Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 30, 2012 Just before the start of WWII in Europe, the summer of 1939, the Glen Miller orchestra (with vocalist Ray Eberle) introduced the world to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 30, 2012 I'm sure I must have sung its praises here before -- Diana Krall's version of DANCING IN THE DARK. But they're playing it now on satellite radio and it's just so lovely -- her intimate, perfect jazz-samba reading, a lean but lovely arrangement -- at times reduced to just the singer, bass, drums (brushes) and a nylon-string guitar. Perfection. Goosebumps every time I hear it, even on a sunny Saturday (my favorite day to listen to channel 71). Arthur Schwartz's greatest melody, set to an 'existential' lyric by his great collaborator Howard Dietz. I think they would have loved what Diana's done with their most famous song. Give the Lady her due: She is first and foremost, a great jazz pianist (said Oscar Peterson) but more than any other 'jazz singer' Ms Krall has attracted the widest possible audience, numbering in the tens of millions, to the best songs we 'celebrate' here each day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 30, 2012 Satellite radio is playing the best recent version of the earliest hit song from my favorite composer Dick Rodgers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 30, 2012 Happiness (for this guitarist) is making an educated guess that "That's a Gibson L-5" (Wes Montgomery's weapon-of-choice) that my favorite 'studio guitarist' and arranger Bob Mann was playing on that Steve Tyrell song -- then happening upon Steve's Today show interview with NBC's Katie Couric: Sure enough, that's a shiny new L-5 in Bob Mann's lap, as he leads a jazz orchestra on his own arrangement of "Witchcraft" for Tyrell's Sinatra tribute album; concerning which Tyrell says "I'd never have done that without the support of the Sinatra family, Tina, Nancy and Frank Jr." The song is WITCHCRAFT, one of my favorite lyrics (Lee Knight's too, if memory serves) by Carolyn Leigh -- to the perfect tune by Cy Coleman: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 30, 2012 I awoke today Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 30, 2012 At the end of her life I asked my Mom, "What matters most? When you boil it down to the bottom of the pot, Mom -- what's left?" She was 82, in her fourth year of kidney dialysis -- almost in a coma. She hadn't spoken a word to me that day, but she sat up in her hospital bed and said in a suddenly clear, firm voice: "Talk to God!" Her last words to me, as it turned out. I was reminded just now of my mother's answer to that end-of-life question, while listening (for the first time) to Kenny Rankin's version of a forgotten gem of a song, WHAT MATTERS MOST. Dave Grusin, a favorite pianist/arranger and Grammy & Oscar-winning composer came up with the "great melody first." His friends (my heroes) the husband & wife team of Alan & Marilyn Bergman provided the words. It's a "look back on life" kind of song. And the fact I attended the funeral of a friend yesterday likely gives this more personal impact. But see what you think. Friends lucky enough to have seen Kenny Rankin in concert (providing his own sophisticated jazz chord accompaniment on nylon-string guitar) tell me I missed seeing a great performer. I can't decide if this orchestration is by the song's composer Dave Grusin or by Rankin's other brilliant pianist/arranger friend, Alan Broadbent (both favorites of mine). Kenny Rankin (Los Angeles, February 10, 1940 - June 7, 2009) was an American pop and jazz singer and songwriter, originally from the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City, New York. Rankin was introduced to music by his mother, who sang at home and for friends. Early in his career he worked as a singer-songwriter, and developed a considerable following during the 70s with a steady flow of albums, three of which broke into the Top 100 of the Billboard Album Chart. His liking for jazz was evident from an early age, but the times were such that in order to survive his career had to take a more pop-oriented course. By the 90s, however, he was able to angle his repertoire to accommodate his own musical preferences and to please a new audience while still keeping faith with the faithful. Rankin's warm singing style and his soft, nylon-stringed guitar sound might suggest an artist more attuned to the supper-club circuit than the jazz arena, but his work contains many touches that appeal to the jazz audience. Rankin appeared on The Tonight Show more than twenty times. Host Johnny Carson was so impressed by him that he wrote the liner notes to Rankin's 1967 debut album Mind Dusters, which featured the single "Peaceful." Kenny's friend Helen Reddy would reach #2 Adult Contemporary and #12 Pop in 1973 with a cover of it, released as her follow-up single to "I Am Woman". Georgie Fame also had a hit with this song in 1969, his only songwriting credit to hit the British charts reaching number sixteen and spending 9 weeks on the chart. Rankin's accompanists from time to time included Alan Broadbent, Mike Wofford and Bill Watrous, and on such occasions the mood slips easily into a jazz groove. His compositions have been performed by artists such as Mel Torm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 30, 2012 Addendum (from Wiki) Rankin's own unique gift for reworking classic songs such as The Beatles' "Blackbird," which he recorded for his Silver Morning album, so impressed Paul McCartney that he asked Rankin to perform his interpretation of the song when McCartney and John Lennon were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Rankin was lifelong friends with Comedian George Carlin. They toured together off and on for nearly 10 years . . . Rankin sang at Carlin's Memorial Service (June 2008) before dying of cancer almost exactly one year later in June 2009. [uploaded to YouTube four years ago with a comment] Uploaded by Thespadecaller on Nov 18, 2008As a reaction to racial tensions escalating in America in the spring of 1968, Paul McCartney was inspired to write Blackbird. We have come a long way since then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted June 30, 2012 Author Members Share Posted June 30, 2012 It didn't seem at the time (not to me, in the late 60s) that songs like "Blackbird" or "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" would one day be considered 'standards' in their own right . . . towering over other popular songs of that period, four decades on. But here we are. And it occurs that we have celebrated only one song by Simon & Garfunkel ( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 The most poignant story in the history of popular song (I know we've shared it here before) concerns Jane Brown Thompson, whose published poem about the loss of her husband, came to the attention of Hoagy ( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 When our youngest "Ben" got married -- to Osaka born "Eriko" -- I sang "Always" at the reception. It was a request from the mother of the bride, "Atsuko" the night before after the 'rehearsal' at the church; in the darkness of the back seat of our car she said in halting English: "At Italian restaurant . . . Ben's father . . . sing 'Always'." I'm listening as I type this to Paul McCartney's recent version of ALWAYS -- one of my favorites (words & music) by Irving Berlin. [Don't you dare say Who's he?] The dean of the great 20th century composers Jerome Kern -- asked his opinion of Irving's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 A hot and lazy holiday Monday (our "Canada Day" weekend) and every neighbor it seems is cutting their lawn . . . while I listen to music: at this very moment, Chris Botti & Paula Cole's version of THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU. It was my parents' "other favorite Ray Noble song" and so I'm flooded in memories. Indulge my reverie please . . . The night before Christmas, 1936, when my future Dad planted his first kiss on my Mom's lips, they were dancing in her parents' parlour (what people called their front rooms with piano in those days) to a 78 rpm recording of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted July 2, 2012 Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 A gem of a song from the great songwriting team of Bert Kalmer (words) & Harry Ruby (music). I think it's one of the most perfectly constructed songs of its type ever written. This particular arrangement seems to have been influenced by the style of many of Billie Holiday's early recordings, though she tended to do things more uptempo.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouIcYSyaToI LCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 I've noticed that whenever you comment -- and post a favorite version of a song -- like this one, Lee, satellite radio channel 71 very often plays another version of that song soon afterward. As if to say," I hear you -- now listen to my favorite version," they're playing Dean Martin's take (with orchestra and chorus) of "Nevertheless" right this minute! Thanks for reminding me of Sinatra's early recording of this one -- for which he'd already fully developed the unsurpassed 'phrasing' -- artless breath control for which he was famous. In a word -- superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 Yesterday I posted on "What matters most?" -- my Mom's last words to me in answer to that question. We'd shed a tear listening to Kenny Rankin's splendid version. As I type this they're playing (just for me) the most recent recording -- the title track from her latest album, celebrating my lyric-writing (Oscar-winning) heroes, "The Bergmans" Marilyn and Alan. Barbra's 70 year old voice is eerily similar now to another of my favorites, Barbara Cook -- the timbre and texture. Her take is more conventional that the late Kenny Rankin's . . . but no less affecting (one day later).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OplVNCQPKo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 2, 2012 It's routine for great jazz singers to combine a couple of songs in medley -- two that segue nicely back and forth. Until a moment ago I'd not seen Sinatra doing this, in an inspired way (HIS inspiration we may be sure) with two of my all-time favorite ballads. (Ah the undiscovered treasures of YouTube! When will it end?) I had just Googled for a song that I love (but haven't heard in ages) LAST NIGHT WHEN WE WERE YOUNG. Not surprisingly the first version listed at Wikipedia is Sinatra's -- the definitive version of my favorite lyric by Yip Harburg -- and maybe my favorite melody by Harold Arlen (outside all the great ones they wrote for The Wizard of Oz). I was also on the lookout today for a live television or concert version by Sinatra of my favorite song from Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke -- HERE'S THAT RAINY DAY. Imagine my delight a moment ago stumbling upon a 'live' (not before an audience) video recording of Sinatra performing BOTH tunes in medley (to Gordon Jenkins arrangements) in an empty TV studio (a possible rehearsal?). Sinatra the actor brings everything to bear on this understated performance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 4, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 4, 2012 So. She'd be "70 something" today . . . the "Girl from Ipanema." A friend, Lester Perkins of Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 4, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 4, 2012 On the previous page, after Brian Wilson's recent (2011) update of Disney's most famous song, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 4, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 4, 2012 I'm Canadian-born, but an American at heart. Google for "Muppets July 4" and you get this. A personal favorite ever since my wife-to-be (almost 40 years ago) said I reminded her of Sam the Eagle. Only someone comfortable with himself could take it as a compliment. Happy 4th to all my friends. (Aren't you glad you're YOU, and live where you do?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 4, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 4, 2012 Adrienne Casalotti. For some reason our musical family remembered her name. Maybe because she sang the first great "Disney song" -- in the world's first, full-length color movie -- the animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Satellite radio is playing Lena Horne's late-in-life version -- to slow out-of-tempo jazz piano accompaniment that shifts to full orchestration at the musical bridge. A tenor sax solo by . . . someone very good, who loved Dexter Gordon, I'm guessing. Is it at YouTube. Not yet. Enter "Someday (one word) My Prince Will Come" and the first offerings are the two best in jazz history, by Miles Davis trumpet masterpiece and Bill Evans' piano trio rendition (my favorite). But first up, nearing 1.3 million views is the 'original.' [There is as you would expect, a good (but not perfect) Wiki entry] "Some Day My Prince Will Come" is a popular song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was written by Larry Morey (lyrics) & Frank Churchill (music), and performed by Adriana Caselotti (Snow White's voice in the movie). It was also featured in the 1979 stage adaptation of the 1937 animated musical movie. This song first appears 57:40 into the movie, when Princess Snow White sings a bedtime song for the dwarfs after their small party. It later appears when Snow White is making a pie and once more in a more formal version when the prince takes Snow White away at the end. The American Film Institute listed this song at #19 on their list of the 100 greatest songs in movie history. Following "When You Wish Upon A Star" from Pinocchio at #7, this is the second highest ranked song from a Disney movie out of four, with the other two being "Beauty and the Beast" from Beauty and the Beast at #62 and "Hakuna Matata" from The Lion King at #99. The song was then briefly sung on the 1971 sitcom All In The Family by Edith Bunker in the episode Archie's Weighty Problem. The first interpretation as a jazz standard was performed by the "Ghetto Swingers" at the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1943. About that concert the author and musician Herbert Thomas Mandl tells in his film "Tracks to Terezin". The concert took place in the so called Coffee House of Theresienstadt and Mandl himself saw and heard it. The original title of the concert was "Music from Frank Churchill". But the Nazis could see that title as a provocation, so it was changed to "Music from the film 'Snow White" by Walt Disney".[1] The song was performed in the 1948 film Mickey as "One Day My Prince Will Come". In 1957, the jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, inspired by an anthology of Disney tunes owned by his child, included a version of the song on the album Dave Digs Disney. The song quickly became popular amongst jazz musicians, who considered its chord sequence to be particularly satisfying.[citation needed] Later versions were recorded by Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Grant Green, Oscar Peterson, and many times by Herbie Hancock, who would use it as the basis for a virtuoso showpiece display. The recording on the 1961 Miles Davis album, Someday My Prince Will Come, features a pedal point interlude between choruses that has often been imitated. Pianist Wynton Kelly, who performed on Davis' version, recorded the track as a trio later that year on his own album of the same name.Lena Horne, in 1976 sang a version with the Robert Farnon Orchestra and Phil Woods on A New Album. The Chet Baker Trio recorded an album called Someday My Prince Will Come in 1979. Sun Ra's 1989 live album Second Star to the Right includes a version of the song that incorporated both vocals and an extended rubato saxophone solo. Al Di Meola recorded it in 1993 in his album World Sinfonia II - Heart of the Immigrants, describing it as a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 4, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 4, 2012 My musical father Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 5, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 5, 2012 I'd like your opinion on a song. It disappeared (almost) without a trace over half a century ago. It was the first song "The Bergmans" wrote with Sinatra in mind -- the other was the title track to his best-selling "Nice 'N' Easy" album -- back in the days before they were married. They are alive and well and still writing songs in their 80s. Here's the only recent take on the song, by one of my favorite 'little girl' voices of jazz today, Stacey Kent. See what you think:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVIzJCDU63A I was reminded of this, a moment ago, listening to (what else?) satellite radio channel 71 -- today's singer/host of "Playing [sinatra] Favorites" program, Julie Budd. She played the 'original' by Dean Martin (still not uploaded to YouTube) with heartfelt words of introduction: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 5, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 5, 2012 It's track 14, the closer on his "Kisses on the Bottom" album, released earlier this year -- one of two he wrote (words and music) for an album otherwise comprised of "great old songs." He performed the other, "My Valentine" at this year's Grammys show -- introduced by someone Paul McCartney considers a genius, Stevie Wonder . . . who solos on this closing track, ONLY OUR HEARTS (know how much love there is). Still no official video at YouTube for the best love song (I say) of recent decades: Who says it's great? Stevie Wonder -- the genius of a composer and harmonica virtuoso who plays the solo on this one (as only he and perhaps Belgium's Toots Thielemans could). There is a fan video set to slides of the two men Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 5, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 5, 2012 Here's to those who drink their dinners when that Lady doesn't show; to the girl who'll wait for kisses underneath that mistletoe; to the lonely summer lovers when the leaves begin to fall . . . Here's to the losers! Bless 'em all. In her interview (above) with producer/singer Steve Tyrell, NBC's Katie Couric singled out her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 7, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 7, 2012 Canadian-born lyricist Gene Lees (who left us two years ago) remembered his first meeting with his hero, Johnny Mercer: They were introduced by Henry Mancini -- with whom Johnny wrote two consecutive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted July 7, 2012 Author Members Share Posted July 7, 2012 You don't know me . . . I don't know you . . . And the summer's come again [and] my-oh-my! the fish are flyin' all over Lousianne It's been exactly 20 years since Jennifer Warnes recorded my favorite of her albums, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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