Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 6, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 6, 2019 And the Oscar for "Best Actor" (in a musical sequence) goes to . . .another 'Oscar' ! Raise your hand if you've ever watched AN AMERICAN IN PARIS all the way through, beginning-to-end. I confess I've only seen excerpts and highlights. Just watched a musical sequence that would have been my father's favorite. If you can spare four-and-one-half-minutes, you are in for a treat! I entered Levant's name at YouTube a moment ago: this was the first offering today -- with an informed description, “ . . . pianist Oscar Levant in the role of a jobless concertmaster dreams about his performing 3rd Movement (Allegro Agitato) from Gershwin's "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in F Major" [followed by this posted appreciation] Mahja Biene (3 years ago) "I love this movie, because you can see three really talented artists, Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron and Oscar Levant, I always like movies, where you can see the work and the art and not only people who pretend to be an artist. When I first saw this movie, I was so surprised to see such a great pianist in a movie. "I hate films where an actor plays a musician without knowing anything of the instrument. I really love Oscar Levant, he is such a brilliant pianist . . . it´s such a pleasure to see him play in this movie and he was so cool and funny, such a great comedian. Of course I love Gene Kelly very much, but in this film, Oscar Levant was the real star of the movie!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 6, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 6, 2019 All-time favorite song about SILENCE (Love Dance) My favorite song of 1980 (maybe the entire 80's?) was LOVE DANCE (sung) by George Benson. You likely never heard this song. Not unless you are a guitarist -- who purchased the very first album on Quincy Jones' then-new record label Quest. Even then you might have skipped that oh-so-gentle ballad -- in favor of the funky title track, “Give Me The Night.” What made me think of it now? Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio just played Barbra Streisand's “Best Original Song” Academy Award winner – EVERGREEN (from the 1976 edition of “A Star is Born”). Barbra actually wrote the lovely melody first; Paul Williams then found words to fit the tune. Mr. Williams' considerable Wiki entry lists his many important songs – but not LOVE DANCE, my favorite of his lyrics. No matter how you google for it, LOVE DANCE doesn't show up! Add the name George Benson and . . . there we are: It still doesn't say who wrote the lovely melody (but I've never forgotten his name) a Brazilian composer, Ivan Lins. And while LOVE DANCE doesn't get a mention in Paul Williams' online bios, it is a much bigger deal for the melodist. [First paragraph of his Wiki entry] Ivan Guimarães Lins (born June 16, 1945) is a Latin Grammy-winning Brazilian musician. He has been an active performer and songwriter of Brazilian popular music (MPB) and jazz for over thirty years. His first hit, "Madalena", was recorded by Elis Regina in 1970. "Love Dance", a hit in 1989, is one of the most recorded songs in musical history. (Lins won two Latin Grammys.) The Oscar Peterson of the guitar sticks to the vocal on this one – allowing a then- up-and-coming jazz giant of the guitar, Lee Ritenour to do the beautiful picking. Favorite lines? The bridge/release Old songs, find new life – in hearts that are list'ning like ours And old dreams find young wings In silence . . . Turn up the quiet, Love wants to dance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 6, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 6, 2019 [h=2]LOVE LETTERS -- Natalie's best-ever version[/h] As I type this Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing my favorite version of a very old song -- LOVE LETTERS (straight from your heart) -- Natalie Cole's rendition from her 1996 Grammy-winning "Stardust" album, just about my favorite of her four albums of standards. I singled this one out as my favorite track -- featuring as it does the other greatest jazz harmonica giant (along with Stevie Wonder) Belgium's greatest gift to jazz after Django, Toots Thielemans. In her liner notes Natalie thanked Toots for his superb solo. Mr. Thielemans outlived Natalie by seven months; he left us two summers ago, age 94. I listen to this and remind myself that -- Great music never dies; it just keeps on giving goosebumps. [14 years on, I stand by this review. If you only purchased one of Natalie Cole's albums of standards, make it this one!] https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-r...at_pdctrvw_srp If that link didn't work -- the relevant passages: "There are too many highlights to list here - but Natalie herself singled out one or two of the solos in her full page of (small print) `Thank You's.' In praising the greatest harmonica player who ever lived, Toots Thielemans, Natalie said -- of his breathtakingly beautiful contribution to the Victor Young classic "Love Letters": "You have brought just the right touch of grace and style to this music. I am honored." "And of trumpet giant Wynton Marsalis' "dazzling" solos in the middle and at the end of "He Was Too Good to Me" Natalie said simply, "It brings me to my knees." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 7, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2019 LOVE LETTERS redux Happiness is discovering something musical that is wonderfully new. You never heard before. Poignancy is realizing you can't compliment the artist, 'cause they're no longer with us. The wonder that is today's 'shuffle play' at Youtube just offered me this: as if to say, "You like to hear piano as 'orchestra' -- you might enjoy this!" Someone I never heard of but who (it turns out) was the primary influence on my life-long jazz hero Herbie Hancock -- only jazz artist to win overall Album of the Year at the Grammys (for his celebration of the music of Joni Mitchell a decade ago). I imagine walking into a hotel bar and there is a pianist -- all alone -- playing this -- orchestral variations on LOVE LETTERS. I'd tell him "You are the greatest pianist in the world!" [note on video (below) posted two years ago] Karen Grigoryan Published on Mar 12, 2017 'Chris Anderson was born in Chicago on February 26, 1926. He passed away just before his 82nd birthday two years after suffering a stroke. His lifelong fascination with harmony, sparked by movie scores, began well before the age of 10. He was already teaching himself to play on the family piano, so well indeed that he never took lessons -- a clue to the startling originality of his harmonic ideas. Before Chris finished high school, he was playing blues gigs in South Side bars. An after-high school job in a record store exposed him to Nat King Cole, Art Tatum and Duke Ellington; from then on, jazz was his music. 'After those first three great mentors, Chris rarely listened to pianists. As he put it, "I'd be more interested in listening to an arranger than to a pianist. Gil Evans for example, or Nelson Riddle -- they fascinated me. The things Riddle did for Sinatra knocked me out." Consistent with his interest for harmony and arrangement, his classical listening favored the great impressionist orchestrators, Debussy and Ravel. 'By the time he was 18, he was playing piano for Leo Blevins, an influential Chicago guitarist who knew almost all the Jazz stars. That year, due to Leo, Chris started playing with Sonny Stitt. Within two years, he was playing the famous Pershing Ballroom concerts with Charlie Parker and Howard McGhee; two of these have been preserved on record. He was 20, and due to steadily worsening cataracts, became completely blind. 'For the next 15 years as house pianist for several of Chicago's best jazz clubs, Chris played with a steady stream of the greats: Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Gene Ammons, Max Roach, Stan Getz, Johnny Griffin, Roland Kirk. 'At the same time he was playing with and influencing a whole generation of young Chicago musicians, many of them destined for greatness. Among them were Wilbur Ware, Clifford Jordan, Von Freeman, Billy Wallace, George Coleman, Wilbur Campbell and Harold Maburn. Chris, with characteristic modesty, speaks of them not as followers, but as close musical brothers. "Heck, they influenced me as much as I influenced them." 'In 1960, Herbie Hancock heard Chris Anderson play. "Chris' music has affected the core of my music very deeply. After hearing him play just once, I begged him to let me study with him. Chris Anderson is a master of harmony and sensitivity. I shall be forever indebted to him and his very special gift." 'In 1961, Dinah Washington, having run through several piano players in the previous year, asked Chris to tour with her. Despite Chris' brilliance as a singer's accompanist, the musicians in Chicago were betting that he wouldn't last two months with the evil-tempered Dinah. Sure enough, in New York six weeks later, she fired him. Chris decided to stay on and play in New York. His crippling bone condition limited his ability to work, though he appeared regularly as a soloist in Barry Harris's annual concerts and made the most of the gigs he had at Bradley's, the Village Vanguard, the Jazz Gallery, and Smalls. Through these infrequent appearances his playing was able to influence a handful of younger musicians who were lucky enough to have seen or played with the master, including Ronnie Ben-Hur, Ari Roland and Jason Lindner. 'He left a small but significant number of recordings. Plans are in the works to make an extensive collection of his music available for posterity.' ----- As if the pianist says me to me personally (just the two of us alone in that piano bar) "Oh. You love Richard Rodgers?" He segues immediately into perhaps Richard Rodgers' most beloved (most recorded) melody, of the 50-plus great ones he wrote. Oh my. THIS is my favorite version of MY ROMANCE! [Again, this was a random shuffle offering. It wasn't there (My Romance) the second time around.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 7, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2019 [h=2]Down Here on the Ground – Wes Montgomery[/h] Ask any jazz guitarist where Wes Montgomery belongs on the list of guitar greats. They will, every single one of them say, “At the top.” I love it that Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio gives Wes almost daily air play. My all-time favorite (short radio play) recording by Wes featured a very young Herbie Hancock at the Steinway. His obbligatos and fills are, to this day the very model of what the pianist should do in the presence of greatness. Bet you Wes complimented him during the playback of this recording! The gorgeous melody, Down Here on the Ground, was composed by Lalo Schifrin. The mid-song improvisation by Wes remains my single favorite (short) jazz solo of all time. From the appropriately titled “Wes Montgomery's Finest Hour.” So it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 7, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2019 . . . but then, it's not for me to say. I love that Siriusly Sinatra gives regular (sometimes hourly!) play to Johnny Mathis. My two favorite of his early hit songs played recently – CHANCES ARE and IT'S NOT FOR ME TO SAY – the latter just finished playing a moment ago. I pride myself on knowing 'Who wrote that song?' But I had to look both songs up and sure enough: both written by composer Robert Allen with words by Al Stillman. They also wrote an iconic Christmas song, (No Place Like) “Home for the Holidays.” Still needed a reminder from Wiki about this great composer, most of us never heard of when he died nearly two decades ago: Robert Allen Deitcher (February 5, 1927 – October 1, 2000) was a pianist and an arranger and writer of music for popularsongs. . . . Allen was born to a Jewish family[2] in Troy, New York and had 4 children: a son, Gordon, and 3 daughters, Pamela, Diana, and Katie. He was an accompanist for Perry Como, Peter Lind Hayes, and Arthur Godfrey. Many of his compositions were collaborations with lyricist Al Stillman. Allen lived in New Rochelle, New York from 1963, much of his professional life. Three of his most famous songs were: "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays","Everybody Loves a Lover" and "Chances Are".[3] Robert Allen died in Quogue, New York of colon cancer at the age of 73. The Wiki note adds, Robert Allen wrote two of The Four Lads' biggest hits: “Moments to Remember” and “No, Not Much.” [Not a day goes by that – when I'm giving my Irene a rub to help her sleep -- I'll say teasingly, “You don't need this.” The reply, “No, not much.'] Of all their hits, my favorite is the one played a moment ago by Sirius radio -- with my favorite, most poignant line: Perhaps the glow of love will grow with every passing day Or we may never meet again But then . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 7, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2019 [h=2]PRETTY WORLD -- favorite Bossa Nova tune[/h] Just thanked Leigh Ann, who moderates "Playing Favorites" on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio, for making Mr. and Mrs. Herb Alpert the "Playing Favorites" show hosts this day. Which reminded me . . . Long before (DECADES before) I knew her name, I loved Lani Hall's voice -- the perfect lead singer for "Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66". On the way home this morning, while enjoying this, I thought of my favorite of their songs -- timelessly beautiful melody by Sergio himself and words by Marilyn & Alan (Nice 'N' Easy) Bergman: "Nothing else to make but breakfast and love." Wouldn't have minded their including that one on their show. But then, to coin a phrase, it's not for me to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 7, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2019 [h=2]Imagine you never heard this song before . . .[/h] As I type this Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing Barry Manilow's (recent?) recording of IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS OF THE MORNING. Of course no one could ever record a better version than Sinatra's. But . . . if you'd never heard the song before, if you are young and getting a musical education from Diana Krall and others, you couldn't help but appreciate this version: The much-maligned Mr. Manilow is so musically gifted. Time to start looking for my all-time favorite versions of songs recorded by him. His duet with Barbara Cook on LOOK TO THE RAINBOW, for instance. That one, like this one, so beautifully orchestrated. For another day . . . Oh it took all of 30 seconds! These are the best times to be alive in human history. (Don't let any sourpuss tell you otherwise.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 7, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2019 [h=2]STEVE TYRELL - For All We Know[/h] There are hundreds of recordings of this great old song -- FOR ALL WE KNOW -- but at this moment Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing my new favorite, by a friend of the Sinatra Family, Steve Tyrell. I love this version especially for the Gibson L-5 guitar accompaniment by my all-time favorite studio musician/guitarist/arranger Bob Mann. How I'd love an album of standards by Mr. Mann. But none exists. So snippets like these will have to do. A Wikipedia entry for Bob -- expanded by a kindred spirit when I wasn't looking. Bob Mann (born 1944 in New York City) is an American guitarist and arranger. Bob Mann's decision to follow music came at age 5, no doubt due to the influence of his dad, Sy Mann, a well-respected and versatile pianist/ arranger (and contemporary of Dick Hyman) who was an active part of the flourishing music business of New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. Bob started on piano, then at age 13 switched to guitar, studied music theory at Queens College and Manhattan School of Music before joining the USAF “Airmen of Note” in the late 1960s. Returning to NY in 1970, he quickly became an in-demand studio and “live” guitarist, and has subsequently enjoyed successful music careers in Toronto and Los Angeles before finally moving back to NYC in 1999. A guitarist equally versed in R&B, jazz and pop, Mann has recorded and/or toured with James Taylor, Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Linda Ronstadt,[2] Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Cher, Neil Diamond, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Bonny Raitt, Brecker Bros., the Crusaders, Aaron Neville, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Astrud Gilberto, Steve Tyrell, Lionel Hampton, Chico Hamilton, Melissa Manchester, Tony Orlando, BJ Thomas, Kenny Loggins,Mountain,[3] Linda Eder and many more. His most well- known guitar solo (and arrangement) would be the # 1 single "Somewhere Out There" featuring Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram. Mann has arranged and/ or co-produced recordings featuring Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Kristin Chenoweth, Steve Tyrell, Neal McCoy, BJ Thomas, Jamie Walters, John Stevens, and others. Yo Yo Ma has performed several of Mann's cello arrangements with James Taylor in concert, and James featured Mann's symphonic arrangement of “Mean Old Man” with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2009. Fourplay commissioned Mann to write a symphonic chart of Chuck Loeb's "Above And Beyond" from their "Let's Touch The Sky" CD which they performed with orchestra in Japan in late 2010. Mann's TV and film scoring and arranging credits include work on Nurse Jackie, Something's Got To Give, That Thing You Do, Father of the Bride, The Five Heartbeats, Elvis-the Early Years, Flight of the Navigator, Diving In, 20 Dates, Family Prayers, T-Bone and Weasel, The Sonny and Cher Story, Matlock, Frank's Place, and more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 7, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2019 [h=2]LINDA & BOB'S You Go to My Head (best guitar solo EVER)[/h] The Wiki bio on Bob Mann states that “His most well- known guitar solo (and arrangement) would be the # 1 single "Somewhere Out There" featuring Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram.” Maybe so, but for four decades now THIS song, from the series of Great Songbook standards that Linda Ronstadt and Nelson Riddle turned into sales of six million LPs in the early 80s – THIS song features the best jazz solo instrumental break that I have ever heard. The tone, and the content – even the syncopated spaces (knowing that what you leave out, can be as important as what you leave in). Yes, play this one at my funeral, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 8, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2019 RAINBOW CONNECTION -- Johnny Mathis As if to say to me personally, "Is this maybe your favorite version of your favorite Paul Williams song?" Yes, Jersey Lou Simon (programmer at Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio). You are a mind-reader, Sir. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mfXKOlldwc First time I've ever posted BEFORE song's end! ---- Wiki note: "Rainbow Connection" is a song from the 1979 film The Muppet Movie, with music and lyrics written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher.[1] The song was performed by Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson) in the film. "Rainbow Connection" reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1979, with the song remaining in the Top 40 for seven weeks total.[2] Williams and Ascher received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song at the 52nd Academy Awards.[3] Of course Sinatra would have done the retire-the-trophy version. But he didn't. Performed by the not-easy-being-green singer himself: Stay tuned. This night it's Kermit's duet with Debbie Harry. Okay, my favorite song performance on my favorite TV show of the entire 1970s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 8, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2019 I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face -- NAT KING COLE It's the My Fair Lady song -- the show-stopper ballad Sinatra fans wish their favorite singer had recorded, but inexplicably never did. Frank did some fabulous versions of other songs from that show people used to call the greatest musical in the history of Broadway. At this moment, Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing Natalie Cole's Daddy's version. Best ever? I think so. "Come to bed, I need my knees rubbed," says Irene. "Just another minute," I said. "Nancy for Frank" replay just started and the opening track, is from my favorite album arranged by Robert ("Great Songs From Great Britain") Farnon -- GARDEN IN THE RAIN. Sleep warm, as someone we love used to say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 8, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2019 JAMES TAYLOR -- (I was) A MEAN OLD MAN The Wiki bio for my favorite guitarist/studio musician/arranger Bob Mann mentions his arrangement for James Taylor's MEAN OLD MAN "with the Philadelphia Orchestra 2009." It's not at Youtube, but something even better is: James as a superb jazz vocalist: "In 2004, James performed "Mean Old Man" with the Wynton Marsalis Septet at the Lincoln Center Gala. "United We Swing," the album from that event, is now available and proceeds support Jazz at Lincoln Center’s educational programs." I'd like to think I had something to do with James Taylor finally bringing his show to "the world's coldest major city" (Winnipeg) "where I promise you a warm welcome." I'd chided him for performing, a few years earlier, in neighboring 'Nowheresville' (Saskatoon) Saskatchewan. When he finally played here, three years ago, I attended with my guitarist son Ben and guitarist grandson Thomas -- who turned to me in the darkness with big swingin' smiles as J.T. performed this wonderful 'who-gets-a-second-chance' song. "I was a mean old man until you turned me into a . . . . Golden Retriever . . . puppy dog." (Who's a good boy?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 8, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 8, 2019 [h=2]JUST IN TIME (an older 'you rescued this Mean Old Man')[/h] Pulling up in my driveway a moment ago Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio was playing Tony Bennett – a live performance before a wildly enthusiastic audience – of Jule Styne's JUST IN TIME. (Incidentally, the 'remote' recording engineering so good I'm thinking “Wally Heider” – if this was live in L.A.) Anyway, Tony has the crowd laughing out loud as he sings an improvised opening verse: “When I was face-down in the gutter [and] “looking like something the cat dragged in . . . Just in time, you found me just in time!" Sort of an early 'Mean Old Man' song (see above posting of James Taylor). Is Tony's live performance of JUST IN TIME at Youtube? As if anticipating the negative answer, the very next song Sirius plays is Michael Buble's “Try a Little Tenderness.” So first up at Youtube is . . . you guessed it: Michael's duet with Tony. Introduced by the producer, the late Phil Ramone. Personal anecdote: When he was 'only' 83 years old, Tony played our Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall (thousand seat) and, in his trademark move, put down the mic and filled the hall with the sound of his voice. I caught up to him at his hotel, two blocks away and as he emerged from the Caddy SUV said: "Mr. Bennett. That wasn't merely a great performance by an 83-year-old man, that was the best performance by anyone that I have ever seen in my life." He extended his hand, warm and frail in a tender way and when it came time to sign my copy of his autobiography, a young blonde man accompanying him pulled out a sharpie. "No, no," said Mr. Bennett, "this deserves a better pen!" and took out his own, from the inside pocket of his jacket. My wife, waiting in the car, has always considered Tony Bennett her favorite singer, said, "Let me shake the hand that shook Tony Bennett's hand!" and then, grinning: "Don't wash it!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 9, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 9, 2019 [h=2]Barbra's latter day take on, IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS OF THE MORNING[/h] Not yet the wee small hours, but a quarter after midnight. Helped my Irene fall asleep again with my patented knee rub and checked to see what I just missed on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio. It's Barbra Streisand singing what sounds like a late-in-life version of the song our favorite singer introduced to the world in long ago 1955. Two things I notice immediately: Barbra's more mature voice is . . . well, better (to my ears). More in keeping with a lyric that Sinatra treated with such late-night tenderness. The other thing was the unusual musical bridge: a solo on piano -- no other instrument; a good long solo that was well . . . really unusual. It sounded to me like my favorite compatriot, Canada's other gift to jazz. Before checking to see if it's at YouTube, I went to Wiki for an updated note on the song -- who has recorded it since its introduction in '55. Sure enough! "Barbra Streisand has covered the song twice. On her 1991 retrospective, Just For the Record, Barbra sang a medley of 'When You Gotta Go' and 'Wee Small Hours of the Morning' (from a 1969 live performance). In 2009, Streisand recorded a new, studio version of "Wee Small Hours" for her album, Love is the Answer, produced by jazz artist Diana Krall." Best version since the original? At this moment (12:21 Frozen Prairie Time) I would say so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 9, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 9, 2019 [h=2]Walkin' My Baby Back Home – JAMES TAYLOR[/h] Not for the first time this month, Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing James Taylor's version of WALKIN' MY BABY BACK HOME. I've been a life-long fan of Mr. Taylor – and apart from his recording of MY ROMANCE (arguably the most recorded song by my favorite composer Dick Rodgers) this is just about the only Great American Songbook ballad that James Taylor ever recorded. His take on this great old song is not among the more than 50 versions listed in the Wikipedia entry: "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" is a popular song written in 1930 by Roy Turk(lyrics) and Fred E. Ahlert (music). It first charted in 1931 with versions by Nick Lucas (#8), Ted Weems (also #8), The Charleston Chasers (#15), and Lee Morse(#18). A recording made by Jo Stafford on November 9, 1945, was released by Capitol Records as catalog number 20049, and on her album, Songs by Jo Stafford . . . The major hit version of it was recorded by Nat King Cole, on September 4, 1951 . . . It went to #8 in 1952. The song charted again in 1952 at #4 in a version recorded in February 1952 by Johnnie Ray, . . . It was the title song from the 1953 film starring Donald O'Connor, Janet Leigh, Buddy Hackett . . . In the film the song was performed by O'Connor. In the opening of the 2002 TV film Martin and Lewis, Dean Martin (played by Jeremy Northam) performs the song at the Riobamba Club in New York City. In 2008, Natalie Cole recorded the song as a virtual duet with her father and it was the first single for her album Still Unforgettable, released on September 9, 2008. Elvis Costello ["Mr. Diana Krall" as we know him in Canada] performed a version as an encore in his Auckland, New Zealand concert, January 19, 2013 and in Troy, New York on November 6, 2013. ---- Again, no mention of James Taylor's more recent, gentle, loving appreciation from a decade ago. But Jersey Lou Simon (the programmer at Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio) is speaking to my heart in playing this one. Nat didn't live long enough to know about James Taylor, but I think Nat would have smiled at James' take on this one. As he did, two decades ago, on his only other Great Songbook ballad MY ROMANCE, James provides the world-class artless whistling on the instrumental bridge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 10, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2019 LENA HORNE – Always Leave The Door a Little Open Years ago Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio introduced me to a song by Lena Horne – I'LL ALWAYS LEAVE THE DOOR A LITTLE OPEN. Sirius is playing it right now. Google the title and only one singer is mentioned – Lena: From a late-in-life album with little-known songs Lena had obviously discovered along the way. And just like her friend Frank, Lena hoped to keep alive a good song that otherwise might never be heard. [Only search result] 'We'll Be Together Again is a 1994 album by Lena Horne. At the 1995 Grammy Awards, Horne ... "My Mood Is You" (Carl Sigman); "I'll Always Leave the Door a Little Open" (Richard Rodney).' The wise men at SinatraFamily.com ("Andrew T & Bob in Boston") just informed me that's short for "Richard Rodney Bennett" -- an English-born opera and classical-style composer, who wrote the words, to a melody by Johnny (Shadow of Your Smile) Mandel. Small wonder it's such a catchy tune! Celebrated this night at SinatraFamily.com -- Forums -- "Siriusly Sinatra" folder -- "My Favorite Versions -- Yours Too?" https://sinatrafamily.com/forum/showthread.php/50225-My-Favorite-Version-%28yours-too-%29?p=1272881#post1272881 Is it at YouTube? Yes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 10, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2019 My favorite living guitarist you ask? To any guitarists here present: Ever hear of Walter Rodrigues Jr? Didn't think so. He's a 'guitarist's guitarist' -- one of the few I could listen to by the hour. Born in Brazil, he resides in the U.S. -- a long-ago graduate of the great Guitar Institute in L.A. whose visiting profs included Winnipeg's Lenny Breau, described (to me) by Chet Atkins as "the greatest guitarist in the world" (murdered in L.A. almost 40 years ago). I finally left a note of appreciation on Walter Rodrigues Jr's Youtube version of YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE (the Stevie Wonder hit composed by a nephew of Sinatra's life-long pianist Bill Miller). Anticipating sharing this with the guitarists among us here, I wrote: ---- If you asked the greatest finger-style guitarists alive today – England's Martin Taylor, Australia's Tommy Emmanuel and America's Doyle Dykes [the latter alone was asked to play at Chet Atkins' memorial service at the Ryman Auditorium] – if you requested of them a transcribed arrangement of this early Stevie Wonder hit – and then played this video for them, I believe they would tell you “THAT is impossible to improve upon!” As someone already noted in the comments below, Walter cleverly alludes to his homeland's most gifted composer Antonio Carlos Jobim (they named the international airport in Rio after him!) – Walter includes the opening and closing notes of Jobim's most famous tune, Girl From Ipanema. If I had to use just one word to describe the brilliance of a Walter Rodrigues Jr arrangement – it would be “coherence” – every note and chord segues into the next with an 'organic' perfection using deceptively simple chords that I call 'artless.' You watch and think, Heck I could play that! (Oh no you can't!) Like a melody by Richard Rodgers (my favorite composer whose tunes are instantly memorable the first time you hear them) you couldn't change a note to 'improve' on this arrangement even in some small way. Sinatra once changed a note in a Gershwin melody and his friend, composer Alec (“I'll Be Around”) Wilder said Frank actually improved the tune. Yes, words can't convey the subtle wonder of a Walter Rodrigues' arrangement. Doyle Dykes has a signature model of that Godin guitar. Hope they make a nylon string version with Walter's name on it: the least they could do, I say. On that note, I helped arrange Doyle's recent visit to Winnipeg in the company of Godin executives promoting his new signature model. Their three divisions, all based in Quebec, are now the largest exporter of quality guitars on planet earth. But you knew that, right? Thanks for being you, Walter Rodrigues Jr. The world would be a poorer place without your playing. Your biggest fan in the frozen North – Mark B Correction: I was thinking of FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, a hit for Tony Bennett the same year it was a mega hit for Stevie Wonder -- the song co-written by Ron ("nephew of Bill") Miller. Time for bed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 10, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2019 TOO YOUNG I was four years old when I first heard my favorite Nat King Cole song TOO YOUNG. Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio just played George Benson's version from his recent Nat Cole Tribute album (a duet with “Judith Hill”). How big a hit was this for Nat? According to Wiki: "Too Young" is a popular song -- music written by Sidney Lippman, lyrics by Sylvia Dee. The song was published in 1951. The best-known version of the song was recorded by Nat King Cole on February 6, 1951 . . . It was a million-selling record and reached the #1 position on the Billboard chart, staying at #1 for 5 weeks and altogether on the Best Seller chart for 29 weeks.[1] Billboard ranked this version as the No. 1 song of 1951. Cole described this song as one of his three favorites among his own songs. The arrangement for George & Judith's lovely duet echoes perfectly Nat Cole's ORIGINAL opening piano and orchestral flourishes. God I love this song! Thanks, Sirius for playing it this night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 10, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2019 [h=2]No, THIS is my favorite version of BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE[/h] Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio just played James Taylor and the late Natalie Cole's exquisite duet -- for James Taylor's Christmas album: Their take on Frank Loesser's Oscar-winning seasonal classic, BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE. No really, THIS is my all-time favorite version. Favorite improvised line of banter: NATALIE: "Well you know that drink does look kinda nice." JAMES: "It IS a perfectly nice drink." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 10, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 10, 2019 [h=2]My 'new' favorite version of FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE[/h] I adore Gladys Knight. Her version of the National Anthem at this year's Superbowl was well, my favorite. Period. Full stop. I adore Stevie Wonder. I consider his harmonica virtuosity the equal of Toots Thielemans' – Belgium's other greatest gift to jazz (after the Gypsy jazz guitar giant named 'Django'). As if to say to me: Are you even aware all three had a joyful get together on one of the Sinatra Duets? This is maybe the upside of losing your memory (I turn 72 in a couple of days) – you get to “hear it for the first time” all over again. My last post midnight posting early this morning (above) was this “Correction: 'I was thinking of FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, a hit for Tony Bennett the same year it was a mega hit for Stevie Wonder -- the song co-written by Ron ("nephew of Bill") Miller. Time for bed!' While I was sleeping, someone said I hear you and played this: p.s. The very first "comment" on this video at YouTube speaks for kindred spirits everywhere! "Maria Pierre (5 years ago) I love Gladys. I love Frank. I sing this love song to God." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 11, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2019 [h=2]My favorite Joni Mitchell song you may not have heard[/h] Overnight Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio played, one-after-another, favorite songs of mine – including 12 or 20 I've singled out here on this thread alone. I'm feeling you could say, personal gratitude to the man who comes up with the playlist each day. I awoke thinking of my all-time favorite pop ballad by my second-favorite composer, Harry (Salvatore Guaragna) Warren – AT LAST. I never knew he wrote it, until a couple of decades ago, driving into work in the pre-dawn of a cold winter day like this one. Had that 'gotta-pull-my-car-over' to the side of the road' moment, and turned up the AM radio volume: A great female singer -- I couldn't immediately identify -- in the company of a huge (70 piece?) orchestra was re-introducing me to AT LAST. Just as an aside, the stunning arrangement combines of deceptively simple complexity with a disarming repeated notes -- 'chink-chink-chink' piano accompaniment heard in so many of those early, mostly-forgotten 50's pop tunes that tried so hard to compete for our attention on early rock 'n' roll radio. I remember being thrilled when the announcer came on to announce, after-the-fact: “That was Joni Mitchell.” [The light just went on! The reason James Taylor visited neighboring Saskatoon, Saskatchewan a decade before playing here in Winnipeg (three years ago) was because that's Joni's home town! James Taylor and other musical greats are celebrating Joni's 75th.] To this day that CD of Joni's remains one of my 'desert island' albums. From memory, I think the principal arranger was Vince Mendoza – who, rather than reinvent the wheel, wisely borrowed verbatim – copied wholesale, the charts by Gordon Jenkins for Sinatra: the opening 'gathering-storm' orchestral flourishes still give me goosebumps. Guess they did for Joni too! Any track from that album would be fitting to listen to now – including the one Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio played overnight, “Don't Go To Strangers.” But since I awoke this morning thinking of this one . . . Oh! Three songs in a row overnight were about dreams and dreaming! Including “I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night” (and two others by Sinatra and Como). If I didn't know better I'd say, What a coincidence! AT LAST! At last! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 11, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2019 [h=2]One of the songs by Joni on that 'orchestral' album was CASE OF YOU.[/h] My wife and I will live and die on Blueberry Bay -- on a pie-shaped lot, just 'round the corner from Ice Cream Lane. (That last bit, I made up). When we moved here in 1982 I had a then brand new cassette of a favorite old black vinyl album of Joni's: "BLUE." I would have played “A CASE OF YOU” for my Irene back then. Just played it for her now – sunlight streaming through a window, both of us feeling tears of joy, hearing this again. This and BIG YELLOW TAXI will always be my favorites of her songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 11, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 11, 2019 (How to) Put on a Happy Face Just for me (I'd like to think) Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio just played my favorite TONY BENNETT duet, with James Taylor. Their delightful take on PUT ON A HAPPY FACE. James recalls his introduction to the song when his musical Mom took some of the family to see BYE BYE BIRDIE, the original Broadway production. Favorite moment here? When Tony is trying to sing these words and J.T interrupts (at 2:42) with a spoken, “Hey, I knew that girl!” I knew a girl so gloomy – she'd never laugh or sing. She wouldn't listen to me – now she's a mean old thing! The informed introduction is by the late Phil Ramone, producer of Duets: Happiness is getting a note from James Taylor this day -- in response to this posting (below) "James Taylor responded to your note, Mark Blackburn: Thanks mark. Also one of James's personal favorites-- that song, that recording, that producer and the incomparable, Tony Bennett." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mark Blackburn Posted March 12, 2019 Author Members Share Posted March 12, 2019 Favorite song about baseball: James Taylor's Ode to The World Series Champion Red Sox -- ANGELS OF FENWAY. Before tonight I'd only heard James Taylor's wonderful ANGELS OF FENWAY on the CD; or set to a single photo of James at Youtube. So, I'd not seen this note-perfect video -- giving me goosebumps, beginning with that glimpse of ordinary souls taking the subway to the game – their explosion of sheer joy when the drought finally ended, “after 86 summers gone by.” Favorite lines (though every single stanza is quietly brilliant). When the team is poised, on the brink of final victory and . . . “The whole world held its breathPeople got down on their kneesReady for the sudden deathPrayin' to Heaven, for Hell to freeze" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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