GREAT MELODY, GREAT LYRIC, GREAT RENDITION

[Mark Blackburn]

TONY & QUEEN LATIFAH – Who Can I Turn To (when nobody needs me)

There are a some great songs that Tony Bennett has personally kept alive – performing them on stage, right up until his retirement last year at age 95: Tony turned 96 this week (8/3/2022). One such favorite: WHO CAN I TURN TO – a song by two Englishmen for a West-End London stage musical -- that “failed to chart” when Shirley Bassey recorded it in 1964.

The song's Wikipedia entry (note below) describes Tony's personal commitment to keeping this poignant ballad forever young, and in the minds of sub-generations of music fans who might not otherwise ever get to hear it.

Favorite version? This one – with nearly 2 million views posted to YouTube (2014) – from Tony's second 'Duets' album. [Love the comments, this one especially:]

 

Noe Berengena

5 years ago (edited)

A stunning performance. You gotta believe that Queen Latifah's mama is super proud that her daughter is singing side by side with the great Tony Bennett. How do these improbable dreams come about? Enormous talent and luck.

 

 

"Who Can I Turn To?" (alternatively titled "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)") is a song written by English lyricists Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley and first published in 1964.

The song was introduced in the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd, which struggled in the United Kingdom in 1964 and then made a tour of the United States later that year. In 1964 Shirley Bassey recorded the song and released it as a single, however it failed to chart.

Recorded by Tony Bennett, "Who Can I Turn To?" became a hit, reaching number 33 on the US pop singles chart and the top 5 of the Adult Contemporary chart. So fuelled, the musical arrived on Broadway for a successful run, and the song became one of Bennett's staples. He later re-recorded the song as a duet with Queen Latifah in 2011 on Duets II and with Gloria Estefan for his 2012 album, Viva Duets.[1] Bennett continued to perform the song in concert until his retirement in 2021 at the age of 95.

 

[Mark Blackburn]

WESLA WHITFIELD -- Teach Me Tonight

Once or twice a year it seems, Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio will play a song by Wesla Whitfield – like right this minute -- my new favorite version of TEACH ME TONIGHT.

Search to be reminded it was the title track on her 1997 album featuring superb accompaniment by her husband “jazz pianist and arranger Michael Greensill” – half the songs, six of them, with words by my favorite romantic/humorist lyricist Sammy Cahn.

A critic I've admired, Scott Yanow said of this album that it's “an excellent example of Wesla Whitfield's ability to uplift songs by simply bringing out their inner beauty.” The simple truth, you may agree?

 

Wikipedia

Wesla Whitfield (born Weslia Marie Edwards, September 15, 1947 – February 9, 2018)[1] was an American singer who recorded more than a score of albums and performed at Carnegie Hall and the White House, among other sites. She used a wheelchair for the last four decades of her life, after surviving a gunshot injury. She specialized in the American standards genre of music.

In 1977, two boys approached Whitfield on a street in San Francisco and told her to go with them. As she turned away, one shot at her. The bullet hit her spine, paralyzing her from the waist down.[2] She sang for about three months soon after the shooting but stopped because "... it was quite boring because I really wasn't there mentally or emotionally."[3] When she resumed performing, her husband carried her on stage to sit on a stool or chair because she thought her wheelchair would distract from her singing.[2]

In 1985, she and her husband created the Myoho label for her albums. After three releases, HighNote Records began distributing Whitfield's recordings.[5]

In the late 1990s, Whitfield and Greensill toured with a production of Life Upon the Wicked Stage, a "semi-autographical show" featuring Whitfield's singing.[6] A review in The San Francisco Examiner described the show as "An absolutely marvelous evening of musical theater."[7]

On February 9, 2018, Whitfield died of complications of bladder cancer at her home in St. Helena, California, at age 70.

 

[Mark Blackburn]

TONY BENNETT & BILL EVANS – DONNA BYRNE & DAVE MCKENNA

 

“Fame, if you win it, comes and goes in a minute

Where's the real stuff in life to cling to?

 

At this moment on “Playing Favorites” on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio, jazz singer Donna Byrne is playing just about my favorite Tony Bennett recording – an 'alone together' with Bill Evans studio performance of my favorite song by Jule Styne, MAKE SOMEONE HAPPY. Tony Bennett has long been one of Donna's biggest fans (she's opened a few live shows for him and he told her about the night he returned home early from a Superbowl, to catch one of her show openings in NYC).

Donna just closed her show with what she termed “this stupendous recording – from the Tony Bennett and Bill Evans album – MAKE SOMEONE HAPPY. I know that I am!” she says – thanking Charles Pignone for suggesting she host this edition of Playing Favorites.”

 

Donna Byrne's penultimate selection – a solo by a good friend, the late jazz pianist Dave McKenna who along with Tony Bennett's favorite guitarist Gray Sargent, was featured on Donna's most recent album of jazz standards (included below).

Wikipedia note:

Dave McKenna (May 30, 1930 – October 18, 2008)[1] was an American jazz pianist known primarily as a solo pianist and for his "three-handed" swing style. He was a significant figure in the evolution of jazz piano.

Donna Byrne picked this track by Dave McKenna – a solo rendition (with those “three hands” of his) of one of Dave's own compositions and one you never heard before, right? THEODORE THE THUMPER.

 

 

Posted to YouTube two years ago, from Donna's Let's Face the Music album, a most unusual medley of two favorite songs:  Rodgers & Hart's I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TIME IT WAS with Burton Lane & Alan Jay Lerner's best ballad, for the movie musical (1951) Royal Wedding, TOO LATE NOW. “The medley was suggested to me,” says Donna, “by Sirius Radio's Charles Pignone.”

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

On his latest Thursday evening 'live streamed' Tips Jar show ...

 

“For her majesty,” quips John Pizzarelli at the end of a spontaneously improvised response to a viewer's request for A NIGHTINGALE SANG IN BERKELEY SQUARE (Britain's best ballad from WWII). At the 37:23 mark. Gorgeous chord sequences we've never heard before – applied to this great melody as it's played by John probably for the first time ever: a simply sublime blending of taste, and technique – plus the courage to risk making a mistake; as it happens, in the key change for the song's bridge/release. “Wrong key, but it worked!” says John brightly – with that disarming smile, for those of us who cherish 'Nightingale' and his wonderful rendition. Encore, please – and may it be soon – next time with Jessica singing at least some of that oh-so-evocative lyric. “Our homeward steps were just as light as the dancing of Fred Astaire.”

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=3243815669204593

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

RAY CHARLES -- I Didn't Know What Time It Was

I can't recall who said it, (I only know I read it,) that Frank Sinatra loved Ray Charles' studio rendition of the Rodgers & Hart classic, I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TIME IT WAS -- a song that's playing right this minute on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio. A version with full orchestra accompaniment, "arranged by Sidney Feller."

Sinatra, who was sparing in his public praise for other popular singers (declaring Tony Bennett to be, “for my money the best in the business”) allowed himself to be quoted as saying that “Ray Charles is the only true genius in the business” (the business of singing).

I can imagine Frank hearing this version and laughing out loud with joy at Ray's closing words – spoken, not sung -- to a woman he's flirting with: “Baby, I KNOW what time it is NOW!!"

Track 2 (of 12) on Ray's black vinyl album “I'm All Yours Baby!” recorded in 1969 for his own label Tangerine -- “arranged & conducted by Sidney Feller” – whose Wiki entry quotes Ray as saying: "If they call me a genius, then Sid Feller is Einstein." 

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JOHN PIZZARELLI  -- Early Autumn

On this, first day of Autumn I'd been humming an obscure Johnny Mercer song – EARLY AUTUMN – a poignant ballad about Fall time, composed the year of my birth; another reason perhaps that I cherish it above Johnny's much more famous 'Autumn Leaves'). The lyrics are so evocative. From memory imperfect:

When an early Autumn walks the land, and chills the breeze
and touches with her hand the summer trees
perhaps you'll understand what memories I own ….

There's a dance pavilion in the rain, all shuttered down ….

I'd been hoping John Pizzarelli might play it for the first time ever on his Thursday “It's 5 o'clock Somewhere” program. Lo and behold! At around the 33:10 mark John says it is a request from “Phil Stephan who gets his second 'inaugural song' – this premier performance” of Early Autumn.

Stay tuned song's end, when Jessica jokes with John as they speculate about the meaning of the lyric. I thought of something my compatriot, the late Gene (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars) Lees had to say about this one (not mentioned in the song's brief Wikipedia entry below). Gene wrote in his book Singers and the Song that his good friend “John Mercer had a talent for darkness” [as seen here in] “one of his most vivid lyrics, written when the young men were coming back from the war to discover everything changed.”

WIKIPEDIA

"Early Autumn" (1949) is a song composed by Ralph Burns and Woody Herman with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song grew out of the fourth segment of Burns' “Summer Sequence” concert piece and was originally recorded by the Herman band on December 27, 1947 with an outstanding eight-bar solo by saxophonist Stan Getz.[1] Herman asked Johnny Mercer to write lyrics in 1952 and he re-recorded the song taking the vocal duties himself.[2]
Charted versions were by Woody Herman and by Jo Stafford, both in 1952.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=notif&v=811925583295146&notif_id=1663884059017456&notif_t=live_video_explicit

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial

P.S.  

At the 41:55  mark,  John performs my favorite ballad by Irving Berlin - What'll I Do? And at the close, John reminds us: “There's a Jessica Molaskey record of that song 'out there' …. and it is fantastic.”

Sure enough, posted to YouTube (when I wasn't looking) by “Dimitri Diamant” with a single graphic, a photo he took of “a view of Gramercy Park, looking north towards Lexington Avenue, NYC.”

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

BARBRA STREISAND & 'COMPANY' – At the Ballet

 

It's a quarter to three and there's no one in the place except you and me -- and I check to see what's playing now on Siriusly Sinatra:  Barbra Streisand, singing with Anne Hathaway and Daisy Ridley “At The Ballet” – a show-opening song from A Chorus Line – the Marvin Hamlisch musical I never got to see. And until this moment, never got goosebumps hearing this gem for the first time. Is it at YouTube? But of course, and with some perfect comments from kindred souls (below).

 

Some favorite comments mostly from "6 years ago" when this video was posted Youtube:

Michelle Smith

6 years ago

These three gave me chills. The harmonies and voices are absolutely perfect. The Queen, Barbra Streisand. The Princess, Anne Hathaway. The Rebel, Daisy Ridley New favorite arrangement!

Miss T

6 years ago

Anne Hathaway has such a movie voice, when you listen to her, you know exactly why she's famous.

TJ Hastie

6 years ago

If Daisy actually joined the cast of a Broadway show I'd be there in a heartbeat

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JOHN PIZZARELLI -- All The Things You Are

“That's like the greatest song ever written!” John quotes others as saying – after performing my own family's all-time favorite 'show tune' ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE.

My musical parents loved it, both for Jerome Kern's most amazing melody (a riot of modulations that somehow, miraculously ends up back in the same key) as well as for Oscar Hammerstein's lyric – which my Father always said “fit your Mother to a T.”

So happy too that John included the song's often-overlooked opening verse (“Time and again, I longed for adventure ….”) beginning at around the 28:30 mark -- in response to “a request by L.J. Maddingly.” (Good for you, L.J.)

Stay tuned for a few minutes (to 33:30) of anecdotes about ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE only John Pizzarelli could have provided us – including reciting the lyric in its entirety, then, by comparison impersonating Elvis singing (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear. Oh yes, and John shares “a joke George Shearing told me about All The Things You Are.”

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial

P.S.  Other favorite moment this week: When Jessica declares that IT'S SUNDAY “is lovely” and “I think everyone loves that song … especially the “misbehaving” part. [Starts around the 36:25 mark.]

"It's Sunday" – the last song composed by Jule (Just in Time) Styne with words by Susan Birkenhead – a Broadway lyricist who is still with us – though no bio lists her age. [The lines that get to us every time:]

 

“She's fond of roses ….

We'll talk away the morning

read the papers – misbehave

Enjoying each other –

the world is ours, to play-in,

We'll take a walk – or stay in ….”

 

ITS SUNDAY finally had its official release (on digital) “February 2021 in time for Valentine's Day” – Track 12, Volume 2 of “Frank Sinatra Reprise Rarities.” [I see below this video my namesake wrote a 'review' for Sinatra Family Forum before Nancy terminated her site after a 24 year run.]

 

 

Still too obscure a song for a Wikipedia entry of its own, SinatraFanDom.com has a one-liner:

 

"It's Sunday" is a song Frank Sinatra recorded [for his own] Reprise Records, in 1983, released as a B-side single of the song "Here's to the Band." 

 

Google for “Sinatra sings solo with Tony Mottola” and …. voila! An article chock full of details from Sean Curnyn of The Cinch Review:

 

In 1983, in between albums (and at the age of 68), Sinatra was still doing some studio work as it suited him. And a song happened to come along that was apparently written with him in mind, by the famous melodist Jule Styne and the relatively young lyricist Susan Birkenhead. It was a gentle tune called “It’s Sunday,” the words being a reflection on the quiet love of an older couple: just the simple pleasures and the comfortable company of one another. Frank knew a treasure when he heard it, and he wanted to record it.

He asked arranger Peter Matz for a chart, and attempted it in the studio with orchestra, but it did not satisfy him. So then he asked frequent collaborator Don Costa for an arrangement; this one didn’t satisfy him either. He said he needed something more intimate: he asked Costa to listen to him sing it with just Tony Mottola on guitar, as a frame of reference. So, Costa wrote yet another arrangement. This one too failed to satisfy Frank.

You can see where this is going. Frank ultimately recorded “It’s Sunday” with Tony Mottola alone: just voice, guitar, and microphone. It was issued on a 45 rpm record in 1983, as the B-side to another song written with Sinatra in mind titled “Here’s To The Band.”

Perhaps it is the case that many of us do our finest work in relatively unheralded moments. This might apply not only to the artistic among us, but to all people: Instead of it being when we are pursuing some grand goal and achievement, maybe we actually shine best in those quiet minutes when we are just doing what we need to do, but doing it exceedingly well, attending to the small things with loyalty and true effort.

Listen, and—despite the weaknesses that age had brought to his voice—just try to imagine anyone who could sing this song with the level of sensitivity and nuance that Sinatra delivers. Each phrase, every pause, all the dynamics and timing of this performance are perfect yet so thoroughly understated that they pass virtually beyond notice, which is actually the ultimate compliment.

As guitarist Tony Mottola told Will Friedwald, “It’s a very difficult song to sing. In the first couple of bars there’s something like eight words in every measure! It’s the first time he’s ever recorded anything with a solo guitar, and it makes me very proud.”

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA – Autumn in New York

 

My favorite NYC love song – or rather a love song to the city itself – composed (words & tune) by Vernon Duke.  I'm 75 now, and was barely a year old, when Frank's definitive version was first played on radio. (Forgot I'd celebrated this one, three years ago:)

The only one of his hit songs for which composer Vernon Duke wrote the words as well as the tune. Recorded by so many artists, but Sinatra's was the only version to achieve chart success ( No. 27 in 1948) .

Vernon Duke's lyricists included many of the greats – Johnny Mercer, Ogden Nash and Sammy Cahn – and his best known melodies were given words by John Latouche (TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE) Yip Harburg (APRIL IN PARIS) and Ira Gershwin (I CAN'T GET STARTED).

This arrangement sounds like Nelson Riddle, but this lovely strings orchestration was by Billy May -- for Sinatra's 1958 classic COME FLY WITH ME album.

Below this 'most viewed' YouTube video, Tom Henneberry put it well (7 years ago):

 

" . . . Frank gently caresses a lyric as if in the act of lovemaking, and the sublime arrangements of Nelson Riddle [sic] complement his voice perfectly. If you're not deeply touched by AUTUMN IN NEW YORK, then you are not really alive."

 

P.S. Trivia: When he first visited New York Vladimir Dukelsky was befriended by George Gershwin who suggested he truncate and Americanize his name. As a classical composer born in Belarus (Russia) he retained his birth name for his classical compositions. For all his hits he was Vernon Duke, and officially changed his name when he became an American citizen.

 

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SHIRLEY HORN – Isn't it a Pity?

 

Happiest of girls, I'm sure to be

If only you will say to me

“Isn't it a pity?

We never, never met before!”

 

Nearing midnight and listening to Shirley Horn singing her retire-the-trophy recording of ISN'T IT A PITY ? -- on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio. Yes, once a year, just for me I like to think, Channel 70 plays this, my favorite rendition of one of my favorite lesser-known lyrics by Ira Gershwin;  I recognize at once the opening bars of a Johnny Mandel Grammy-winning arrangement for full orchestra – featuring Shirley herself on piano: I adore her witty allusion to the opening notes of the verse (“I hear a bird, a Londonderry bird”) from Burton Lane & Yip Harburg's better-known 'question song' from Finian's Rainbow (1947) – How Are Things In Glocca Morra?

Yes, Shirley makes this one all her own – a 'girl song' for the idle rich  -- with favorite lines like these:

 

Imagine all the lonely years you wasted

Fishing for salmon

Losing, at Backgammon

What joys untasted!

My nights were sour

Spent with Schopenhauer

 

Google the song title alone and you get the George Harrison composition (for a 1970 post Beatles album) and if you add the word “Gershwin” to the search – this one-line Wiki entry:

 

"Isn't It a Pity?" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, written for the unsuccessful 1933 musical Pardon My English. It was introduced by George Givot and Josephine Huston.[1]

[Notable recordings include:]

 

Shirley Horn - Here's to Life (1992)

Just one version at YouTube this night – with “comments turned off.”  Isn't it a pity?

 

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JOHN PIZZARELLI -- "Some unusual bossa novas"

 

Left my favorite jazz singer / guitar virtuoso a note at his Facebook page after his latest Thursday Night "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere" Tips Jar show:

----

One of the best shows yet – and for too many reasons to list! (Well, okay, just one:)

“We got some unusual bossa nova's tonight,” says John before playing an inspired trifecta that begins around the 39:54 mark. We're teased at the start with Antonio Carlos Jobim's own guitar chords, that opened Sinatra's definitive (1967) recording of 'Girl From Ipanema' – but then, we have to wait a minute; first up it's Stevie Wonder's 'You Are The Sunshine of My Life' – to my ears the best cover version since the original. (Bet if he were listening-in, this night, Mr. Wonder would agree!)

'Girl from Ipanema' segues perfectly into 'One Note Samba.' Each time John plays this one, I think the same thing: “You couldn't improve on that arrangement!” But then you go and do another “best yet” performance. With amazing chord sequences no other guitarist ever plays.

Stay tuned [ at around 44:30 ] for John's incredibly complex arrangement of 'Better Days Ahead' – the title track, from “the award-winning CD / album of Pat Matheny songs.” Surely one of the most difficult-to-play melodies that John has shared with viewers – yet he makes it look easy (almost).

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial

 

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA – I Couldn't Care Less

At this moment Siriusly Sinatra is playing an obscure but wonderful Sinatra recording -- a Sammy Cahn & Jimmy Van Heusen song, composed just for him, circa 1958 --  I COULDN'T CARE LESS. Channel 70 includes it on its playlist at least once a year.  [Exactly 20 years ago I singled this one out in an Amazon review written for “The Capitol Years” 3-CD box set:]

“This collection has some unique virtues including a previously-unreleased Cahn/Van Heusen gem, "I Couldn't Care Less" featuring what this reviewer considers Nelson Riddle's single most beautiful ballad arrangement.

Sinatra works his subtle magic with one of Sammy Cahn's very best lyrics ("Balmy breezes are blowing, each star in the sky is glowing, but I couldn't care less") while orchestra conjures up sounds of a summer night, with Riddle's strings ratcheting up through almost two octaves of semi-tones in the first eight bars of the instrumental bridge (release). Simply heavenly! And to think Sinatra and the musicians did this in one take.

 

By comparison the highly-touted version of "I've Got You Under My Skin" included here, took 22 takes before the singer was satisfied. The generally-factual liner notes still include a fair number of errors, including one I pointed out to Sinatra in my letter (December 1992): “The very first cut on Disc 1 by one of your favorite song-writers ('I've Got the World on a String') fails to correctly identify the composer, Harold Arlen.”

 

I singled out "I Couldn't Care Less" because no other reviewer at Amazon (or even those who wrote the liner notes) commented on its special virtues. This 'one-take wonder' was briefly available, 30 years earlier on a premium, mail-order-only album (Longines, 1973) but again, this is the only place you'll ever hear it.” And, 30 years later – on a night like tonight – on Siriusly Sinatra. Thanks to channel 70's programmer, 'Jersey Lou' Simon for keeping this one alive.

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

DOYLE DYKES -- Fallen Leaves

At the 2:55 mark, finger-style guitar virtuoso Doyle Dykes slows it right down – to play and sing a composition (words & tune) “by Grandpa Jones” (with whose band Doyle performed for years). Similar in its effect on our hearts to Hank Williams' HOUSE OF GOLD (“What good is gold and silver too – if your heart's not pure and true?”) but rendered as only Doyle can, this Grandpa Jones composition about “the only thing you'll take” (with you when you die) “is what you gave away” – this song, Hank Williams would agree, I believe, is better: conveying in so few simple words “what matters most in the end.” These, especially:

 

Some folks drift along through life, and never thrill ....

to the feeling that a good deed brings -- until ....

it's too late and they are ready to lie down,

there, beneath the leaves, that's scattered on the ground

When you leave this earth, for a better home, someday

the only thing you'll take, is what you gave away.

 

Love too the ending, a gorgeous chord sequence with tasteful harmonics – that alludes to the familiar 10-note refrain of the “1812 Overture” – the finale by Tchaikovsky which culminates each year's July 4th celebrations by The Boston Pops Orchestra in D.C. You know the one! Thanks for sharing such beauty (and truth) Mr. Dykes. Nobody does it better.

 

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA -- The Way You Look Tonight

From his album of "Academy Award Winners" (it picked up the "Best Original Song" Oscar in 1936) Siriusly Sinatra is playing my favorite up-tempo swing song of all time.  Google the words "Sinatra The Way You Look Tonight" and first offering is this one, where my namesake wrote a review "1 year ago":

If you woke me up in the middle of the night and said, 'Quick – what's your favorite Sinatra song?' -- the one that makes you glow with happiness, just thinking of it -- and 'makes you wanna get up and dance?' As Mom used to say, 'There ARE no coincidences.' I turn on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio streaming on the computer and hit the 'back one hour' button to see what I missed: Sure enough, there it is.

Once made into a Michelob beer commercial. Google for it and learn that tens of millions of kindred spirits feel the same way about this one: First offering this day at YouTube, one from Lider Records with what may be a record “views” total for a Sinatra video, 64,764,727 views – October 28, 2009. And, sure enough, the “comments” below include this! VELVEN73 (1 year ago)

Doctor: You have 3 minutes to live . . .

Me: Play this song.

 

 

And of course, the intuitive genius that is YouTube circa 2022 promptly sent this my way. Recorded at the cottage two summers ago, I'd not seen it before. It's now my "other favorite version." Love that at the close, to applause from the family, John says brightly: "Another of the songs of Sinatra. And for those of you who don't know who Frank Sinatra is, he is the OTHER great Italian singer from New Jersey."

 

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JAMES TAYLOR – Almost Like Being In Love

 

There's a smile on my face, for the whole human race

Why it's almost like being in love!

 

“On the night of the day that I was born,” as I like to joke – March 13, 1947 – the musical 'Brigadoon' opened on Broadway. First hit show for Alan Jay Lerner & 'Fritz' Loewe – the genius pair who nine years later would give us that “perfect musical” My Fair Lady. (Perfect because some of us can still sing every one of its songs, 66 years on.)

James Taylor (born March 12, 1948) loved this one enough to include, 70 years later, for his AMERICAN STANDARD album – whose 'two-guitar' arrangements by James Taylor and John Pizzarelli won the Grammy (2021). Coincidentally their version is playing right this minute on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio.

Google for it and this is the first 'most viewed' offering at YouTube. I see my namesake posted a review singling out the virtuoso sax soloist Lou Marini – a veteran member of James' great touring bands. A gem of a solo, you may agree.

 

 

 

Mr. Marini's Wikipedia entry reminds us just how much a part of the soundtrack of our lives he has been for almost half a century:

Louis William Marini Jr. (born May 13, 1945), known as "Blue Lou" Marini, is an American saxophonist, arranger, and composer. He is best known for his work in jazz, rock, blues, and soul music, as well as his association with The Blues Brothers.

From 1972-1974 he played in Blood, Sweat & Tears. From 1975–1983, he was a member of the Saturday Night Live house band. He was a member of The Blues Brothers band, appearing in The Blues Brothers movie and its sequel, Blues Brothers 2000, playing the part of "Blue Lou", a moniker given by Dan Aykroyd.

He played on Frank Zappa's 1977 album Zappa in New York, on Cindy Bullens' 1978 album Desire Wire, and has worked with Aerosmith, Deodato, Maureen McGovern, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Dionne Warwick, the Buddy Rich Big Band, and the Woody Herman Orchestra.

 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

BARBRA STREISAND -- A Time For Love

A time for Spring, a time for Fall, but best of all ….
A time for Love

Siriusly Sinatra is playing Barbra Streisand's winning version of one of my favorite melodies by Johnny Mandel – who arranged and conducted the orchestra for her recording on a 2009 album for which the Wiki entry is huge:

Love Is the Answer is the thirty-second studio album by American singer Barbra Streisand released on September 29, 2009. The album consists of jazz standards and was produced by Diana Krall and Tommy LiPuma. It also features Krall on piano and orchestral arrangements by Johnny Mandel, Anthony Wilson and Alan Broadbent. A deluxe edition contains a bonus disc featuring versions of the songs with just Streisand's vocals and Krall's quartet.[8]
 

The album received critical acclaim, and became Streisand's record-breaking ninth #1 album on the Billboard 200. This resulted in making Streisand the only artist to have a number one album in America in five different decades.[9] The album was certified Gold on November 13, by the RIAA, giving Streisand her 51st Gold record in the US.[10]
Conscious of the good news (and the unparalleled record achieved), Streisand immediately posted a "letter" on her official website:
 

"I was just told that Love Is the Answer came out at Number One, and I want to share that honor with all of you.. my fans, my friends.. who have made that possible. I want to share it as well with Diana Krall and Tommy LiPuma and everyone who worked on the album... with Jay Landers and especially my manager Marty Erlichman and my team at Columbia Records. You'd think that getting the news that you've been Number One in five consecutive decades would make you feel old, but this makes me feel young. Thank you all."

----

Google to be reminded that "A Time for Love" was written by Johnny Mandel and Paul Francis Webster for the film An American Dream, 1966.

Mr. Webster had three “Best Original Song” Oscar-winners, but not this one. It doesn't have a Wiki entry of its own but Wikipedia lists it as a title track for an album by the world's greatest living singer:

“A Time for Love is a 1966 compilation album by Tony Bennett made of unreleased material recorded between 1960 and 1966.[1] ”

Just for me, a gorgeous jazz guitar opening obligato, and solo on the musical bridge. The personnel listing on Barbra's album confirms that this is Anthony Wilson, Diana Krall's longest-serving guitarist.

Really, isn't this lovely?

An official version at YouTube with “comments turned off” (so we won't “Learn more” will we?)
 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JOHN PIZZARELLI -- You've Got to be Carefully Taught / Still Crazy After All These Years

"I'm going to end on that note, this week," says John after my favorite rendition of You've Got to Be Carefully Taught. Your having a brain freeze before recalling the lyric only makes you human. Otherwise I'd think you're perfect. Thanks for another wonderful show. My favorite. No really, your best yet!

P.S. Another special moment at around the 42:27 mark: Paul Simon's best ballad. Coincidentally, I was humming it this week, my favorite stanza -- and imagining John singing it, wondering what chords he'd use. What you do on the musical bridge is other worldly:

And I sit down by my window and I watch the cars,

I fear I'll do some damage one fine day,

but I would not be convicted by a jury of my peers,

still crazy after all these years.

 

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/474467281153890/

 

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

STEVE TYRELL – I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry

 

Somebody said, 'Just forget about her'

So I gave that treatment a try

Strangely enough, I got along without her

Then one day, she passed me right by …

Oh well, I guess I'll hang my tears out to dry

 

Siriusly Sinatra is playing Steve Tyrell's recent recapitulation of my all-time favorite Sinatra ballad, from my favorite of Frank's albums which introduced this song in 1958 (a very good year).

A lighter, more simple (synth?) strings arrangement – which alludes to Sinatra's lush orchestration by Nelson Riddle – notably the opening notes on guitar – by my favorite studio sessions virtuoso Bob Mann – Steve Tyrell's longtime arranger, who trades beautiful lines with a fine tenor sax soloist (wonder who?).

From Steve Tyrell's recent album, “It's Magic – Songs of Sammy Cahn.” Just one version available at Youtube this day with "comments turned off" (a pity).

 

Sure enough, over at The Sinatra Family Forum Facebook page (a private group for about a hundred of us alumni) for the site Nancy closed after a 24 year run, the youngest 'Wise Man' just replied:  Matt Murch

From the press release, Mark: "Complemented with longtime collaborators, Tyrell explores 13 of his favorite Cahn songs, illustrating their everlasting vitality. The musicians include guitarist Bob Mann, pianists Alan Broadbent and Quinn Johnson, bassists Ed Howard and David Finck, drummers Kevin Winard and Jim Sapporito, and feature soloist David Mann on saxophone, and Lew Soloff on trumpet. The arrangements are provided by a legendary group that include Alan Broadbendt, Don Sebesky, John Oddo, and Bob Mann, and is produced by Steve Tyrell and Jon Allen".

 

So, David Mann (perhaps related?)

 

Seeing Steve Tyrell at the Melody Tent on Cape Cod was one of my greatest concert experiences. It was a very intimate show, with great humor and wonderful stories, and I'll always remember the black and white striped socks he wore!

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

WALTER RODRIGUEZ JR -- They Can't Take That Away From Me

Google for "finger-style guitar / They Can't Take That Away From Me" (my favorite Gershwin tune) and the first thing offered to me was this version from "3 years ago" by a hero of mine -- Walter Rodriguez Jr.  I'd completely forgotten that on the day I discovered him at YouTube, I had written a 'review' explaining why Walter was such a hero to me:

"Wish one of my finger-style guitar heroes, the late George van Eps could see and hear Walter at work, on a song for which George 'owned' the defining finger-style rendition: THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME.

Mr. Van Eps invented the seven-string jazz guitar – his 1930's Epiphone and, three decades later,  his own signature model Gretsch. To deliver that deep bass, his instruments had an extra A-string – its thickness, he said, “almost like a pencil” -- able to deliver those lovely, rich bass notes that Walter (with state-of-the-art technology) plays with such seemingly effortless ease. 'Artless' perfection, I call it.

Van Eps, with his small jazz ensemble recordings – great musicians who recorded with Sinatra in the early 50s – delighted my baby boomer generation of finger-pickers, with amazing 'orchestral' arrangements, for what George termed “the piano in my lap.”

Until this night, Van Eps' rendition of this classic Gershwin tune, had been my favorite: For 50 years, I could hear in my mind's ear, George's gorgeous series of chord sequences I never thought could be surpassed. But Mr. Rodrigues does just that -- especially the ones with bass notes in counterpoint – 'pedal point' chord sequences as pianists say. In a word, Wow!

I can't imagine anything more beautiful than the sequences Walter plays at around 0:45 – or again, at 1:13. The reach of his long fingers, applied with a tasteful perfection! As artless as a vocal by Sinatra, or a lyric by Mercer. You watch his hands create a breathtaking beauty that looks so easy! You dare to think: 'I could do that.' Oh no you can't.

A technical question for Walter: You must occasionally 'squeak' your strings, but I never detect it. What's your secret? It makes me wonder if you use nothing but nylon strings.

To paraphrase Sinatra, introducing a dance sequence by Fred Astaire: "You can wait around forever, but you'll never see and hear" a more amazing solo guitar version of THEY CAN'T TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME.

[This, from your biggest fan in Winnipeg Canada, home from age 15 of Lenny Breau -- someone my hero Chet Atkins told me (the summer of 1971 in a radio interview) was the "greatest guitarist in the world."]

 

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

GORDON O'CONNELL -- Christmas Time is Here

Just when I was hoping to hear a new version of an old familiar Christmas tune -- 'guided' (no coinicidence) to this gem -- after Gordon O'Connell praised James Taylor's latest Facebook posting. Had to leave Gordon a note:

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

"Superb. In every way. The opening and closing 11-note sequences of Jingle Bells -- with every note a chord -- is so beautiful. The listener can tell that Christmas Time is Here is "always my favorite [and] still pulls at my heartstrings." The shading! Abetted by the switch to flat pick for some tasty improvisations (around the 1:48 mark). Lovely harmonics, at all the right moments. Yes, Gordon O'Connell is his own person (can't spot his 'influences'). A lot of great guitarists would appreciate his lovely approach to this beloved Christmas classic. Thanks for sharing."

 

 

Edited November 16, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JOHN PIZZARELLI – I Thought About You

 

Had to leave a Facebook note for my favorite jazz singer / guitarist about his latest 'live' version of I THOUGHT ABOUT YOU – far and away my favorite since Sinatra's definitive recording for a best-selling album back in 1958. It was a rare collaboration from two of my top song-writing heroes, Johnny Mercer and Jimmy Van Heusen. (They wrote only one other song together.)

Wish I could express in words all that was great about John Pizzarelli's spontaneous arrangement for his 5 O'Clock Somewhere 'live streamed' show. Such as …. the inspired, sudden stop (and silent measures) at the words: “With ev'ry stop that we made ….”

The gorgeous chord progressions – so fresh and so original! I don't know of any other jazz guitarist living or deceased who could have come up with those inspired chord sequences. Yet, you make it all look as 'easy as rolling off a log.' [Sounds like a good song title for a Grammy-winner! Oh no, wait.]

At around the 6:54 mark John credits this as a request from [names] "two of the best names so far."

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/1832170770456022

Indulge me please: I'd never heard this song before acquiring Sinatra's 'The Capitol Years' (3-CD) box set – exactly 30 years ago this month; prompting a letter of appreciation sent just before Christmas 92, which elicited an immediate reply (below).

I remember my wife greeting me at the door with the words, “You got a letter from Frank Sinatra” -- carefully opening it, reading, and re-reading, and thinking:

'Do you realize what you hold in your hands? From someone who used to get 3-thousand letters a week, who's taken perhaps 10 minutes of his life to respond. I had singled out this song as my favorite by Sinatra. [Still true to this day!]

-----

December 17, 1992

Dear Mr. Sinatra:

This letter may never reach you, but it needs to be written because of the way I'm feeling right now. About your music . . .

[closing with]

“On a personal note: my absolute favorite song of yours, for reasons I can't really explain, is 'I Thought About You.' Maybe it's the deceptively simple, elegant music by that genius who began life as 'Chester Babcock' (Van Heusen). Or the brilliant lyric by the century's greatest lyricist. Or the gem of an arrangement by my favorite American arranger (Riddle) with all those train sounds, that have you swinging down the track. All wrapped up in a song I never heard before – there's not many of those! Oh hell, let's face it – it's the singer! The song wouldn't be what it is, without you. Merry Christmas 1992. Or '93 if this reaches you before then!”

The note of reply from “Frank Sinatra, 5757 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 240 Los Angeles”

20 January 1993:

Dear Mark,

Thank you very much for your letter of December 17. I am flattered by your kind words and greatly appreciate your interest in my music … It was so nice of you to take the time to write!

Here's wishing you and your family a very healthy and happy New Year! Keep listening!

All the best, [bright blue fountain pen signature:]

Frank Sinatra

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

BILLY JOEL (a la Pizzarelli) -- The Longest Time

"You've earned a Top Fan badge as one of Billy Joel's most engaged followers .... " [ This after sharing with Mr. Joel the best-ever cover of his THE LONGEST TIME by JOHN PIZZARELLI ] James Taylor calls him a "one-in-a-million musician" -- his knowledge is that vast. [Compelled to leave him a note at Facebook after his live stream 'Five O'Clock Somewhere' show that included "a song I love" by Billy Joel.] “So beautiful! Setting it at that tempo!” says Jessica at the close of my other favorite moment (yours too?) of their latest, Thanksgiving show. At the 22:07 mark, a brilliant recapitulation of Billy Joel's 1984 doo-wop hit FOR THE LONGEST TIME. Which John takes at a tango-ish tempo. “I love that song,” he says after a beautiful closing coda (that alludes to some other song's beautiful refrain).

“This one's difficult to play,” John says – before delivering with deceptive ease, yet another gorgeous 'orchestral' arrangement which the composer himself (note below) would find delightful. (Wish Billy Joel were listening-in. Where's his Facebook page, I wonder?)

John sings all seven stanzas, the last one indicated by some lovely, open-string harmonics, is still my favorite. Yours too?

I don't care what consequence it brings
I have been a fool for lesser things
I want you so bad, I think you ought to know
that I intend to hold you for the longest time

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1832170770456022

Wikipedia reminds us ….

"The Longest Time" was presented in the style of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and featured Joel on lead vocals, all backing vocals, and percussive sounds such as finger snaps and hand claps.[2] The only other instruments in the song are a bass guitar and a snare drum being played with brushes.[citation needed] When the song is covered by vocal groups, the bass part is typically sung.[3] Phil Ramone and Joel had intended to feature a vocal group but Joel recorded each of the parts himself.[4]

Just posted by Billy on his Facebook page:  "Sing along with me on Smule -- The Longest Time."

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

'FOTI & MCCHESNEY PLAY THEIR FAVES' (Sirius radio ch. 70)

 

“Hi, everybody – this is vocalist Calabria Foti.”

“And I'm her husband, trombonist Bob McChesney.”

CALABRIA: And we're here together 'Playing Favorites' on Siriusly Sinatra, hearing some of our favorite Christmas songs, also celebrating our new Holiday album called 'Together For Christmas' where we are co-artists. We'll play a few songs from that album pretty soon. So let's get to it.

BOB: What are we starting with?

CALABRIA: Everybody knows this song: it gave us a feeling of Christmas as children – cuddled up by the fireplace, with maybe a cup of cocoa, the smells of something yummy coming from the kitchen and …. it is our favorite Christmas song!

BOB: And what a vocalist. This was written by Mel Torme and Bob Wells and this song epitomizes the feel of the holidays. Here is THE CHRISTMAS SONG by the wonderful Nat King Cole.

----

Happiness for me this day is learning that my “other favorite musical couple” have a new Christmas album! Calabria is quite simply my favorite living vocalist -- her hubby Bob, the greatest trombone virtuoso – classical or jazz – we've ever heard.

A promo for their just-released 'Holiday' album. Hope this link works. Ordered the CD knowing that I will love it to bits. (So help me I'll buy your copy from you if you don't agree!)

 

https://www.facebook.com/1212631844/videos/pcb.10230100102745904/1246631375916821

 

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

TAKE 6  -- O Come All Ye Faithful

Hard to believe that it's been over 30 years (1991) since TAKE 6 recorded their remarkable, a capella Christmas album -- whose tracks included my favorite such rendition of O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL. The same track featured by Calabria Foti & Bob McChesney on their Siriusly Sinatra Christmas special -- "held over for another week!" according to an announcement on Channel 70 this day. Yes, unaccompanied human voices in splendid harmony will never get old -- or better than this, you may agree.

 

 

Their Wikipedia entry reminds us that "Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama.[1] The group integrates jazz with spiritual and inspirational lyrics. Take 6 has received Grammy Awards as well as Dove Awards, a Soul Train Award and nominations for the NAACP Image Award. The band has worked with Ray Charles, Nnenna Freelon, Gordon Goodwin, Don Henley, Whitney Houston, Al Jarreau, Quincy Jones, k.d. lang, Queen Latifah, The Manhattan Transfer, Johnny Mathis, Brian McKnight, Luis Miguel, Marcus Miller, Joe Sample, Ben Tankard, Randy Travis, CeCe Winans, Stevie Wonder and Jacob Collier. All original members grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.[1]

[Mark Blackburn]

BARBRA STREISAND – 'Finian's Rainbow' / 'Brigadoon' ballads medley

 

Siriusly Sinatra programmer 'Jersey Lou' Simon 'reads' my musical mind and heart – so often, I take it as a normal part of life!  Case in point, right this minute. Goosebumps – at the 'coincidence' of awaking this day and singing the bridge to a song whose main chorus (and title) I couldn't immediately recall. These words:

 

There may be other days, as rich and rare

There may be other Springs, as full and fair

But they won't be the same – they'll come and go

For this, I know

 

[Which brought to mind the opening stanza – with the song title at the very end]

 

The mist of May is in the gloamin'

And all the clouds are holdin' still

So take my hand and let's go roamin'

Through the heather on the hill . . . 

 

Composed by Alan Jay Lerner and Fritz Loewe, for Brigadoon, HEATHER ON THE HILL is my 'other favorite ballad' from the year of my birth – along with HOW ARE THINGS IN GLOCCA MORRA? – from the other great Broadway show of 1947, 'Finian's Rainbow' by Burton Lane and Yip Harburg.

So, I turn on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio a moment ago, and what's playing? A medley of the two songs -- which I'd not heard before -- by Barbra Streisand. It turns out to be a 'live' recording (of studio depth and quality) and in the silence at songs' end, the large orchestra surprises the singer with an ovation. Something the band used to do spontaneously for Sinatra!

Just had to share the 'coincidence' or as Mom would always say at moments like these: “There ARE no coincidences.” You know what she meant.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2022 by Mark Blackburn