GREAT MELODY, GREAT LYRIC, GREAT RENDITION

[Mark Blackburn]

BARBARA COOK – For All We Know

 

It's a quarter to three, there's no one in the place except you and me – and Siriusly Sinatra is playing my favorite version of FOR ALL WE KNOW.  My all-time favorite Broadway singer Barbara Cook, and a late-in-life recording with Tony Bennett's longest-serving pianist Lee Musiker – Barbara's “Music Director” for this gem. [Not coincidentally channel 70's next recording is Tony and Lee Musiker and Duke Ellington's In a Mellow Tone.]

Barbara Cook left us the summer of 2017, just shy of her 90^th birthday. Google her name and something new pops up – from “Simple English Wikipedia”

 

Barbara Cook (October 25, 1927 – August 8, 2017) was an American singer and actress. She became known during the 1950s after starring in the original Broadway musicals Plain and Fancy (1955), Candide (1956) and The Music Man (1957) among others, winning a Tony Award for the last.

Cook died from respiratory failure on August 8, 2017 in New York City at the age of 89.[1]

 

From her 2008 album Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder. First version at YouTube – alas with “comments turned off” so we won't “learn more” will we?

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA -- Moonlight Serenade

Listen to the opening orchestral flourish -- what arranger Nelson Riddle accomplishes with strings and flutes, summoning up a moon-dappled June night under trees whose leaves are quivering in the breeze. If you don't own the MOONLIGHT SINATRA album you're missing something. Die hard fans who own most everything Frank recorded include it in their "Top 5." I do. You too?

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

JOHN PIZZARELLI – Just In Time

 

I was resting comfortably … face down in the gutter

Life was serene; I knew where I was at

'There's no hope for him,'

my dearest friends would mutter

I was something dragged in by the cat.

Then …. just in time!

I found you, just in time.

 

At this moment – as if to say, 'Check to see if John Pizzarelli's brand new version is up at YouTube” – Siriusly Sinatra is playing my previous favorite rendition of JUST IN TIME – Sinatra with the Billy May orchestra. Lo and behold! And like Tony Bennett and no one else I know-of, John includes the opening verse.

And just when I wanted to hear Mr. Pizzarelli with his seven-string electric guitar (well amplified) well, here we are!  Next best thing to seeing John with his great trio 'live' on stage.

  

Here's the track list :

 

Too Close For Comfort - 05:54

I Love Betsy - 03:04

I Want To Be Happy - 05:19

Tea For Two - 07:44

Just In Time - 06:25

Some Other Time - 02:36

Where Or When - 04:41

Oklahoma Suite - 09:00

Time After Time - 04:47

You're All The World To Me - 03:21

As Time Goes By - 04:07

Coffee In A Cardboard Cup - 04:46

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

TONY BENNETT / MICHAEL BUBLE – Just in Time

 

The intuitive genius of YouTube just sent this video my way: Tony Bennett and Michael Buble's duet on JUST IN TIME (from the 50s musical comedy 'Bells Are Ringing'). Listening as if for the first time to the insightful words of introduction from Phil Ramone  who produced Tony's DUETS series, I checked to see the 'reviews' below the video: Delighted to see my namesake covered this “3 years ago” adding a “personal anecdote”: 

 

When he was 'only' 83 Tony played our Winnipeg 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 I called out,

"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 offered me his hand, warm and frail in a tender way, and said “Really?”

When it came time to sign my copy of his autobiography THE GOOD LIFE 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; Irene said:  "Let me shake the hand that shook Tony Bennett's hand!" adding, "Don't wash it!"

 

[Favorite "comment" below the video by an American]

Noe Berengena

3 years ago

Michael's rise to stardom would make a great movie. He was shepherded around to Hollywood parties by David Foster, a famous producer who "discovered" him performing at a wedding party. One of David's friends insisted that he should "go see this incredible kid." David agreed, after some hesitation. At every party Michael met one celebrity after another and always made a point to be polite and grateful. He did everything right and now his talent has wide recognition. (Sounds just like a Canadian, doesn't it?)

 

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

TONY BENNETT -- Just in Time (1962)

Is there anything you cannot find at YouTube? After reviewing John Pizzarelli's soon-to-be-released album STAGE & SCREEN -- the one track posted to YouTube, "Just in Time" -- I Googled for "Tony Bennett Live at Carnegie Hall" and .... voila! I noted at John Pizzarelli's version that "like Tony Bennett, and no one else I can think of, John included the seldom-heard opening verse, the words, "Face down in the gutter looking like something the cat dragged in." What a delight to find this in an instant. As I tell the grand kids (8 of them) this is the best time in human history to be alive. Another case in point.

 

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA – Luck Be A Lady

 

“We turn now to the score of a picture I was in once, called Guys and Dolls” says Sinatra, to an audience in Las Vegas circa 1966. “It is a song by Frank Loesser – and a story about one guy and a pair of dice.”

There are videos of live performances on early color TV of Sinatra singing the most famous song composed (words & tune) by Frank Loesser. Several such videos at YouTube, with as many as 8 million 'views'.

But fans who own his every recorded version (there are several) agree: the “Sinatra at the Sands” album best captures the magic of Frank at his very best: which is to say, in live performance, with the tightest of jazz bands – the Count Basie Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones.

Playing right this minute on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio. This version:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTrI74EH7X0

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

LILY TOMLIN – Sing (sing a song)

 

Sing.  Sing a song. Make it simple, to last a whole life long. Don't worry if it's not good enough for anyone else to hear – just SING. Sing a song!

I awoke today with the strong melody and those memorable words in my mind's ear. One of at least five songs, similarly memorable (you hear them once and you can hum them for a lifetime) that were composed by Joe Raposo. One of Frank Sinatra's favorite composers of both words and tunes: Frank cherished Joe's THERE USED TO BE A BALL PARK (Right Here) and loved (It's not easy) BEING GREEN – enough to record my favorite versions of both those songs.

Coincidentally or not (Mom would say NOT) my Irene, reading the newspaper just said, “There's something here for you -- want me to read it?”

The obituary for LLOYD MORRISETT – “Wise, thoughtful and kind leader who founded Sesame Street. He was 93. Sesame Street is shown in more than 150 countries, has won 216 Emmys, 11 Grammys, and in 2019 received the Kennedy Center Honor – the first time a television program got the award. (Big Bird strolled down the aisle and basically sat in Tom Hanks' lap.”)

The show's unique approach to teaching now reaches 120 million children world wide each day.

Joe Raposo enjoyed knowing his songs would “as long as there is a Sesame Street be heard by more people” than any other composer – even though most people don't know his name (apart from on the credits at show's end).

So which character first sang SING? 

 

Lily Tomlin

Lily Tomlin sang and signed the song to a group of deaf children on Sesame Street in 1975.

Lily Tomlin sang and signed the song to a group of deaf children on Sesame Street in 1975. The same year, she played the mother of two deaf children in Robert Altman's film Nashville, and they sang the song in the film. In 1976, on the 11th episode of The Muppet Show, guest Lena Horne sang the song. Alaina Reed (as Olivia) sang it while Linda (Linda Bove) signed the lyrics on Sesame Street.

As an iconic Sesame Street song, the song was used to close several episodes and many of the show's specials, including Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting, Sesame Street's All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever, Sesame Street: Unpaved, Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years, Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration and Sesame Street: Elmo's Playdate. It was used for the title of the 1990 documentary that eulogized Raposo, Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music.

The song was also used in animated segments. One such segment involves Suzie Kabloozie (voiced by Ruth Buzzi) and her cat Feff. Another involves Cab Callowmouse (parody of Cab Calloway) singing in an art museum as part of a medley. Another features a clay/sand animation segment depicting animals.

It was sampled in the opening theme of Eat Bulaga! in 1982.

In 2000, various celebrities sang the song, including Nathan Lane, Denyce Graves, Gloria Estefan, Patti LaBelle, Ben Stiller, Maya Angelou, Fran Drescher, Garth Brooks, Doug E. Doug, Vanessa Williams, R.E.M., Rosemary Clooney and Conan O'Brien. A year before the celebrity edition of the song was released, Graves sang the song solo.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqK5_NpCQOU

 

Wikipedia reminds us that Joe Raposo's “genre was jazz blues.”

 

JOSEPH GUILHERME RAPOSO was an American composer, songwriter, pianist, singer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, for which he wrote the theme song, as well as classic songs such as "Bein' Green", "C Is For Cookie" and "Sing".

Born: February 8, 1937, Fall River, Massachusetts, United States

Died: February 5, 1989, Bronxville, New York, United States

Songwriting partners: Jon Stone, Jeff Moss, Bruce Hart, Luna-C, Mr. Tom, Nick Arnold

Awards: Daytime Creative Arts Emmy award for Outstanding Music Direction And Composition, MORE

Nominations: Daytime Creative Arts Emmy award for Outstanding Original Song, MORE

Genre: Jazz, Blues

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

DOYLE DYKES -- What a Friend We Have in Jesus

 

Martin Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel and, most recently Brazilian-American Walter Rodrigues Jr., have delivered the best finger-style renditions of this beloved hymn.  But as usual their great peer Doyle Dykes gives us the most fully developed (3:25) version I could ever hope to hear.  

Three months after this video was recorded Doyle Dykes graced our city for a few hours.  I live in the world's coldest major city, Winnipeg Manitoba Canada and Doyle Dykes performed for an audience that included about 40 guitarists. He was scheduled to play for 90 minutes but ended up playing for three hours. He must have made a mistake, but I didn't hear it. That's the truth. Think about that -- a virtuoso of such magnitude that he could play that long without any evident mistakes. 

This was at the Quest Music store in Winnipeg that sells Godin guitars including Doyle's signature model. With me were my guitarist son Ben (who when he saw Doyle at a Toronto music store a decade ago told me: "Doyle Dykes is the greatest guitarist I've ever seen." 

With Ben was his six year old son, my grandson Luke who looked terrified at the volume level. His Dad swept him up in his arms and took him to the back of the store to protect his ears a little. Before the show Doyle sat down next to Luke after I told Doyle "He knows who you are!" "Who am I?" said Doyle. But little Luke was paralyzed with fear so Doyle disarmingly high-fived his little hand. 

There were some magic moments that others might have missed, Doyle playing a few bars of the jazz standard HERE'S THAT RAINY DAY -- gorgeous chords and Doyle remarked that he "loved jazz guitar." I knew the names of every song he played including one he didn't introduce, except by way of saying he had just returned from Prague in the Czech Republic. When he finished the song, I called out, "And that was WRITTEN by a Czech -- Antonin Dvorak!" Yes, said Doyle "and today you don't hear it much except at . . . " and I finished his sentence, "At funerals." "Have you recorded that?" I asked. "Not yet, but I told my wife that I would do it for my next album." "I'm buying that album!" I shouted. 

Doyle's is the only version I'd heard by guitar giants since Winnipeg's Lenny Breau recorded it with our mutual hero Chet Atkins for their STANDARD BRANDS album. Anyway, all this by way of saying that at the 41:00 minute mark of this Facebook hour-long feature Doyle took my breath away with a much more fully developed, heavenly version of GOIN' HOME.  

 

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

DOYLE DYKES -- GOING HOME / AULD LANG SYNE

Dear God (said reverently) this is my go-to guitar solo when I need to feel goosebumps. If I could keep only one of Mr. Dykes' videos ("only ONE, mind you!") this would be it. If a classical guitar giant like John Williams or Christopher Parkening were asked to improve on this arrangment -- and performance -- they'd say: "I could not."

----

Googled to find at YouTube -- and see my namesake reviewed this two New Years ago

Mark Blackburn

2 years ago (edited)

New Year's eve – two hours from midnight and, if I didn't know better, I'd say: 'What a coincidence!' I'd just been thinking of friends and loved ones we lost this year (including my kid brother Ron last month) and about 'Going Home' – the song about the everlasting life that awaits us, if we do as Jesus commands us. You'd just come back from Prague when you played it for us on your first visit to Winnipeg Canada, three Novembers ago. “Going Home” was Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's most memorable melodic refrain in his 'New World Symphony' of over a century ago. (Your version was the best since Chet Atkins & Lenny Breau included on their “Standard Brands” CD.) Your opening and closing chords include one I've never heard from any other guitarist – positively orchestral – with seemingly the lowest bass note you have ever played. Just as an aside: that evening in Winnipeg you played it for us on your signature model Godin acoustic-electric. Here you are performing it on a guitar many of us long coveted: The Chet Atkins Gibson nylon-string solid body electric. Prompting Chet to assign Kirk Sand to work with Gibson's luthiers at their plant in Boseman Montana – to create a replica of Chet's Kirk Sand instrument and put the Gibson logo on it. Pardon the aside! Thanks so very much for sharing this medley with us, just hours as a New Year's Eve treat. Adding my own prayers now, for Doyle Dykes & Family to have a peaceful, and prosperous, healthy and happy New Year!

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

NATALIE COLE – What a Difference a Day Made

 

At this moment Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing my other favorite version of Billy Strayhorn's LUSH LIFE -- by Natalie Cole. Coincidentally or not I'd just been listening to Natalie's retire-the-trophy rendition (or the best since the original by Dinah Washington) of What a Difference a Day Made. This after my favorite singer / jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli played it last night (1/26/2023) on his Thursday one-hour 'live' stream “It's 5 o'clock Somewhere” show -- reminding Jessica Molaskey at song's end that "I recorded that with Natalie Cole!"

A favorite track on my favorite of her albums of standards, Natalie borrowed a page from my other, all-time favorite singer Peggy Lee and for the first minute or so, it's just solo accompaniment by a great bass player – before the rest of the piano guitar trio appears – gradually joined in a subtle but gorgeous arrangement, by the rest of the jazz band.

I remember something one of Natalie's producers said about her (6) jazz vocal album recording sessions: that, as with Sinatra's recording sessions, the entire band of top notch musicians hung around, long after it was a 'wrap' and the final notes of the last track had faded to silence. I can imagine that here, can't you? I used to know who arranged this gem. I reviewed it for Amazon two decades ago.  Let's go find a quote from my namesake (below).

Just one version at YouTube this day -- with a blurry photo of the album cover. Thanks to “Oh my gosh itz Mico” for sharing.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUPdvYw9b7E

 

5 stars -  Story Telling Never Got Better

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2005

If you love great old songs (including obscure, should-have-been-standards-that-somehow-got-overlooked) then you will love this album -- which is "five star" in every respect.

And if great albums, deserve great liner notes, then Nat King Cole's best friend Dick La Palm (who Natalie recalls "has known me since I was born") deserves to have won the "Grammy," (if there were such a category, when this album was released).

----

"Tell me a story" Dick La Palm quotes Lester Young as saying --- by way of advice to up-and-coming jazz musicians: Meaning, `Give me more than just the notes.' If the sax giant were still around today to hear Natalie Cole's delivery of Rodgers & Hart's "He Was Too Good to Me" (my favorite here) Lester would surely bestow his benediction on Natalie Cole as a great story teller in song.

------

Just this week, Natalie told fans (at a forum devoted to her music) that "My (only) instrument is my voice." Well, her instrument is the best in the business - according to the "Who's Who" of musicians, arrangers and producers involved in this classic album. Truly, Natalie Cole is a `musician's musician' whose greatest admirers include some jazz giants -- who went out of their way to make this album the best of its kind (rivaled in greatness only by Natalie's multi-platinum "Unforgettable" which preceded this one, and the subsequent "Ask a Woman Who Knows").

One of the album's (three) co-producers Phil Ramone, noted that Natalie was her own executive producer and took complete charge of the album's `concept.' She consulted with her producers - (the others were David Foster and George Duke) - but then, Ramone says, "She challenged everything I believe in musically." Even more significantly, Ramone noted: "Rarely (do) the musicians hang around long after the session is over." (They always did for Sinatra and they did it here for Natalie.) Ramone said, the all-star cast of musical greats "thanked (me) profusely for being called to (this) date. Clearly I was not the only one moved by her."

Featured soloists included giants of the trumpet, harmonica, piano, guitar and saxophone --- Wynton Marsalis, Toots Thielemans, Bob James, Lee Ritenour and Michael Brecker. The stellar cast of (nine) arrangers was headed by the current dean of orchestrators, Johnny Mandel (who arranged an updated "Silent Night" on Frank Sinatra's 2004 Christmas Collection). There is even a snippet of Nat Cole's original Hammond organ solo (from 1961) on Natalie's powerhouse update of Irving Berlin's "Let's Face the Music and Dance."

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."

----

Her great father's best friend deserves the last word, when he observes that "Songs of love - requited or unrequited -- don't come any better than these!"

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

DOYLE DYKES -- a 1947 Gibson J-45 with new strings "sounds so fine!"

It's a sound I will never tire of hearing: an old Gibson with new strings. In this case, visiting a friend in Texas, Doyle Dykes brought along a set of his own GHS signature strings to brighten up a Gibson J-45 (from the year of my birth). The sort of instrument Chet Atkins had in mind when he advised me (during a radio interview in Ottawa Canada the summer of '71) to “get an old Gibson, one that has been played a lot. They sound so fine!”

In the lifetime of that Gibson it never had such skilled hands to bring out its absolute best; if guitars could speak this one would confirm that “I never sounded so good!”

Love the way Doyle goes to the heart of a Tennessee tune, interweaving (with a song I wish I could name) the opening notes of the 'Wildwood Flower' – the most played melody in country music history: Most everyone when they take up guitar, can play a few bars. But what a joy to hear a Master picking those familiar phrases to perfection!

Don't you love the way Mr. Dykes' facial expression becomes more peaceful, as he slows the tempo, to segue into a hymn. The title of this one is just out of reach of my memory. But as Chet would say: “It sounds so fine!”

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA -- A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

 

Playing right this minute on Siriusly Sinatra -- maybe my favorite track from the only studio album Frank ever recorded outside LA or NYC -- "Great Songs from Great Britain."  Googled to find my review (2010) and first version offered at YouTube.  With zero comments -- let's change that!

----

 On any serious Sinatra fan's "Top 10" list (it's that good)

5 stars Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 30, 2010

Verified Purchase

Just received an alert from Amazon that this classic CD is once again available -- and for the modest price of 14 bucks. (New copies have traded elsewhere for more than 100 dollars). This "import" edition is sales-ranked a respectable 60,000 (among the 3 million or so CDs available at the world's biggest website). It's been seven years since I obtained my "Made in USA" copy and wrote my own review for this timeless classic. Hope it's still "helpful." [At the time, Bob Farnon, a friend of my father's was still alive; he predeceased my Dad by one year, in 2005. I wrote to him to share this review with Mr. Farnon; he responded with a beautiful note of appreciation from his 'island home.' (2010/04/30)]

---

All the world's great arrangers -- most of whom got to work with Frank Sinatra (the rest wish they had)-- are (or were) American. A notable exception: Canadian-born Robert Farnon. At last report, Bob was still alive and well, and living at "La Falaise" on the Channel Island of Guernsey (a letter with only that address can reach him). Now 85, he still makes the occasional foray into London to do what he's always done best.

Andre Previn, told the late, great lyricist Johnny Mercer that "Robert Farnon is the greatest living string arranger in the world." The great ones who admit to Farnon's influence have included Nelson Riddle, Don Costa, Quincy Jones, Marty Paich, Neil Hefti, Torrie Zito and Johnny Mandel (just to name the best who worked with Frank Sinatra), plus, (among those who didn't, but wished they had) Henry Mancini, Roger Kellaway, John ("Star Wars") Williams, Patrick Williams and (British born) Jeremy Lubbock.

Great popular singers who share that opinion, include Sarah Vaughn and Tony Bennett. The list of musicians who feel the same way is too long, but start with pianists Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson and George Shearing.

Sinatra's voice on "Great Songs from Great Britain" may be functioning at only 80 per cent (my estimate) but it's still better than on some of his later recordings, and no worse than on his roughest days at Capitol in the 50s. Listen again to the Billy May "Come Fly With Me" CD and the lone Nelson Riddle arranged song -- Cole Porter's "I Love Paris." Sure, it's "rough" (was Frank up all night?) but still, you love it, right? Same with this CD: Precisely because he's the greatest interpreter of popular song, Sinatra makes adjustments to his delivery, transforming weaknesses into strengths before your very ears. Fascinating!

So why wasn't this album released in America prior to year 2000? Having read all speculations here and elsewhere, I think the critics are simply uninformed. Because the singer has left true fans some `between-the-lines' clues to how much he loved these recordings.

Let's begin with the speculation that Sinatra had `second thoughts' about what his American fans might make of the material----obscure, almost quaint, English songs, some dating to the First World War, which have Sinatra "gathering lilacs" or keeping a stiff upper lip "until we meet again" i.e. songs that might not survive a trans-Atlantic crossing, let alone achieve posterity.

Well that ignores some important facts: Sinatra selected all these songs himself, in advance of his world tour (30 stops, the last in London, in aid of children's charities). Don Costa---Farnon's biggest booster in America (and the most heavily-influenced of his proteges) invested a lot of time, as Sinatra's `middle man,' cabling between LA and Farnon's island home, to ensure this recording `happened.' (In the end, Costa couldn't be there; but Nelson Riddle made it to one session at London's "CTS Bayswater" studios).

The singer's only objection was uttered as he sipped some "JD" and listened to the playback of "Roses of Picardy" (now considered by some critics to be the loveliest `rose' of the bunch). Sinatra said: "Scrub `Roses of Picardy'---I don't like it" (meaning, he didn't feel he'd done it justice). So "Roses" was not included on the original LP, released only in Britain).

The suggestion that Sinatra was in any way "embarrassed" by these recordings, is belied by his personal selection of "If I Had You" for inclusion among his 19, all-time favorite recordings, preserved on the 1996 compilation "Everything Happens to Me" (please see my review for that one). The singer himself approved the inclusion of two others, "Garden in the Rain" and "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" for the 4-CD Reprise box set. And the latest Sinatra compilations ("Romance" and "Love Songs") include this version of Ray Noble's classic, "The Very Thought of You."

Enjoy great liner notes? There's none better written for any Sinatra release: You get literate musician Benny Green's original, 1962 notes, plus American James Isaacs' superb, 1992 supplements, closing with thoughts about Sinatra's achievement on "If I Had You."

"If Sinatra's wistful, daydreamy first (take) in 1947 was truly in the subjunctive (IF I had you,) and if his cocky medium-bounce Riddle-arranged '56 take might be dubbed "I can have you," then this rendering, with its brandy-by-the-fireside feel and older-but-wiser protagonist, is more like "If I'd HAD you." Notwithstanding a lyric that's far more Tin Pan Alley than Tintern Abbey, Sinatra's (and Farnon's) conception is, to borrow from Wordsworth, "emotion recollected in tranquility."

 

[Mark Blackburn]

GEORGE BENSON – Tenderly

[Note to grand kids (8 of them):]

DOCTOR: You have three minutes to live.

ME: Play this. 

----

A sound engineer at the TV station where I spent the 80s here in Winnipeg had a black vinyl copy of George Benson's TENDERLY album. I was blown away by the title track. The single best jazz guitar solo by the man I called “the Oscar Peterson of the guitar.”

At the nearby K-Mart (remember those?) I found a cassette version in a bargain bin. When it came out on CD it didn't sell well; though it remains my all-time favorite George Benson album – for reasons so well-explained in an Amazon review at the time (see below)

No one in the history of electric jazz guitar achieved the tone George does on this solo – the best combination of warmth and clarity since Chet Atkins played his Gretsch Country Gentleman through a Fender amplifier. Coincidentally George Benson acquired his own signature model of Fender amp – and for this recording was playing his then- brand new, crafted in Japan, signature model IBANEZ which comes in two varieties: Great and Even Greater (ultra expensive). He wanted Gibson L-5 tone “but better” and Japan delivered the goods.

Yes, if you happen to be nearby when I'm shuffling off this mortal coil – and if there's time – please grab my Sennheiser PX-100 earphones, and 'play this for me one more time.'

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbEUfyITJSs

 

 

Spotlight review at Amazon U.S. "Rebecca" 5 stars - titled: 

 

 "You Wander Down The Lane And Faraway . . . Leaving Me A Song That Will Not Die"

Reviewed in the United States ?￰ﾟﾇﾸ on March 5, 2008

George Benson's rhythmic style, lyrical phrases, catchy riffs and ingenious improvisations are his best qualities in guitar-playing that makes him one of the most impressive guitarists America ever produced. He's a great vocalist as well and known for his effortless scatting ability. This wonderful CD is a perfect testament of his guitar and vocal artistry.

I had the chance to listen to a live interview with Mr. Benson way back in 1993 at L.A.'s Jazz-FM 103.1 when he was promoting his current album then,  Love Remembers . He shared with the listeners some interesting and lesser known facts about him -- he started playing the ukelele at age seven and the greatest influences in his guitar artistry are Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery and Grant Green. His favorite contemporary singers are Al Jarreau, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson, to name a few. According to him, if he were born 20-30 years earlier, he would have been a pianist or a violinist.

He had voice lessons with a professional instructor who also trained Stevie Wonder. That instructor really did a great job. This is evident by the countless hits he recorded such as "On Broadway," "This Masquerade," "Moody's Mood," "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You," "Unchained Melody," and all the songs in this timeless CD starting off with "You Don't Know What Love Is" down to "This Is All I Ask." All the songs here are some of the best interpretations ever recorded.

I was so touched by his beautiful and heartfelt interpretation of the famous Lennon/McCartney classic, "Here There And Everywhere" that I listened to it repeatedly. The instrumental part is so impressive that I can't help mentioning the equally talented back-up jazz musicians namely, McCoy Tyner (piano), Ron Carter (bass), Lenny Castro (percussions), Herlin Riley, Louis Hays and Al Foster (drums), and of course Mr. Benson himself on guitar and vocals, and not to mention the superb and sparkling chart arrangement by Marty Paich. In my opinion, this track is the very highlight of this CD. Congratulations to all of you guys for a stellar performance!

Another notable track that shows off his awesome vocal artistry is Mitchell Parish and Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust," one of the best vocal renditions ever recorded for this gem of a song.

"You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by"

According to George, "he felt so good doing this project as well as playing with some of the finest jazz musicians with whom he had long-time relationships." Thank you, Mr. Benson for doing an excellent job!

This CD is essential not only to George Benson's fans but also to all jazz buffs. You will have a lifetime of listening pleasure!

 

 

Edited January 28, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

PAUL MCCARTNEY – Accentuate the Positive

 

Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing a favorite track from Paul McCartney's “Kisses on the Bottom” album of standards (and should-have-been-standards his musical father enjoyed) – a Johnny Mercer lyric that is among my favorites, (You've Got To) ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE. Or as it was titled on the original sheet music, “Ac-Cent-Chuate The Positive.”

Music by one of Johnny Mercer's greatest collaborators Harold Arlen. They were nominated for Best Original Song Oscar multiple times. At the 18^th Academy Awards for movies in 1945, it lost – to my favorite film song by Rodgers & Hammerstein, It Might As Well Be Spring. That year there were 14 nominated songs – a record – and, as Wikipedia notes,

 

Being the first Oscars after the end of World War II, the ceremony returned to the glamour of the prewar years; notably, the plaster statuettes that had been used during the war were replaced by bronze statuettes with gold plating.

 

Paul McCartney's 2012 cover of Accentuate the Positive is still my favorite: his vocal swings beautifully – you can hear the smile in his voice as he savors great jazz accompaniment from Diana Krall on piano and John Pizzarelli's (7-string) rhythm guitar.

I had just checked to see “what are they playing just for me” at one a.m. Frozen Prairie Time on Siriusly Sinatra: Immediately following my favorite version of Ray Charles' and Diana Krall's duet of YOU DON'T KNOW ME – as if to say 'hope you're listening, Mark!” they played this gem. YouTube has the Grammy-winning video version. Oh yes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBru0k8KZh8&t=24s

Wikipedia

 

"Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" is a popular song which was published in 1944. The music was written by Harold Arlen and the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was nominated for the "Academy Award for Best Original Song" at the 18th Academy Awards in 1945 after being used in the film Here Come the Waves.

It is sung in the style of a sermon, and explains that accentuating the positive is key to happiness. In describing his inspiration for the lyric, Mercer told the Pop Chronicles radio documentary "[my] publicity agent ... went to hear Father Divine and he had a sermon and his subject was 'you got to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.' And I said 'Wow, that's a colorful phrase!'"

On March 25, 2015, it was announced that Mercer's version would be inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for the song's "cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation’s audio legacy".

 

Paul McCartney covered it on his 2012 album Kisses on the Bottom.[8]

 

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA – One Note Samba

It's midnight and Siriusly Sinatra is playing a favorite song by Brazil's Cole Porter (as I call him) Antonio Carlos Jobim -- ONE NOTE SAMBA.  Its brilliant lyric was composed by Jon Hendricks -- a jazz vocal giant who died of old age a few years ago.  His story is fascinating. [Wiki note below.] Permit a ramble on 'Hendricks, Pizzarelli and Sinatra.'

----

Each Thursday evening John Pizzarelli and his wife Jessica Molaskey live-stream for an hour their “5 o'clock Somewhere” show – which always features a “bossa nova” segment – a couple or three jazz sambas as only John Pizzarelli can deliver them. Often they are Bossa Nova classics as definitively recorded by Sinatra;  including “One Note Samba” where John replicates on his 7-string guitar, orchestral chords from the original arrangement. 

Listen to the musical bridge on Sinatra's recording – arranged by Brazil's Eumir Deodato (still with us, alive & well in Rio) as the orchestra plays the melody in chords:  John transposes that to guitar! You have to see it to believe it. And of course, he makes it look so easy – what I call 'artless.' You watch and think, “you know, with practice maybe I could play that." Oh no you can't.

----

The lyric was penned by jazz vocal genius Jon Hendricks who left us in 2017 age 96. His Wikipedia entry doesn't even mention ONE NOTE SAMBA (I didn't spot it) but is so worth reading [snippets below] :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8_iQn9YgKs

Wikipedia

 

John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists, such as the big-band arrangements of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. He is considered one of the best practitioners of scat singing, which involves vocal jazz soloing. Jazz critic and historian Leonard Feather called him the "Poet Laureate of Jazz", while Time dubbed him the "James Joyce of Jive". Al Jarreau called him "pound-for-pound the best jazz singer on the planet—maybe that's ever been".[1]

As a soldier during World War II, Hendricks took part in the D-Day landings of June, 1944, and was later attached to the quartermaster's headquarters in France. When he and some black fellow soldiers were shot at by white US military police for consorting with white French women, they went on the run [ ] eventually recaptured and court-martialled in November 1945. By then the war was over. He returned home to attend University of Toledo on the G.I. Bill as a pre-law major.[2] Just when he was about to enter the graduate law program, the G.I. benefits ran out.

Jon met his first wife Colleen "Connie" Moore in Toledo. They were married and eventually had 4 children.[2] One night in 1950, Hendricks got up and scatted at a Charlie Parker gig in Toledo. Parker encouraged him to come to New York and look him up. Hendricks moved his family there two years later and resumed his singing career.

With Dave Lambert, who conceived the idea to record a selection of Count Basie's instrumental numbers with voices replacing the Basie orchestra's wind instruments, Jon wrote the lyrics, and they sold the idea to Creed Taylor, who had recently started working as an A&R man for ABC-Paramount Ampar.

The result was a best-selling album, Sing a Song of Basie. Its success prompted them to form the legendary vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross (LH&R). With Hendricks as lyricist and Lambert as arranger, the trio perfected the art of vocalese and took it around the world, earning them numerous awards and accolades. In September 1959, they appeared on the cover of Down Beat under the headline "The Hottest New Group in Jazz", which they adopted as the title of their Grammy-nominated fourth album.

Hendricks typically wrote lyrics not just to melodies but to entire instrumental solos, a notable example being his take on Ben Webster's tenor saxophone solo on Duke Ellington's original recording of "Cotton Tail", as featured on the album Lambert, Hendricks and Ross Sing Ellington (1960). His lyrics to Benny Golson's "I Remember Clifford" have been recorded by several other vocalists, including Dinah Washington, Carmen McRae, Nancy Wilson, Ray Charles, The Manhattan Transfer and Helen Merrill.[4]

In 2017, Hendricks' full lyricization of the album Miles Ahead, including Miles Davis' solos and Gil Evans' orchestrations, was completed fifty years after he had first conceived the idea. It was premiered in New York by UK-based choir the London Vocal Project, with Hendricks in attendance, with a studio recording to follow.

Hendricks died on November 22, 2017 in Manhattan, New York City, aged 96.[13]

Hendricks was recognized with an NEA Jazz Master award in 1993,[14] multiple Grammy Awards,[15][16] and in 2004, he was honored in France with the Legion of Honour.

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

NATALIE COLE – He Was Too Good to Me

 

Just for me (I'd like to think) Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing my favorite track from my favorite Natalie Cole album – a love song from my favorite composer Richard Rodgers with lyric by Lorenz Hart – HE WAS TOO GOOD TO ME.

From Natalie's “Stardust” album with liner notes that we cited (above) for her “full page of fine print thank you's.” Natalie singled-out trumpet great Wynton Marsalis' solo on the musical bridge and his coda at song's end. “It brings me to my knees,” she said. You know what Natalie meant.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqIV8IZ7q2Q

 

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

GEORGE BENSON – Here, There and Everywhere

Some people's favorite track on the TENDERLY album (it is mine:) George singing and playing one of his favorite Lennon/McCartney songs. I'd just been thinking of my earliest favorite of his albums, “The Other Side of Abbey Road.” If you've never heard what George did – Americanizing, blues-ifying every great song on that final Beatles album … well, if you can locate a copy, I guarantee you will love. Or double your money back.

Favorite comment from a kindred soul, below the “Tenderly” cassette version at Amazon:

 

"I found this in a $2 bin at Gibson's Discount store years and years ago. JOYOUS moment. I had considered stealing it from the Library because it was out of print and there was no internet or ebay back then. I don't care that GB didn't write the songs. I still say it's his finest album ever. I pray that when I die my kids put my headphones in my ears and press play on this bad boy.

GB wherever you are bless your soul and may you never be 'out of print'.”

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

GEORGE BENSON – Since I Fell For You

 

In a world where few people care to ask my favorite question – 'Who wrote that song?' – fewer still, care to ask about the arrangers and musicians. Questions like the one I asked myself a moment ago: 'Who's that on piano, backing George Benson on SINCE I FELL FOR YOU?' – one of my two favorite pop songs from 1963 (the other is Ray Charles' You Don't Know Me). I do know that Lenny Welch turned it into a million seller.

From a decade ago – George Benson's 'Guitar Man' album (whose opening track is a two minute reprise of Tenderly).

Google to be reminded that the 'piano man' is Joe Sample – his last recording with George three years before his death. [I imagine the conversation between two musical giants who wouldn't have needed to rehearse a song they've loved since Buddy Johnson's Blues Band introduced it in 1947 (a very good year).]

 

JOE: “So, how you want to do this, George?

GEORGE: Just you, Joe.

JOE: No guitar?

GEORGE: Maybe few notes at the end.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCuDFhsBguw&t=183s

 

Wikipedia

Joseph Leslie Sample (February 1, 1939[1] – September 12, 2014)[2] was an American keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, the band which shortened its name to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained a part of the group until its final album in 1991 (not including the 2003 reunion album Rural Renewal).

Beginning in the late 1960s, he enjoyed a successful solo career and guested on many recordings by other performers and groups, including Miles Davis, George Benson, Jimmy Witherspoon, Michael Franks, B. B. King, Eric Clapton, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Anita Baker, and the Supremes. Sample incorporated gospel, blues, jazz, latin, and classical forms into his music.

Sample died of mesothelioma in Houston, Texas, at the age of 75.

His survivors included his son, bassist Nicklas Sample (with ex-wife Marianne), who is a member of the Coryell Auger Sample Trio featuring Julian Coryell and Karma Auger.[2][6][7][8] He also left a wife, Yolanda, and three stepsons: Justin, Jamerson III and Jordan Berry.

Sample was Catholic, and supported Catholic charities and churches throughout his life.[9]

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

TONY BENNETT -- The Shadow of Your Smile

On his Facebook page Tony Bennett noted that today (1/31/2023) marked the anniversary of an album many of us consider his very best -- and asked our opinion about it.  I responded a moment ago:

 

THE MOVIE SONG ALBUM -- arranged (mostly) by Tony's friend, the great Johnny Mandel. Johnny's all-time favorite version by Tony of Johnny's Oscar-winner THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE. And speaking as a guitarist, I loved that one of Brazil's greatest finger-style guitarists was present to arrange Tony's take on Luiz Bonfa's THE GENTLE RAIN. I wasn't there when the album was a 'wrap' -- the last take of the final track fading to silence. But I'll bet the all-star cast of musicians hung around long afterward. Listening to my favorite track, for which Tony included the opening verse. The 'waving' flutes on the closing orchestral flourish. Mandel at his finest! Still goosebumps, after all these years! 

 

Wikipedia

The Movie Song Album is a 1966 studio album by Tony Bennett.^[4] The album consists of songs from films, opening with the theme from The Oscar, in which Bennett had recently appeared. With this project of such high quality of song material and collaborators, he was to describe the album in his autobiography as his "all time favorite record".^[5]

Johnny Mandel was the musical director, and he and Neal Hefti and Quincy Jones arranged and conducted their own compositions on the album. Luiz Bonfá played the guitar on his two songs, "Samba de Orfeu" and "The Gentle Rain". The pianists Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Rowles and Lou Levy all collaborated, each on one song.

Bennett's recording of "The Shadow of Your Smile" won Mandel and Paul Francis Webster the Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards of 1966, and Bennett performed the song at the 38th Academy Awards, where it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Edited January 31, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

TONY BENNETT / BILL CHARLAP – All The Things You Are

 

After dinner once – while my Dad played his Steinway grand piano in the living room, and my mother and I were still at table, Mom suddenly asked whether I had a favorite song? Yes, I said, without thinking twice – All The Things You Are. “Why that's MY favorite! Your father's too!” she said, beaming with joy. (Mom always said 'There are no coincidences!' You know what she meant.)

Mom and Dad didn't live to hear my favorite 'vocal-with-solo-piano' version, recorded when Tony Bennett was turning 90. From his Grammy-winning album with Bill Charlap. It's a measure of Mr. Charlap's greatness that for this track, on the instrumental bridge, he channels Bill Evans perfectly. Just as Evans -- the most influential pianist of all time -- would have performed it with Tony, had 'All The Things You Are' been included on their (2) alone-together albums in the mid 70s.

Shared with Tony tonight on his Facebook page,  this version from YouTube. I see my namesake wrote a review “4 years ago” (below).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLF1VMYuBi8&t=67s

Mark Blackburn
(4 years ago)
My parents' favorite song (mine too) -- Kern & Hammerstein's ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE. From a stinker of a Broadway show that closed after only a few performances, composer Jerome Kern thought it would be too complicated ever to be a popular song. It really is a riot of modulations/key changes that, simultaneously, make it easy-to-whistle or hum -- but oh-so-difficult to play. Which is why it's always been a favorite of virtuoso jazz musicians, amazed at how it winds up back in the same key. In the hands of a piano virtuoso like Oscar Peterson, almost every note could be a chord.

Tony Bennett has been accompanied by some jazz piano giants -- most notably by Bill Evans. And most recently, the piano giant has been Bill Charlap (whose late Dad wrote some of the tunes for the Broadway musical Peter Pan. Bill is married to Canadian jazz pianist Renee Rosnes and they performed here in Winnipeg about a decade ago).

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

CAROL SLOANE  -- R.I.P.

Carol Sloane has died.  We celebrated her greatness on the previous page (37) January 17 and shared with her on Facebook my appreciation of her work -- as it turned out, less than a week before her passing.  There's a life lesson there.  

Got the news from Bill Charlap's Facebook page where he shared his own celebration of their friendship.

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I was first introduced to the artistry of Carol Sloane in my 20s by my dear friend and mentor Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. One afternoon when we were relaxing at his Upper West Side apartment, Richard said to me, “We’re going to hear Carol Sloane tonight at Fat Tuesday’s.” It was clear to me that this was both a gift and a command by Sir Richard, who knew more about singers and the song and pretty much about all music than anyone I had ever known… but I had no idea how deeply affecting, uplifting, and life-changing that night would become for me.

We grabbed a cab and went downtown. There was a palpable buzz of expectation in the room. When the set began, a diminutive elegant lady walked onto the bandstand and sang with such exquisite taste, warmth, complete control of her instrument, perfect pitch and effervescence that I was filled with that magical weightless floating feeling when you experience a singular artist, with that most elusive and deepest sense of extemporaneous swing. My heart was full, and each breath took the next breath away. That night was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.

At Sir Richard's suggestion, Carol Sloane reached out to me to play with her at one of her next engagements. We got on like a house on fire! The chemistry was instant, and thus began a wonderful four-year period where we performed and recorded frequently. She trusted me and nurtured me musically. But it wasn’t just a professional relationship, we became true friends. I often think about one of the things that Fred Rogers talked about… that is, people who loved you into being.

Carol Sloane was one of those very special people in my life. She was a model of confidence coupled with humility. Her sound, always soulful and rich. Her spiritual generosity, lifting. Listen to the way she sings “Deep Purple” on her debut recording with the incredible orchestral arrangement of Bill Finnegan… or the deep probing lyrical nuance with which she approaches “When I Look In Your Eyes” from the first album we recorded together. The spirit of Carol Sloane will live on forever in the beautiful music which she left us. I will love her and miss her forever.

https://www.facebook.com/mark.blackburn.3910/

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA – Prisoner of Love

It's quarter to three and unable to sleep I'd just been checking a review I wrote in 2009 for “SEDUCTION: Sinatra Sings Songs of Love” – a favorite compilation album, and specifically, one of my favorite tracks from 'Sinatra & Strings' (a favorite album from 60 years ago) the Don Costa arranged PRISONER OF LOVE. Guess what's playing right this minute on Siriusly Sinatra! I mean at the exact moment I am reading these words I'd written 14 years ago!

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A salute to producer Charles Pignone for making "Prisoner of Love" track Number 1. Sinatra's seductive ways with the Ladies were legendary. Here, however he goes straight to the hearts of all males `consensually enslaved' by beauty. (Hard to believe such words were first sung in prim & proper 1931!)

"For one command I stand and wait now
From One who's master of my fate now . . .
She's in my dreams, awake or sleeping
Upon my knees to her I'm creeping,
My very life is in her keeping . . .
I'm just a prisoner of love."

The ache in Frank's voice! Seems he's `been there, done that.' And listen closely, if you will, to the perfectly-mated arrangement by Don Costa (from their 1961 "Sinatra & Strings" album - one of the first Sinatra CDs you should purchase).

Concerning which obsession, the writer of the pleasurable liner notes, author Bill Zehme, wrote:

"He had a weakness for poise: Elusive Women vexed him . . . drew him in, with their flight, and their casual indifference. Once, at a party at Humphrey Bogart's house, he complained to Lauren Bacall "after following one such specimen around without success: `She's ignoring me!'

To which the rueful Bacall said, `Yeah, she's ignoring you right into the sack.' (Her prophesy was realized!)."

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koItnoPpfUA

 

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JONI MITCHELL – At Last

 

I remember driving in to work in pre-dawn darkness -- having to pull over to the side of the road, to focus on the mesmerizing sound of a huge orchestra, beautifully arranged, with a singer I couldn't immediately identify:  At song's end, the (AM) radio announcer said simply, “Joni Mitchell, from her latest album – “At Last.”

No mention of course of who arranged the lush and lovely orchestration, with its 1950s trademark 'chink-chink-chink' piano accompaniment, a throw-back to the early days of rock 'n' roll when other types of pop songs, ballads especially (like Percy Faith's A SUMMER PLACE) were struggling to reach our ears on radio. AM radio. Played through a tiny little speaker (just one) in your dashboard. [ ! ]

Flash forward 20 years: Still my favorite recording of AT LAST – by my second-favorite composer Harry (Salvatore Guaragna) Warren. Not among his record 21 Number one hits (by almost as many artists).

In recent days my favorite reviewer at YouTube – a kindred soul who touches on all the right notes -- is “Noe Berengena.” No surprise then to find his review is the one spotlighted at Amazon [5 stars and titled]

 

 Gifts to my close friends

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2022

Verified Purchase

When I first got this CD I must have played the song "At Last" close to ten times. I could not get enough of it. Eventually I ventured to other tracks and several really moved me. Probably tops on that list was "A Case of You," here re-interpreted by an older and wiser Joni Mitchell.
The interesting thing about this CD is that I hardly ever play it end to end. It's almost always a particular selection that I want to listen to. Part of that perhaps is that the songs often have very different moods. Some, like "You're My Thrill" have an exuberance about them. Yes, I have listened to that in a parked car, unable to drive because I want to be completely focused. There are light moments as well. "I Wish I Was In Love Again" comes to mind. I zero in on the lyric about the plates flying when lovers quarrel.
I highly recommend this CD. (I suppose that is obvious from what I wrote.)

7 people found this helpful

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQK4QKGbcTI

 

 

Wikipedia

Both Sides Now is a concept album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell that was released in 2000. It is her 17th studio album. The album won two Grammy Awards in 2001 for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the song "Both Sides Now"

 

A limited run of copies was released on February 8, 2000, in chocolate box packaging for Valentine's Day with several lithographs of Mitchell paintings. A jewel case edition was released on March 20, 2000.

On tour, Mitchell performed the songs in the same sequence as the album, but she opened with the overture "Nuages", the first movement from Nocturnes, an orchestral suite composed by Claude Debussy. "Nuages" is the French word for "clouds". Although the music sets a romantic mood, the use of this piece can be seen as a pun since Clouds is the name of the album on which the song "Both Sides Now" made its appearance.

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First version offered at YouTube this day – this one – with an informed note about both the song, and the sublime arrangement:

 

145,735 views Apr 18, 2011

This is an absolutely sublime rendering where Joni enlisted no less than the London Symphony Orchestra with Vince Mendoza as arranger/conductor. Patiently beautiful, it opens with a single orchestral string droning 'A' — then, an intro melody on strings and flutes is played over the drone —melody is repeated with a Trombone-English Horn unison response to the string/flute call and you're already thinking —"Man, this is lush" —As soon as the opening intro concludes, a short harp glissando leads right to my fave touch —the faint, gentle pulse of a 2-note chord (a la "A Summer Place") piano riff in the distance — plink-plink-plink-plink, with the soft, slow wandering melody call of tremolo strings underneath; answered gently by a single English horn... With this perfect lead-in, wonderment is established and the stage is set for the unbridled joy of a Love finally realized —And, this is exactly what you get from Joni's vocal ….

 

[Mark Blackburn]

DOYLE DYKES  -- Over the Rainbow

Like our mutual hero Chet Atkins, Doyle Dykes is the most versatile of the great finger-style guitar virtuosos. Case in point: my new favorite version of OVER THE RAINBOW. Versatility: the reason (I believe) that Chet -- when asked if there were guitarists he would pay to see in concert replied, "Oh .... someone like Doyle Dykes."

Love the anecdote about Les Paul and Judy Garland sitting next to each other on a plane sharing close musical memories.

And thank you sharing about the guitar -- the exact same model of Gold Top with those P-90 pickups that my guitar teacher played -- when I was 17 (a very good year). The best guitarist in Ottawa, Bill Shepherd (in the Ottawa Valley Country Music Hall of Fame) who sold me my 1959 Slim Jim Guild (Starfire without a Bigsby). Did I say Great video! Thank you Mr. Dykes. The world would be a poorer place without you.

 

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JOHN PIZZARELLI  -- The Song Is You

[At around the 13:49 mark] During his 'live-stream' show last evening .... after “a bit of Matheny” – and holding up a bottle of my favorite water AQUAFINA (asking for donations to “help with my incidentals bill”) John Pizzarelli launches into the most wonderful medley of songs by the 'dean' of the Great American Songbook – Jerome Kern.

'Jerry' to his friends was no fan of jazz but I believe he'd be utterly charmed to hear what John does with some of his best in medley: After Dietz & Schwartz's “Give Me Something to Remember You By” (who doesn't love a Tango treatment that alludes at the opening to 'Snowfall'?) John shares his Kern gems sequence: “The Way You Look Tonight,” and “Look For the Silver Lining” – through to (my own favorite melodic test tune for any new guitar) THE SONG IS YOU.

Previous favorite version of that one – by Lenny Breau (on TV here in Winnipeg, circa 1969 – finally up there on YouTube in small screen black & white.) Yes, Lenny's version (with Jim Pirie and Ron Haldorson) has finally been displaced from 'top spot' in my heart. What you do on the song's bridge! A goosebump-inducing chord sequence no one else has ever played on guitar. Which is to say, The song is Yours, now.

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/5536293889815953

 

Stop the presses. Google for “New Jersey Music” to learn at Wikipedia that “New Jersey does not have a state song.” Well it damn well should – and state officials would do well to consider John Pizzarelli's “I Like New Jersey” – performed here as a series of spot-on impersonations – including Billy Holiday (and her sound-alike admirers, all identified by name). Yes, most everyone you could think of from Paul Simon, The Eagles, The Beach Boys, and Bob Dylan ending with Roy Orbison: each preceded by a familiar lick or refrain from one of their hits. I defy you to listen to this (at the 40:00 minute mark) and not laugh. Yet another reason to declare this my favorite “5 o'clock Somewhere” show.

 

Preceded at the 36:34 mark by “The Rainbow Connection” a Muppet Movie Kermit the Frog song, performed without a trace of condescension: as it should. It was 'Best Original Song' Oscar-nominated. Its Wiki entry oddly lists its 'genre' as “Bluegrass.” Odd until you remember that Kermit self-accompanied with a banjo on his knee. Never better performed than by John Pizzarelli.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Mark Blackburn