GREAT MELODY, GREAT LYRIC, GREAT RENDITION

[Mark Blackburn]

Seth MacFarlane – (Don't Cry) There'll be Another Spring

“If you'll just believe in me . . . there'll be another Spring”

Up at quarter to one – unable to sleep and check Sirius just to see what I'm missing. “Prisoner of Love” – the definitive recording for the Sinatra & Strings album (one of my top 5 by Frank).

Hit the 'back one hour' button (the novelty will never wear off) and it's SETH MACFARLANE – There'll Be Another Spring. A gorgeous other-worldly arrangement. Leave it to Seth to bring out the beauty in an old song we never heard-of – performing with a huge orchestra that is available on a moment's notice whenever he chooses to make a rare public appearance. His own 'house' arranger too, with his own distinctive sound: I forget his name and wouldn't know where to begin to 'look him up.' I need wise man intervention!

“Come back to bed,” she says. And so I go.
 

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

MANDY BARNETT – wonderful Playing Favorites show

I'm listening to my new favorite version of BUT BEAUTIFUL, the Burke / Van Heusen classic (best song composed in the year of my birth 1947) performed in a lush orchestral setting – with a hint of Country, blended with Jazz -- by a terrific “Playing Favorites” host I'd not heard-of before tonight! You know some of us are always 'the last to know':

“Hi, everyone – my name is Mandy Barnett and I'm so thrilled to sit in today as your host. I get to play some of my FAVORITE Great American Songbook standards that inspired me over the years!

Mandy's 'orchestral' rendition of But Beautiful opens with solo jazz guitar accompaniment – by someone really good (playing a Gibson L-5, says my ears). Mandy has my favorite Southern accent – a mild Tennessee 'twang' – but had to Google to learn about her. Sure enough . . .

Born: September 28, 1975 (age 45 years), Crossville, Tennessee, AMANDA CAROL BARNETT is a country music singer and stage actress. Barnett has been singing since she was a child, performing at churches, local venues, as well as Dollywood. In her musical career, she has released eight albums and charted three singles on the Billboard country charts. [Wikipedia]

At this moment Amanda is speaking about her producer who got her interested in doing an album of standards – handing her a copy of Billie Holiday's 'Lady in Satin' album. Amanda told him: “If you can get Sammy Nestico” (a great arranger who left us in 2020) “I'm all in!”

“By the end of the day he'd already spoken to the legendary arranger, who started out with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra – wrote for Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan – so many others! Sammy agreed to "try a couple of songs." He was 95 years old, after all. And in the days that passed, two songs turned into three. And then he completed five; next thing you know, we learned he had completed eight, and then all ten arrangements for my new album “Every Star Above” -- our Celebration of Lady in Satin.

“Lady in Satin was an album Billie Holiday always wanted to make: She picked all of the songs – many of them Sinatra tunes – and she enlisted Ray Ellis to arrange the album.

“I'm so thrilled, I had the opportunity to record these wonderful songs – with such an iconic arranger, Sammy Nestico. He poured his heart into every arrangement and this album turned out to be the last that he would write. Here is my version of the Jimmy Van Heusen/ Johnny Burke composition, But Beautiful. From my new album, Every Star Above.”

Is it at YouTube? Not that I can find. But at Spotify there is one track from the album arranged by Sammy N. FOR ALL WE KNOW (we may never meet again).
 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

[Mark Blackburn]

Grateful to 'Bob in Boston' -- for graphics and 'link'

Thanks to our SFF wise guy “Bob in Boston” for linking us to this recent interview with Mandy – by “Josh Getlin.” Especially for cherished 'quotes' we might otherwise never have seen [Like these:]

----

JG: Your actual New York City debut came in 1999, at the age of 23, when you played Madison Square Garden. What have you learned since then — about yourself and the business?

MB: That was an interesting show. Odetta and Judy Collins and Phoebe Snow were on the bill. They were wonderful, so sweet and welcoming. I brought my band of legends — many of the great studio musicians like Hal Rugg, Harold Bradley, and Buddy Harman. We got a terrific audience and critical response. We were different from anyone else on the bill and stood out a bit that way. We kept it real, and we were good. That’s what I have always tried to maintain, [ ] That whatever I’m doing, I’m striving to do it at the highest level I can and as honestly as I can possibly be ....

“Few singers have the gifts inhabiting the soul of Mandy Barrett,” says Michael Feinstein, who recorded a duet with her on his upcoming album of country-inflected Gershwin standards. “Her blessed voice connects to the truth of every song she sings.”

Will Friedwald, an author and critic who wrote liner notes for “Every Star Above,” is equally effusive: “Barnett’s new recording properly captures the spirit of the original without any direct imitation of either the singer or the musical director. It’s Ms. Barnett’s own story that she’s telling, her own tears that are falling.”

https://joshgetlin.medium.com/mandy-barnett-nashvilles-torch-song-queen-is-the-new-lady-in-satin-9a6c0c1af574

 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

DIANA KRALL – Este Seu Olhar

At this moment, on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio, Diana Krall is singing my 'other favorite' version of Este Seu Olhar.  From a Grammy-winning album Wiki reminds us:

Quiet Nights is the tenth studio album by Canadian singer Diana Krall, released on March 31, 2009, by Verve Records. The album marks Krall's first work with arranger Claus Ogerman since 2002's Live in Paris, and her first studio work with Ogerman since 2001's The Look of Love.[1] In 2010, the title track earned Claus Ogerman the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist.

The album's title comes from the English-language title of the bossa nova standard "Corcovado", written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and first made popular in the early 1960s. The title track is one of three selections written or co-written by Jobim. Others included Track 7 – Este Seu Olhar . . .

Is it at YouTube? Even better! A 'Live in Rio' televised performance. At the 50 second mark, Diana wins the hearts of her Brazilian audience by delivering a subtlety – a perfect Portuguese pronunciation perhaps easily 'flubbed' by strangers to that beautiful language. (Really, is there anything better than 'live' performances?)
 

Edited May 7, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY – It Had To Be You

A great old song -- with just a one-sentence Wikipedia entry, but which includes a list of umpteen of our favorite versions (see below). No mention that this up-tempo ballad, from almost a century ago, was Johnny Mercer's all-time favorite song” of those he didn't write! Johnny called it “Perfect.”

Mercer would have loved the version playing right this minute on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio – Ann Hampton Callaway, self-accompanying with her piano trio.

The first of Ann's uploaded versions offered this day at YouTube (with “comments turned off” – a pity).

Beautiful singer, beautiful rendition, don't you agree?
 

"It Had to Be You" is a popular song written by Isham Jones, with lyrics by Gus Kahn.[2] It was first published in 1924.

Notable recordings [edit]

- Doris Day, on the album I'll See You in My Dreams (1951)[3]
- Frank Sinatra, sang the song in the 1940s with Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, but it was never recorded until the album Trilogy: Past Present Future (1980)
- Jimmie Lunceford, recorded in the 1940s, Jukebox Hits 1935–1947
- Bing Crosby – recorded in February 1952 for Crosby's radio show and mastered by Decca Records for commercial release on February 14, 1952[4]
- Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)
- Harry Nilsson on the album A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973)
- Harry Connick, Jr. from the When Harry Met Sally soundtrack, recorded in June 1989
- Barbra Streisand, with Michael Bublé, on the album Partners (2014)
Reprised the same year for Michael Bublé's Christmas in New York with specially adapted lyrics by Jay Landers[5]

[Mark Blackburn]

NATALIE COLE – You Go To My Head

At this moment Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing my other all-time favorite recording of YOU GO TO MY HEAD, arranged by one of my jazz heroes Alan Broadbent. (He conducted Winnipeg Symphony musicians accompanying Diana Krall on her most recent visit.)

Frank Sinatra's rendition of sixty years ago may have 'retired-the-trophy,' but for my money this one's tied for first place in my heart. With a beautiful gut string classical guitar solo on the musical bridge, by John Chiodini and with Mr. Broadbent on piano. From the last of Natalie's five great albums of standards, “Still Unforgettable.”

The first offering at YouTube this day has a most recent comment from a kindred spirit.

Jody Wilke
(2 years ago)
I always thought Frank Sinatra's version of this song was the best, until I heard this. Natalie, you had too much talent for one person--and we lost you way too soon! RIP.?￰ﾟﾒﾒ

The album has a detailed Wikipedia entry that reminds us that “Still Unforgettable was a 2008 studio album by American singer-songwriter and performer Natalie Cole. Cole won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Still Unforgettable at the 51st Grammy Awards.”

[In an interview that year 2008, Natalie discussed her thinking behind Still Unforgettable.]

"While we were still trying to create that same 'Unforgettable'-type mood or environment, this time I wanted to expand. Rather than just doing another Nat 'King' Cole tribute – which was not necessary – I wanted to go deeper into the American Songbook, by not just getting songs from my father, but also from other singers of his time like Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peggy Lee. You know, there was something about the approach that the writers from that era had to the lyrics and the melodies that was so intentional, so purposeful. Which I think is the thing that's missing from music today."

Edited May 10, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

@Frank Sinatra – Reprise Rarities Vol 3

Charles Pignone is introducing a song I hadn't heard in years (included on a Reprise box set, I forget which one). Frank, alone together with his career-long accompanist Bill Miller – playing a well-tuned piano – with the perfect degree of reverb. (Who engineered, I wonder?) A final song from the guys who composed my very favorite by Sinatra (I Thought About You) – Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Mercer.

It's like singin' to empty tables – or a gallery full of ghosts
Or like givin' a great big party where nobody shows, but the host…
Without you around to applaud me, ev'ry night's just like 'Closing Night'
'cause I'm singin' to empty tables, without you.

I was catching tonight's re-play of 'Reprise Rarities Vol 3' – and I'm loving it! You too?

Until this moment, I never looked for it at YouTube. Great show, Mr. Pignone – not least for this vivid reminder of Bill Miller's greatness as an accompanist: Note perfect and always making it sound so easy. You think, “Heck, I could play that.” Oh no you can't!
 

[Mark Blackburn]

SARAH VAUGHN  –  How Soon

There was a time when the lyricists crafting the Great American Songbook tried to make their song's opening words, the same as the closing words – and, naturally -- the song's title too. Like HOW SOON a song I never heard before -- playing now on Siriusly Sinatra: it fits that perfect template and is beautifully sung by Sarah Vaughn, to a lovely and well-recorded orchestration.

How soon . . . the flame of love can die
How soon, 'Goodnight' becomes 'Goodbye' . . .

. . . someday, you may come back to me . . . to stay
But who can say 'how soon'?

[I asked of the Wise Men at Sinatra Family Forum:] 

Who wrote this? It sounds like latter-day Johnny Mercer echoing his final Oscar-nominated lyric for the movie KOTCH – 'Life is What You Make It.' The melody too, could have been composed (and arranged) by Henry Mancini. Wish I knew where to look for the answer. A reminder that not everything it seems, is to be found at YouTube. Something to stump even a Wise Man?

[Our youngest Wise Man, Andrew T responded within minutes:]

"Sarah Vaughan's recording of "How Soon" (1965), music by Henry Mancini and lyrics by Al Stillman."

 

[Mark Blackburn]

MORE – Frank & Count Basie - best vocal version

Needed to Google for a reminder that the song MORE was from a movie missed by millions of English-speaking film goers. Sinatra's version is listed in the Wikipedia entry

"Ti Guarderò Nel Cuore", later released under the international title "More", is a*pop*song adapted from a*film score*written by Riz Ortolani and Nino Oliviero for the 1962 Italian documentary film Mondo Cane. Ortolani and Oliviero originally composed the melody as an orchestral arrangement that served as the film's theme music. Italian lyrics were provided byMarcello Ciorciolini, which were adapted into English by Norman Newell. It has since become a pop standard.

The film Mondo Cane is a documentary, and uses a variety of music to accompany various segments. Some melodies are used repeatedly, in different styles, each named for the part of the movie where the music is used. Of the 15 music tracks on the soundtrack album, one melody is presented 6 times, another melody 2 times. The melody which became known as "More" is presented 4 times, named "Life Savers Girls", "The Last Flight/L'Ultimo Volo", "Models In Blue/Modelle in Blu", "Repabhan Street/Repabhan Strasse", in styles ranging from lush to march and 3/4 waltz.

"More" is one of Ortolani's acclaimed and influential works. It won the 1964*Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Theme.[1]*It was nominated for the*Academy Award for Best Original Song*at the*36th Academy Awards*in 1964, where it was performed in English by*Katyna Ranieri.*

"More" first caught U.S. attention as a pop instrumental hit by jazz trombone player*Kai Winding*that was arranged and conducted by*Claus Ogerman, released as a single on*Verve*10295. Popular in the summer and autumn of 1963, the record peaked at #2 on the*Easy Listening*chart and at #8 and lasted 15 weeks on the*Billboard*Hot 100,.[3]

A vocal version of "More" by Vic Dana stalled at #42 in early October 1963, two weeks before Winding's rendition dropped off the Billboard chart. But the song did much better over the years, recorded hundreds of times by many artists, ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Baja Marimba Band. It is now considered a pop standard.

Wisely included by Sinatra Family friend and producer, Charles Pignone on the SEDUCTION - Sinatra Sings Songs of Love (2-CD compilation):

[Mark Blackburn]

DIANA KRALL & RUSSELL MALONE -  ROUTE 66 

I remember Diana Krall's first appearance at our Winnipeg Jazz Festival – nearly two decades ago: As a guitarist, I remember vividly that Diana had invited her then- guitarist Russell Malone to play a five minute, solo introduction that turned into a quick history of blues guitar. I'd never seen anything like it. And haven't since. Really, is there anything you cannot find at YouTube?
 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

FRANK SINATRA – Embraceable You

I can never hear my favorite track from the Nice 'n' Easy album without being flooded with memories. So many beautiful details – from the lush, 'welcoming' sound of Nelson Riddle's opening orchestral flourish, to Frank singing 'octave' note intervals, on the second chorus (“Above all, I want my arms about you”). And the gorgeous, closing orchestral flourish -- with final notes on a harp. The memories! Indulge me please (again).
----
I had musical parents and when Mom died, Dad quit piano – something he would play for relaxation every day of his life – he just stopped playing. He told me on the phone he couldn't even “bear to look at it” – the Steinway in his living room. “It hurts too much,” he said. My father stayed away from his piano for four years; until he had a stroke that reduced his speech to six-word sentences.

One night when I was visiting, he suddenly walked over and sat down at the piano. It was a while before he touched the keys. I'd like to say he played at least one of the hundreds of songs he'd composed; or at least a few bars of his and Mom's favorite, Jerome Kern's All The Things You Are. But not a chord. Just a few random single notes.

I remember prompting him – humming and whistling melodies – but nothing. Until he played Embraceable You. Hesitantly, but he made it through the melody with chords. Then a second chorus – without mistakes. Until that moment I didn't realize how much his favorite Gershwin song (Mom's too) meant to Dad.

Thought of this, now after hitting the “back 1 hour” button at Siriusly Sinatra. And there it was – the version I'd shared with my folks on a cassette.

The opening orchestral flourish by the Riddle orchestra is so warm and welcoming! -- like the front door of your family home, opening to you after a long time away. That's the effect it always has on me. You too?

I'd told my folks that I singled this one out in “my letter to Mr. Sinatra, Christmas 1992.” I see that I've posted the same comment to this same video “1 year ago” and “2 years ago.” Then and now, this is the first version offered at YouTube posted 5 years ago by “Catman916”. As they used to say, "3rd time's a charm!"
 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

It's the Same Old Dream

Playing at this moment on Siriusly Sinatra:

"I can see a steeple, surrounded by people, oh, how real it seems to be
Just as a choir is singing, my alarm starts ringing – it's the same old dream!

From the film It Happened In Brooklyn (1947, a very good year):
 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY – Revelation (collaboration w Robert Frost)

When I was young, a favorite poem we read aloud in school – one that has stayed with me for 60 years, was by Robert Frost, the one about "stopping by woods on a snowy evening." From memory imperfect:

Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village, though
He will not mind my standing here to
watch his woods fill up with snow.

Hadn't read a poem by Robert Frost in a very long time – until tonight – when one of my favorite jazz singers, Ann Hampton Callaway, shared with Facebook friends her latest work – a "collaboration with poet Robert Frost." So, besides being a beautiful singer and musician, Ann is a "Tony nominee and Platinum selling songwriter." Her latest creation though, took 20 years to see the light of day.

Ann says Revelation was composed to "a Robert Frost poem which I'd kept in my jeans pocket when I was a teenager." She'd written the melody after seeing her father’s one-man show 'John Callaway Tonight' at Chicago's Pegasus Player's Theater in 2001.

Ann was stunned to learn that her Dad had contemplated suicide when she would have been four years old and that he "credited an unnamed poet for saving his life." Unable to sleep that night, she remembered Frost’s poem which had brought her solace "at a difficult time in high school, and out the music came."

Three years later, she recorded the song for her CD 'Slow' (“with Carole King in the studio”) but Ann was unable to release it, because the Robert Frost estate "refused to allow any music to be published to Frost’s work." The poem has since become 'public domain' and Ann decided the time was right to share the song with the world. [Released on May 14, it's available on iTunes, Amazon Spotify and "all streaming platforms."]

Beautifully-engineered performances, by brilliant musicians. Ann credits everyone involved:

Revelation was "arranged by Trey Henry and the recording was engineered by Jim Brady, Charley Pollard and Paul Viapiano, who did the mix. The band consists of Paul Viapiano on guitar, Trey Henry on bass, Christian Jacob on piano, Ray Brinker on drums and Cecelia Tsan on cello."
 

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

A favorite actor Charles Grodin died today at his home in Wilton, Connecticut at age 86. His son, Nicholas confirmed the news of his father’s passing and revealed the cause of death to be bone marrow cancer.

 

My favorite role of his, (yours too?) was as an "accountant to the mob" being sought by Robert De Niro's bail bondsman/ex cop character in MIDNIGHT RUN.

 

"It's not a payoff -- it's a gift." 

 

One of my favorite moments in film -- the final three and a half minutes of my all-time favorite 'action comedy.'  So satisfying, after all the viewer has been put through the previous two hours!

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

Charles Grodin brought a 'presence' to even the smallest screen roles. My favorite of his comedic turns, was as 'The Thief' in The Great Muppet Caper (1981).

Thanks to this 'trailer' for reminding us that Charles was up against the likes of Diana Rigg, Jack Warden, John Cleese, Peter Ustinov, Robert Morley -- and other comedic giants, including my favorite Muppet, Fozzie Bear.

Favorite line in this clip: Fozzie, speaking to other diners in a fancy restaurant, while sipping champagne:

“If you put enough sugar in this stuff it tastes just like ginger ale.”
 

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

NATALIE COLE - Lollipops and Roses

One of my favorite living arrangers is Nan Schwartz – whose orchestrations for Natalie Coles' final album – STILL UNFORGETTABLE won a Grammy. Nan was too young to have worked with Sinatra and I can only imagine the charts she might have crafted for our favorite singer. Like all of Frank's great arrangers (Riddle, Jenkins, Costa, foremost among them) Nan Schwartz has such a distinctive style 'all her own.' A moment ago I heard the opening orchestral notes of Lollipops and Roses -- the song playing right now on Channel 71 and I 'named the arranger' instantly -- from beginning to end -- a haunting carousel-like slow 'fade' at song's end. So beautiful!
 

A song composed (words & tune) by a Grammy-winner who had a trio of hits, according to Wikipedia:

Anthony “Tony” Velona (November 16, 1920 – January 31, 1986) was an American author, lyricist, and composer. Velona was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He wrote or co-wrote numerous songs including the 1955 hit, Domani, the 1962 hit Lollipops and Roses, and the 1966 hit Music to Watch Girls By.

Of those three, "Lollipops and Roses" was the most enduring – beginning with Jack Jones' Grammy Award-winning recording in 1962, that went to No. 12 on the Easy Listening chart.

The song was used for the end credits of episode 3 of season 2 of Mad Men.

Steve Lawrence covered the song for his album 'Winners!' released in January 1963; released two years later in the Philippines, it topped the national chart for seven straight weeks beginning in July 1965.

Edited May 19, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

KATHARINE MCPHEE – Everything Must Change

Everything must change, nothing stays the same . . .
The young become the old, and mysteries do unfold
That's the way of time: nothing goes unchanged . . .
There is so little in life you can be sure of, except . . .
the rain comes from the clouds, sunlight, from the sky
and . . .

For some of us jazz fans 'of an age' it was our favorite vocal of the 70s – Everything Must Change. “Siriusly Sinatra – on Sirius XM” says our favorite satellite radio announcer, before playing Katharine McPhee's latest version of a song composed (words & music) by “Benard Ighner” – from an otherwise all-instrumental album “Body Heat” (1974) produced/arranged by Quincy Jones. At the time, the minimalist liner notes told us nothing about the singer. (More about him below).

Katharine McPhee's picture streaming on Sirius shows her to be very young and beautiful. Her Wikipedia entry is already long one (130 footnotes) detailing her successes as an actress and singer; concluding with the personal note that she is married to Canada's most famous musical producer David Foster – “35 years her senior. They dated for one year before marrying June 28, 2019 at the St. Yeghiche Armenian Apostolic Church in Kensington, London.[133] She gave birth to a boy on February 22, 2021.

Is Katharine's 'Everything Must Change' at YouTube? But of course.
 

I needed to Google the song title to be reminded of Quincy's singer, who left us four summers ago:

Benard Ighner (January 18, 1945 – August 14, 2017) was an American jazz singer, musician, songwriter and record producer.

Ighner was born in Houston, Texas. After graduating in 1962 he moved with his parents to San Diego, California, and soon afterwards joined the U.S. Army. He learned multiple instruments including piano, guitar and saxophone, and after his discharge in 1965 recorded with Dizzy Gillespie. As Bernard Ito, he recorded a vocal version of the Gillespie composition "Con Alma" on Mercury Records, and for a while took over as Gillespie's featured singer on tour. Later, using the pseudonym Alexander St. Charles, he began working and recording with composer and arranger Lalo Schifrin on the 1971 album Rock Requiem, and co-wrote with Schifrin the song "Like Me" which he sang on the soundtrack of the film Dirty Harry.[1] He also sang on David Axelrod's 1972 album, The Auction.[2]

Ighner became a session singer in Hollywood. In 1974, he sang his own composition "Everything Must Change", a track on Quincy Jones' best-selling album Body Heat. Though not issued as a single, it is claimed that "the haunting masterwork went a long way toward selling the full-length album.."[3]

The song was later recorded as the title track of a 1976 album by Randy Crawford, as well as by Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lee, George Benson, Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Judy Collins, June Christy, Jean Carn, and others.[3]

----

First version offered at YouTube this day (with a thousand thumbs-up and 56K “views”) included a note of eulogy from a nephew of the song's composer.

Michael Phillips
3 years ago
My dear uncle Benard Ighner passed away today, August 14th, 2017, our hearts are heavy. Benard is in a better place, with our Lord God, the most high. -- Michael A Phillips

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

Oleta Adams version -- the best, especially with this video!

This version, with a must-see video, is my new favorite. The trumpet solo on the musical bridge is by my all-time favorite trumpet virtuoso Jack Sheldon (or one of his disciples channeling him to perfection). Shared by a Wise Man at Sinatra Family Forum, Bob in Boston.
 

Eliciting exuberant comments like these!

FoolyLiving
4 years ago
Please tell me where the video is from? I want to watch the entire thing!

36index
7 years ago
Oleta Adams, Stephanie Mills, Jean Carne, Lalah Hathaway.......similar styles using the vibrato technique......takes a very special skill to master, and these ladies do it with precision and grace!

kathleen Comerford
3 years ago
This song was stuck on my brain so hard that I had to get out of bed at 2:00a.m. just to hear it and have my spirit uplifted!!! I'm so glad I did and will greet each day with a positive and embracing attitude.

[Mark Blackburn]

A Wise Man at Sinatra Family Forum 'Bob in Boston' corrected me: It's an English virtuoso Guy Barker playing flugelhorn. Thanks, Bob! And who's “Guy Barker” when he's at home? Someone with a very impressive Wikipedia entry:

 

Guy Jeffrey Barker, MBE (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer.

 

After lessons from Clark Terry in 1975, Barker went on in the 1980s to play with John Dankworth, Gil Evans (with whose orchestra he toured and recorded in 1983), Lena Horne, and Bobby Watson.

 

Barker was a member of Clark Tracey's quintet from 1984 to 1992. As a sideman he has played with Ornette Coleman, Carla Bley, Georgie Fame, James Carter, Mike Westbrook, Frank Sinatra, Colin Towns, Natalie Merchant, ABC, The The, Haircut One Hundred, Erasure, Chris Botti, Wham!, Kajagoogoo, The Housemartins, Matt Bianco, Alphaville, The Style Council, The Moody Blues, Sting, Bucks Fizz, Mike Oldfield, Cleo Laine, Acoustic Alchemy, XTC, and Stan Tracey.

 

[Currently touring Europe with his own big band]

 

"More recently he has toured the Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra – a 15 piece big band . . . "

[Mark Blackburn]

NATALIE - This Morning, It was Summer . . .

“This morning, we were lovers. We were happy, and we were gay. But now Love – you are somewhere far away.”

It's quarter to three . . . gotta check and see . . . who else is in the place. Natalie Cole singing This Morning It Was Summer. I reach over to a stack of CDs I've been intending to listen-to, for the first time in years, and it's Natalie's STARDUST. Where this song is track 18. I don't have to check to see who arranged: I'd know a Johnny Mandel chart from the opening notes.

As Mom would say, What a coincidence. First version offered at YouTube at 3:00 a.m. Now back to sleep.

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

[later] THIS MORNING IT WAS SUMMER (IN YOUR ARMS)

THIS MORNING IT WAS SUMMER (IN YOUR ARMS)

At Sinatra Family Forum we'd been celebrating (above) Canada's best-ever musical producer David Foster. Sure enough Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing Natalie Cole's version of a rarely heard song, "produced by David Foster" -- a quarter century ago. One of two tracks (out of 19, on Natalie's STARDUST album of 1996, "arranged by Johnny Mandel" and "produced by Mr. Foster" – who wrote a personal thank you to Natalie in the 14-page (correct) booklet of liner notes (remember those?)

“What a pleasure to be working again with one of the truly great voices of our time. Natalie, your voice is like silk, and your vocal ability never ceases to amaze me. Thank you also, to you and your family, for allowing me to catch a glimpse of your father's immense talent -- and for his passing that same talent on to you. Thank you to all of the arrangers (eight including Mandel) and all of the musicians – and the engineers who brought this music to life. And thank you Natalie for 'breathing life' into it.” – David Foster

Natalie paid special tribute to her Grammy-winning chief engineer who mixed the STARDUST album:

“Special thanks to Al Schmitt: You've been putting up with me for a while now, and for that I thank you! I just feel a little more secure with you around …. (big laugh).”

Natalie's life-long family friend Dick la Palm was thanked for his informed, informative liner notes – which had this to say about track 18:

“Natalie joins forces with arranger Johnny Mandel to explore THIS MORNING IT WAS SUMMER, a lament whose music and lyrics were written in 1957 by the late Bob Haymes, best known for his classic standard, That's All. Originally recorded by Nat King Cole in 1958, this is only the second outing for a much neglected song.”

Official Natalie Cole Music version at YouTube alas, with “comments turned off”]
 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

FRANK SINATRA - The End of a Love Affair

Hit the 'back one hour' button on Siriusly Sinatra and this great old song is playing.

Really, did any lyric ever better 'capture' what we guys felt at the “end of a love affair”? [paraphrase]

I talk and laugh a little too much, and my voice is too loud when I'm out in a crowd so people are apt to stare and the smile on my face isn't really a smile at all. And I smoke and drink a little too much, and the tunes I request are the ones where the trumpets blare! But what else can you do . . .

A modest but memorable Nelson Riddle arrangement that fits the tune perfectly.

 

[Mark Blackburn]

WILLIE NELSON – Learnin' The Blues

Very same subject – very different treatment: this one, light-hearted and ironic, thanks to an upbeat whimsical arrangement – Country's greatest living singer Willie Nelson on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio and a favorite track from his recently-released THAT'S LIFE Sinatra tribute album: “Learnin' The Blues.” The fresh new sound Willie brings to words like these,

The cigarettes you light, one-after-another, won't help you forget her, or the way that you love her. You're only burnin' a torch you can't lose – BUT you're on the right track to learnin' the blues!

[Mark Blackburn]

JANE MONHEIT – Something Cool

At this moment Siriusly Sinatra is playing the best-ever rendition of SOMETHING COOL – by Jane Monheit, brilliantly arranged by . . . someone good -- who thought to include in the 'voicings' some notes played by a French (small) accordion beneath the words “the time I went to Paris in the Fall.”

Bet you wouldn't imagine that I once had a house – it had so many rooms, you couldn't count them all!
I'll bet you couldn't imagine I had fifty different beaus, who would beg and beg to take me to a Ball,
And I KNOW you couldn't picture me, the time I went to Paris in the Fall . . .

Edited May 24, 2021 by Mark Blackburn