Fifteen Ethan Liptons.   (Photo: Heather-Phelps Lipton/Courtesy of Lipton)

• Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra

  ethanlipton.com

  With his earnest brown suits, mournful eyes, and neat mustache, Ethan Lipton looks less like a silken-throated lounge lizard than he does a beaten-down ad salesman—an ordinary Joe singing gentle songs about everyday life. Backed by a tight three-piece jazz band, Lipton’s topics range from the frustrations of a pal who chooses a bad partner to the joys of looking groovy in your thrift-store pants. One tune consists entirely of a 15-second instrumental vamp ending with the line “I’ve got something for you … coffee breath!” Catch him on March 26 at Rockwood Music Hall or in April at Barbès in Park Slope.

From the 2009 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine