at www.myspace.com/maudemaggart. At www.maudemaggart.com, you can even click onto links for her 'Prairie Home Companion' performances.