GREAT MELODY, GREAT LYRIC, GREAT RENDITION

[Mark Blackburn]

MY VALENTINE - an (almost) lost JOHNNY MANDEL arrangement

 

Two years after Paul McCartney's album of standards “Kisses on the Bottom” was released, someone shared a unique YouTube video as a “tribute to Johnny Mandel's great arrangement” of MY VALENTINE -- one of two original  compositions Paul included on the album. Within the first 15 seconds, those of us who called Johnny “the dean of living arrangers” (he left us two years ago at age 96] can spot chords and voicings that are "pure Johnny Mandel" – sounds that were uniquely his. [The poster “Aitzol” included a note:]

 

I made this video for Paul, the greatest musician, and My Valentine, one of his greatest songs. This version is not included on the original "Kisses On The Bottom" (2012) album, just on the iTunes edition "Kisses On The Bottom: Complete Kisses", and it sounds great!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAUXAhYOlm4

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

 

DOLLY & PAUL & RINGO – Let It Be

 

“When I find myself in times of trouble

Mother Mary comes to me

Singing words of wisdom . . . ”

 

I awoke today humming those words from the refrain of our family's favorite Beatles song – composed words & tune by Paul McCartney. And thinking of my Mom's favorite adage: “There ARE no coincidences!” (You know what she meant.)

 

Our family's favorite living singer/songwriter Dolly Parton just had the thrill (of a lifetime that's included 100 million records sold) -- her recording of LET IT BE with Paul “on piano”– and Ringo on drums. Shared with fans on her Facebook page this morning, followed minutes later by Paul's appreciation:

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXW-p4nKdDA

 

Does it get any better than singing “Let It Be” with Paul McCartney who wrote the song? Not only that, he played piano! Well, it did get even better when Ringo Starr joined in on drums, Peter Frampton on guitar and Mick Fleetwood playing percussion. I mean, seriously, how much better does it get? Thanks guys! Go give it a listen https://dolly.lnk.to/LetItBe

Edited August 18, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

DOYLE DYKES – Go Rita! (Forever)

 

“That's a song I wrote for Rita, my wife – a long time ago,” says Doyle Dykes after performing a lovely ballad (I could tell he had composed) with some heavenly chord progressions, and a blending of memorable, melodic simplicity (a tune that stays with you) and a complexity of technique that Doyle, as usual, manages to make look oh-so-easy. (Starting around the 6:00 minute mark.)

 

He plays into a mic his favorite acoustic instrument – an OLSON (James Taylor's weapon-of-choice) crafted from “Brazilian [Rosewood] back & sides, and Cedar top.”

 

The song's title, “GO RITA (Forever)” has long been a family catch phrase: “We're 50 years together this week,” said Doyle, adding at song's end: “I'm not all that smart but I think I was pretty smart to marry her.”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWYm_uF5K8k

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA – That's What God Looks Like To Me

 

A Sinatra song not played before 'right this minute' on Sirius XM Siriusly Sinatra:  THAT'S WHAT GOD LOOKS LIKE TO ME. Is it at YouTube? But of course.

 

… His heart like a mountain so vast and so strong
That's why all his children have room to belong
His smile is the morning we waken to see
But you, my son, you are what God really looks like to me…

 

Since Frank's first daughter Nancy terminated her online “Sinatra Family Forum” after its 24 year run, there is nothing left in the way of a Sinatra 'legacy' being shared online with millions of us kindred spirits – nothing apart from “Channel 70 Sirius/XM.” Thanks, Jersey Lou Simon, for including on your playlist this day!

 

----

 

About a hundred of us “Sinatra Family Forum Alumni” have kept in touch on Facebook (a private 'members' page) where I can still get a quick answer about “Who wrote that song?”

 

A gentle string arrangement by Gordon Jenkins (I think) that opens with solo electric piano accompaniment (emulating the chimes of an old-fashioned 'celeste'): Never the sort of song destined to get any airplay in this world! But for someone like me (76, with eight grand kids) it hits all the right notes with my heart.

 

[Favorite lines:]

 

“He looks like a baby, when Mother is near . . .

 

His smile is the morning we awaken to see

But you, my son – YOU are what God really looks like to me!”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYZBSk8J7Tc

Our foremost Sinatra expert "Bob in Boston" responded immediately:

Bob Freed

Group expert

Written in 1962 by Lois Irwin and Lan O’Kun.

Arranged by Don Costa, and recorded in 1979 for Trilogy.

This is the song Nancy would play on Frank Jr.’s birthday.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JIMMY BUFFETT – Pre-you

 

My wife was the big Jimmy Buffett fan in our family – acquiring all his albums and most every one of his books. This was of course "pre-CDs" and I had to purchase all those albums first as black vinyl LPs, then cassettes.

 

I remember I had two early favorite Jimmy Buffett songs – neither of them hits:  PRE – YOU and CARNIVAL WORLD (see below). Oh, yes - plus one song he co-wrote with James Taylor – SUGAR TRADE a New England perspective on the Caribbean slave trade and the role sugar played in that grim history.

 

----

 

We were the same age: Jimmy was three months older than me – born Christmas Day 1946. Early on, I detected Jimmy's love for the music of Gordon Lightfoot – “the reason I became a song writer” he said [to emulate Gordon]: “So if you think you hear a little (or a lot) of Lightfoot influence in my song-writing? You are correct!” – a Jimmy quote after Gordon died a year ago.

 

----

 

I remember sharing with James Taylor an opinion: I could imagine in my mind's ear, James doing “the best cover version of PRE YOU. A song Jimmy said “composed itself” after a beautiful couple – a Navy man and his wife – got on an elevator with Jimmy Buffett at a hotel near the San Diego Naval Air station. Just in time for Jimmy to hear the fellow say the words: “Oh her? She was so . . . pre-you!”

 

I see my namesake reviewed this one “3 years ago”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph1-eBG-Rp0

 

 

Favorite latter-day photo of Jimmy: with Paul and Burt who I said at Burt's recent passing, “may have sold hundreds of millions of records” but the way Jimmy is beaming at Paul's hand on his shoulder is “like he'd waited a lifetime for this moment.”

 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

FAMILY PIZZARELLI DOES JONI MITCHELL

James Taylor calls him a "one in a million" musician (they won a 2021 Grammy together for the '2-guitar' arrangements on James' AMERICAN STANDARD album; Just left him a note). Just imagining Joni Mitchell herself getting a heads-up to tune in this week in time to hear The Family Pizzarelli sing a beautifully-balanced 3-part harmony sequencing of two of Joni's best-loved tunes – 'HELP ME' (I Think I'm Falling) and 'BIG YELLOW TAXI' – show closers, for yet another terrific “It's 5 o'clock Somewhere” 'Tips Jar' live stream: In an hour's worth of highlights, this may have been 'saving the best till last.' At around the 56:11 mark: my favorite moments this week – yours too? 

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/285490461037560/

Edited October 8, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SO MANY STARS – Lanni Hall and Natalie Cole

 

“Such a lovely song, by Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66,” says Natalie Cole at the close of my favorite 'live' concert performance of SO MANY STARS – maybe my favorite song by “The Bergmans” whose lyric provided “a perfect match to a perfect tune” by “Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66” who made it famous half a century ago.

 

This week Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is featuring Lanni Hall and her husband Herb Alpert – their pleasurable “Playing Favorites” show, and a moment ago channel 71 was playing the original hit version of this song with Lanni's lovely lead vocal. [According to Wiki (note below) “American singer, composer, lyricist and author” Lanni turns 78 in November. ]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXZpFOq0JOc

 

If you can find the time, please enjoy both versions featuring as they do, hauntingly beautiful arrangements: Never sure which one I enjoy more!

 

----

 

Natalie's gem of a performance is from a live show with superb big band and strings orchestra (which featured Diana Krall as special guest) promoting Natalie's then- latest “Ask a Woman Who Knows” album – maybe my favorite of her jazz CDs.

 

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

 

WIKIPEDIA

About

Description

Lani Hall is an American singer, lyricist, and author. From 1966 to 1971 she performed as lead vocalist for Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66. In 1972 Hall released her first solo album, Sun Down Lady. Wikipedia

Born: November 6, 1945 (age 77 years), Chicago, Illinois, United States

Spouse: Herb Alpert (m. 1974)

Children: Aria Alpert

Also known as: Lani Hall Alpert

Instrument(s): Vocals; guitar; percussion

 

[Mark Blackburn]

KEITH JARRETT – Danny Boy

 

It's coming up to that time of year when my kid brother Ron died – in his sleep, at home, age 68. He loved DANNY BOY, with its poignant “when all the leaves are dying” lyric. Not long before his passing I shared with my brother this, “my favorite instrumental” version – Keith Jarrett in a live performance before an appreciative audience. You just know that Keith is the sort of musician who “never forgets the lyric.”

 

[Reminded again of something “Nelms123” wrote below this video:]

 

"It is really amazing... but I'm going to wager that you know the lyrics... those who do not, don't yet know the depth of this tune. I like to phrase everything to flow through the words of the song, and i think Keith is doing that here. Especially when it comes to the final verse, i like to play it as if the mother is singing to her son from her grave. Brilliant tune."

----

I think of something the great, English-born jazz pianist Marian McPartland said to her good friend Oscar Peterson – about witnessing a live performance by a great jazz saxophonist, who came down from the stage looking disconsolate. "What's wrong?" Marian asked him. The reply: "I forgot the words . . . "

 

The composer of that ancient Irish melody is unknown, but an Englishman (!) wrote those memorable words: “Fred Weatherly” who also wrote ROSES OF PICARDY (Find Sinatra's 'Great Songs From Great Britain' album with arranger Robert Farnon for the retire-the-trophy version of that one.)

 

[Love the back story on DANNY BOY's lyric shared at Wikipedia:]

 

'Initially written to a tune other than "Londonderry Air", English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly wrote the words to "Danny Boy" in Bath, Somerset in 1910.

 

After his Irish-born sister-in-law Margaret (known as Jess) in the United States sent him a copy of "Londonderry Air" in 1913, Weatherly modified the lyrics of "Danny Boy" to fit the rhyme and meter of "Londonderry Air".

 

The first recording was in 1915, so DANNY BOY is barely a century old. Poignant thought! And yes, "Don't forget the words" when you're playing the tune.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6tIzxmPCQE

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JOHN PIZZARELLI – Moon River, Here's That Rainy Day

 

I can't believe it! (If I didn't know better I'd say 'What a coincidence!'). My favorite living jazz singer / guitar virtuoso opened his latest “5 o'clock Somewhere” live-stream show with two songs I most wanted to hear him play:  Johnny Burke & Jimmy Van Heusen's 1953 masterpiece HERE'S THAT RAINY DAY (starting around the 2:07 mark) followed by one of Johnny Mercer & Hank Mancini's back-to-back Best Song Oscar-winners, MOON RIVER.

 

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/339036048795734/

 

Each time John Pizzarelli performs such classics, his on-the-spot arrangement is different – from beginning to end – but especially his brilliant endings; each time it seems he does it “better than ever before!” This “Moon River” (at around the 5:12 mark) is nothing like his Grammy-winning “arrangement for two guitars” with James Taylor (see below).

 

Yes, this take on “Rainy Day” (which includes tips of the hat to Kenny Rankin's definitive guitar arrangement) is especially moving; and on "Moon River" at the instrumental bridge John shares something really precious for us musicians that we would seldom get to see: his spontaneous searching for new chords – with the courage to find some fresh new sequences to share with us.

 

'Courage' is the word really; there will be inevitable mistakes which bring us a smile and chuckle as we're reminded that even this “one in a million musician” (as James Taylor calls him) must flub the occasional note!

 

Yes, merely the first two songs in an hour full of highlights. Which is to say deepest thanks Mr. Pizzarelli.

 

P.S. John said at the start of the show that he's here to play us some songs because, “It's been a terrible [week] “with lots of things going on …. just heartbreaking!” And perhaps only my imagining, but just 8 seconds into the show, he plays the first three or four notes of EXODUS (1958).

----

The 2021 Grammy winner for best "arrangement for two guitars" on James Taylor's AMERICAN STANDARD.  [I see my namesake has reviewed this one twice already at YouTube.]

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

CHRIS BOTTI - PAULA COLE – What'll I Do?

 

 

It's quarter to three, and there's no one in the place except you and me – and Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing my all-time favorite recording (most haunting arrangement) of WHAT'LL I DO. Coincidentally with my wife in hospital for tests I'd been singing this song composed (words & tune) by Irving Berlin . . . maybe my favorite of his songs, for words like these:

 

What'll I do

with just a photograph

to tell my troubles to?

When I'm alone, with

only dreams of you

that won't come true

What'll I do?

 

I used to know the name of the orchestrator who came up with this distinctive and haunting arrangement – and still need to hear just the first four notes to remember that “this is Chris Botti” and “yet another fine singer named 'Cole'" – Paula. Yes, best ever version of a Berlin song that turned 100 this year (2023).

 

Posted with an arresting slide show “11 years ago” – to 300K “views.” Thanks for sharing “KateCat1” [Celebrated elsewhere this 3 a.m. (search) “ Great Melody, Great Lyric, Great Rendition, Songwriting Workshop, Harmony Central ”

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJT1u_760vg

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JOHN PIZZARELLI – I Thought About You

 

Actually . . . my favorite moment in his latest “It's 5 o'clock Somewhere” live-stream 'tips jar' show was  just for me (I'd like to say):  My favorite Sinatra song. Period. I told him so in a two-page letter (Christmas '92) to which Mr. Sinatra responded immediately.

 

I'd closed with the words “My absolute favorite song of yours for reasons I can't really explain ….” (then proceeded to list a few of its virtues) from Johnny Mercer's words, my favorite Jimmy Van Heusen melody and Nelson Riddle's brilliant arrangement “with all those train sounds that have you swinging down the track …. ”

 

[Hope this photo 'takes' – thanks to a dear friend who took it for me in my kitchen today. It otherwise resides in an envelope in my sock drawer with letters from Robert Farnon and other heroes.]

 

 

The link to John Pizzarelli's latest show with I THOUGHT ABOUT YOU at around the 10:10 mark -- followed here by my “other favorite version.”

 

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/339036048795734

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6EZ-JIeTXc

 

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

MONICA MANCINI – Two For The Road

 

“What a lovely man Henry Mancini was,” said John Pizzarelli on his latest live stream “5 o'clock Somewhere” show after performing MOON RIVER: “As was Henry's wife Ginny – a lovely woman!” This by way of alerting anyone lucky enough to be "in Miami on the night of November 3" that John will be a guest performer with Hank's daughter Monica at the “Mancini 100^th Anniversary Concert.”

 

“Check local listings” quipped John. Google for it and first offering from “The Biscayne Times” – an informed article which interviewed Monica (whose own recording of her Dad and Mom's “favorite Mancini song” TWO FOR THE ROAD happens to be my own favorite). Monica recalled a a magic moment on a night 60 years ago ….

 

“It was 1962. My sister and brother and I were with our grandfather watching the Oscars. Dad picked up two Oscars that night. That was the moment we realized he was a big deal.

“I also realized It when he started doing more high-profile movies and we moved from San Fernando Valley to Beverly Hills,” Mancini added. “It was a whole different lifestyle. We referred to it as ‘moving over the hill’ … from the valley to the big time.”

Her father ultimately picked up four Academy Awards in his lifetime and 72 Grammy nominations, winning 20. This vast repertoire is the foundation of the Nov. 3 tribute concert.

Ginny Mancini, who was an accomplished big-band singer herself, died in 2021 at age 97.

“My mother was my biggest fan and would travel all over to hear me sing,” her daughter shared. “She loved supporting me and hearing Dad’s music … It’s going to be different without her presence. I’ll be singing for her as well. I’ll be thinking of her a lot.”

Growing up a Mancini had its perks. Ginny loved to entertain, so it was not uncommon to see the starlets of the day coming and going.

“My mother was quite the hostess,” shared Mancini. “There was James Cagney, Sean Connery, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant … lots of old Hollywood legends. Quincy Jones and my dad were besties, so he was over all the time. It was an active house and [my parents] loved filling it with love and warmth.”

----

It’s this level of warmth and nostalgia that is likely to fill the concert hall. As of this writing, Mancini, her award-winning music producer husband, Greg Field, and arranger Shelly Berg were still hammering out the concert’s song list, but guest stars include John Pizzarelli on guitar . . .

 

The theme song from the 1967 film “Two for the Road” starring Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney is on the song list.

“That was his favorite and it became my parents’ song … I’ll definitely be performing that,” said Mancini.

 

Just one version of Monica's recording at YouTube posted “8 years ago” to 50K 'views' – alas with “comments turned off” -- so we won't “learn more” will we?

 

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

 

[Mark Blackburn]

 

ANA CAROLINA / TONY BENNETT -- The Very Thought of You

 

Tony Bennett's Facebook page is alive and well and just shared this:

On this day in 2012, Tony Bennett graced us with "Viva Duets", showcasing duets with many talented Latin American musicians .... Which track from "Viva Duets" tops your list?

[ I answered: ]

This one -- which, coincidentally (or not) Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio played today (10/25/2023). ANA CAROLINA -- a wonderful singer --  a contralto, I believe, like Sarah Vaughn.  I see my namesake reviewed this one at YouTube "four years ago." [I concur with his every word:]

"Frank's 1962 version -- for Great Songs From Great Britain -- remains my all-time favorite. But this is my new favorite RECENT rendition!

"I was heading back to bed (up early, couldn't sleep, wouldn't sleep) and made the mistake of 'just checking' to see what's up next in the random-shuffle-that-is-YouTube. Sure enough -- my new favorite most recent incarnation of my favorite song by English band leader Ray Noble. Tony and yet another musical gift from Brazil. (One of the comments below kindly provided her name)

"Ana Carolina! Linda, e cantando em português.. adorei!"

(I think I get that last word and totally agree!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlrZ9D2V08Q

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

RORY HOFFMAN -- Willie Nelson's NIGHT LIFE

My musical sister just shared this with me (a lesser quality Facebook messenger version with no information apart from the identifier "Rory Hoffman"). Having watched this Hi-Def rendition last week thanks to Joscho's YouTube site, I responded with thanks, a moment ago:

 

"Bracketed by two Americans, Rory Hoffman and English-born Nashville-based Richard Smith is Joscho Stephan -- my favorite, flat-pick (plectrum style) German jazz guitarist. You won't believe this but I watched this very video a week ago, sent my way by Mr. Stephan. The song was composed (words & tune) by Willie Nelson in 1965. Willie's is still the definitive version but this one's my new 'other favorite' of NIGHT LIFE. You're not a Willie fan, I know, but I love him so much, not least for this great song." Pick it up at the 35:20 mark.

 

And stay tuned for Willie Nelson's new favorite version of TIGER RAG -- their bring-down-the-house show closer.

 

P.S. Did you pick up on Rory's first (opening) six notes?  From the early Beatles favorite TILL THERE WAS YOU from The Music Man.

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

BOB MCCHESNEY – Variations on the Carnival of Venice

 

My all-time favorite jazz trombonist (not merely the best among the living) is actually more widely known for his takes on classical music – virtuoso pieces like this one nearing three million views at YouTube where it is captioned:

 

“Bob McChesney plays his version of the cornet piece 'Variations on The Carnival of Venice' on slide trombone with pianist Alan Steinberger.”

 

I think the 19^th century composer, according to Wiki "the first famed virtuoso of the cornet Jean-Baptiste Arban" would have been as amazed as the rest of us, hearing Mr. McChesney play it perfectly and with such apparent ease .... on slide trombone. [ ! ]

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Once a year the genius of YouTube sends this favorite my way. It's long (nine minutes) and I can't read sheet music, but laugh out loud to see all the notes Bob is playing with such shading and articulation – plus that lovely tone he achieves, even on the most difficult passages. Beginning around the 3:10 mark and again at around the 4:30 – and if you can only spare just a couple of minutes, please pick it up at 7:15 – Bob reserving the best – most difficult -- until last!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV_uKxGPF_I&t=1s

 

 

[Stay tuned at song's end:]

The closing music is a trombone ensemble consisting entirely of Bob alone, on all eight tracks, and credited as . . . “An excerpt from the Traditional Hymn 'Jesus, Jesus, Lay Down Your Head' – arranged for six tenor trombones and two bass trombones. All trombones performed by Bob McChesney.”

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

JOHN PIZZARELLI / DIANA KRALL – Besame Mucho

“Coming, Mother!” says John (to Jessica at the foot of the stairs) after another best-ever (most frenetic) rendition of “our wedding song”: The Gershwins' I GOT RHYTHM. Around the 41:10 mark. Love that closing strum – recalling Pete Townshend's rhythmic refrain (on a Gibson J-200) from THE WHO's 'Pinball Wizard.' Yes this Gershwin gem just seems to get better – more amazing – each time you play it.

Not saying you 'saved the best till last' – as I'm crazy about your take on 'Besame Mucho' (at the 34:57 mark). Yours is my “new favorite version” apart from Diana Krall's (all-in-Spanish) recording with Claus Ogerman. But like Nat Cole and his trio, you included some of the English lyric by “Sunny Skylar” (note below).

https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/729212752381431/

Wikipedia notes:

"Bésame Mucho" (Spanish: [ˈbesame ˈmutʃo]; "Kiss me a lot") is a bolero song written in 1932 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez.[2] It is one of the most popular songs of the 20th century and one of the most important songs in the history of Latin music. It was recognized in 1999 as the most recorded and covered song in Spanish of all time.[3][4] ... English lyrics to it were written by Sunny Skylar.

Sunny Skylar (October 11, 1913 – February 2, 2009) was an American composer, singer, lyricist, and music publisher.[1][2] He was born Selig Sidney Shaftel in Brooklyn, New York, one of four children, to Sarah and Jacob Shaftel (or Schaftel), Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father sold knit goods. In the 1940s, he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was a headliner at hotels such as The Flamingo ….
He died in Las Vegas on February 2, 2009 and was buried in Davis Memorial Park, Las Vegas. His grave marker shows his name as Sunny Skylar."

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It's a girl song. And no one ever sang it better than Canada's other greatest gift to jazz. I love the uplifting harmonies and counter melodies as Claus Ogerman's stunning arrangement nears its conclusion.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uEl5Z5DEDw

Edited October 31, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA – It Might As Well be Spring (1961)

 

I think I wrote something here (a thousand postings ago?) about “my favorite song by my all-time favorite composer” – Richard Rodgers' (only Oscar-winner) IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING. Sinatra recorded it twice. For a 1964 black vinyl LP titled “Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses and other Academy Award winners” – arranged by Nelson Riddle – as well as in 1961 arranged for “Sinatra & Strings” by Don Costa. I think Nelson Riddle would have been the first to admit that Don Costa retired-the-trophy for this particular orchestration.

 

All by way of saying – I just opened a new (2021) book titled “The Jazz Standards” (2^nd edition, Oxford University Press) by “Ted Gioia” – who analyzed this song in a way I really admire. He writes (on page 1)

 

“When I was learning how to play jazz during my teenage years, I kept encountering songs that the older musicians expected me to know …. about 200 or 300 of these compositions [and] a jazz performer needed to learn these songs the same way a classical musician studied the works of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart . . . ”

 

Of course I went straight for his assessment of IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING – a note perfect encapsulation of all the things I love about my favorite Rodgers & Hammerstein tune. That, plus a delightful anecdote I'd not heard before.

 

Tucked between two other “It” songs (It Had to Be You by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn, and Rodgers & Hart's It Never Entered My Mind) Mr. Gioia writes,

 

 

“ The 1945 film State Fair, which introduced this popular standard, was the only Rodgers & Hammerstein project that started out as a Hollywood movie [and] they cut a deal with 20^th Century Fox: the composers set one unusual condition: they insisted on writing the songs at their homes back East rather than under the watchful eyes of the West Coast movie moguls.

 

Rodgers had written the song as a buoyant medium-tempo number. But when the studio's musical director decided to feature it as a slow ballad, the composer was merely notified in a long-distance phone call. At such far remove from the proceedings, Rodgers was unable to impose his will. [But he was] as enthusiastic as the preview audience when he finally saw it on screen.”

 

Ted Gioia adds his assessment of the greatness of my favorite melodist (someone Bobby Short called “a fountain of melodic invention”). Mr. Gioia writes that “no composer ever wrote better melodies than Richard Rodgers, not even Schubert or Puccini in my opinion. And this one is one of his most ambitious. Its inherent virtues stand out even without lyrics, but the congruence with Hammerstein's words is almost uncanny.

 

Especially evident in the glorious hook, the dramatic phrase in bars 5 – 6 [which] ranks among the most inspired moments in American popular song … ”

 

Mr. Gioia's list of “Recommended Versions” begins with “Sarah Vaughan, New York, May 18, 1950” but doesn't include Sinatra's 1961 rendition. This one – most viewed version with a nice slide show at YouTube (where I see my namesake reviewed it “4 years ago”).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUY3PzGxpiA

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

LENNY BREAU – Days of Wine and Roses

 

So. I'd just opened my new (2021) book titled “The Jazz Standards” (2^nd edition, Oxford University Press) by “Ted Gioia” – and since yesterday (11/3/2023) marked the 100^th anniversary of Henry Mancini's birth, my eyes naturally fell on the title DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (one of two, back-to-back 'Best Original Song' Oscar-winners Hank wrote with the great Johnny Mercer). Concerning which Mr. Gioia writes:

 

“Days of Wine and Roses proved especially popular among jazz guitarists with Joe Pass, Barney Kessel and Laurindo Almeida recording early cover versions. Yet Wes Montgomery's light swinging performance on 'Boss Guitar' (1963) probably did more [to make it] a popular jazz standard. Before that year was over, Dizzie Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Milt Jackson, Art Farmer and Bill Evans had each recorded it.

“One of the most moving versions you will hear of this song comes from guitarist Lenny Breau, who spent much of his all-too-brief and troubled life battling addiction before his death at age 43. He is not a household name even in jazz circles, but retains a cult following among guitarists who prize his harmonic inventiveness and poetic conception of the guitar.

“His ten-minute version of 'Days of Wine and Roses' released posthumously on the 'Cabin Fever' recording, is one of his finest performances and perfectly aligned with the spirit of Mancini's song – which came, it may be worth noting, from a film that dealt bravely with the subject of addiction and the way it destroys lives. Bill Evans in the final days before his drug-accelerated demise at age 51, also featured this song at almost every performance.”

 

Well done, Mr. Gioia!

 

Permit an aside: The summer of 1971, when he appeared outdoors at our glorified state fair in Ottawa Canada, Chet Atkins told me that “Lenny Breau is the greatest guitarist in the world.”

Lenny told me the same thing about our mutual hero, asking me in that little boy voice of his, “Whaddya think of Chet?” He stared at me intently and I realized I'd be judged by my answer: “I have everything Chet Atkins ever recorded …. but I have to say your technique is even more ….”

Lenny cut me short, but provided me with a life-long quotable quote (shared with the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society in Nashville) :

“Oh, no, no, no … there is only one Chet.”

I confess I'd forgotten that Lenny Breau recorded solo “one of the most moving versions you will hear of this song,” as Ted Gioia says. If you only have time to hear a little of this, pick it up around the 3:08 mark – final chorus improvisations with harmonic techniques Lenny invented.

Thanks ZiziKarma for sharing. Celebrated this day [search] “Great Melody, Great Lyric, Great Rendition, Songwriting Workshop, Harmony Central ”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBfqUMp6O3Y

 

 

 

 

[Mark Blackburn]

WALTER RODRIGUES JR -- Besame Mucho

I'd just celebrated on his Facebook page (his one-hour live stream "5 o'clock Somewhere" show) John Pizzarelli's performance ("my favorite") of BESAME MUCHO. The genius that is YouTube just sent this my way; as if to say, "So, what about Walter Rodrigues' solo version? Is this your 'new favorite'?" Yes indeed! The chord progressions (it's amazing how Walter doesn't repeat himself) -- the rich content of his solo, combine with the most wonderful tone, including bass notes that rival Mr. Pizzarelli's seven-string instruments (but achieved by an electronic miracle I wish I owned!).

As a life-long fan of Chet Atkins -- whose technical approach to guitar -- both the content of his chordal solos and superlative tone, have seldom been approached -- I just had to say Walter Rodrigues Jr. is his most worthy successor.

"michaelw4997" speaks for thousands of us (below) when he says, "You have become my favorite all around guitar player. For years, I concentrated on the good improvisers, which you are one of, but there's just something so sweet, satisfying and enjoyable about your skills. "

 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

TOMMY EMMANUEL – 'The Tall Fiddler' (+ the good & bad of Lenny Breau)

 

Eric Clapton once declared him “the best guitarist I have ever seen.” Australian-born (now an American citizen) Tommy Emmanuel:  his peers would agree, Tommy is the greatest showman ever to play the instrument.

I like to think I had something to do with getting Tommy to visit “the world's coldest major city” – twice in as many years – after politely pestering him (for years) to please “include among your 300 dates a year, Winnipeg Canada.”

 

The day came. I was notified to “be there an hour early” to pick up a couple of tickets for the pre-show 'meet-and-greet.' A dozen of us guitarists present, in the front row of the theater, including my grandson Thomas (a terrific guitarist who could replicate snippets of Tommy's songs like 'Borsolino').

 

I was the last to make a request: “Tall Fiddler, please!” Tommy just grinned – one of those 'You-like-the-hard-ones' wry smiles – and I added, as he left us to take the stage: “You know, you radiate goodness.” (The simple truth, as anyone who's met him can attest.)

 

And within ten minutes, I was watching THIS – played just as fast, just as perfectly.

 

Although he is among the very best 'finger-style' pickers EVER (some say the best) Tommy performs this 'fiddle tune' with a flat pick: the shading, at speed, is breathtaking, you may agree. Once or twice a year I put this on, thinking, “Will this still give me goosebumps?” You too?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW9rmaGaaG4

 

P.S. Among his virtues: a brilliant analytical mind and the ability to express 'Truths' in charming and disarming ways. Case in point: the best Q&A appreciation of the good and bad of Canada's Lenny Breau – who grew up here in Winnipeg from age 15. By which time Lenny was able to replicate perfectly by ear, everything Chet Atkins had recorded. I've waited a lifetime to hear someone appreciate Lenny in this way – as only Tommy could.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaqWEfwYJhs&t=694s

 

 

Edited November 8, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

NATALIE COLE – Something's Gotta Give

 

If I didn't know better I'd say 'What a coincidence!' Last night, driving home in a snowstorm from visiting my wife in hospital, I'd been racking my brain to remember “What's the other great hit song for which Johnny Mercer wrote the tune – a great melody and not just the lyrics. There's DREAM …. and …. what's the other one?”

I turn on Siriusly Sinatra just now and they're playing Natalie Cole's brilliant, jazzy rendition of SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE. [ ! ]

I used to know who orchestrated this gem of an arrangement. I do know that that on this same album Nan Schwartz won a Grammy for what Natalie herself called "your divine arrangement" of HERE'S THAT RAINY DAY.  Another "all time favorite." 

Yes, America's greatest (non-theatrical) lyricist died almost half a century before Natalie recorded this.  A great jazz singer himself, Johnny Mercer would have loved this.

How I miss Natalie Cole, awaiting with anticipation, her 'next album of standards.' As my oldest musical grandson said, when he was little (and Chet Atkins has just died) : “We'll always have their music.”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK8Jvk2RlLA

 

P.S.  Just before Natalie, Siriusly Sinatra played my “favorite living singer” Calabria Foti and her version – my absolute favorite, of “Anything Goes” – from her recent all- Cole Porter album “In The Still Of The Night” featuring her hubby – slide trombone virtuoso Bob McChesney. Is it at YouTube? Alas, no. I say again: If you buy that album and don't just love it, I promise to buy your copy!

Edited November 8, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

NATALIE -- Here's That Rainy Day

Nan Schwartz won a Grammy for what Natalie herself called "your divine arrangement" of HERE'S THAT RAINY DAY. Most beautiful video presentation at YouTube? This one.  Still gives me goosebumps. You too?

Edited November 8, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

 

JENNIFER WARNES -- Big Noise, New York

 

Watching a VHS video recording – shared on Facebook by musician "Tom Brechtlein" – from long ago 1990, “June 18 at New York's 'The Bottom Line'.” As I watch, I'm thinking: 'What else was happening around-and-about New York in those days?' And then it came to me: “Big Noise.”

It was 1992 and I had a then- “new favorite (sessions) guitarist” named “Robben Ford.” The content of his solos, combined with such a perfect blues sound! I was blown away. I assumed in my innocence a Fender 'Strat' or 'Tele' was his weapon-of-choice; this, on his album with Jennifer Warnes, whose best track (Grammy nominated?) was “Big Noise, New York” (see below).

So here I am, 30 years on, watching this blues genius “I've not seen before” …. and thinking: 'Stevie Ray Vaughan would have loved this guy's playing – and singing!' Then I read the not-so-fine print: “Robben Ford” [ ! ] Deepest thanks to Tom Brechtlein for sharing!

https://www.facebook.com/tom.brechtlein/videos/7071475609558569

From Jennifer's 1992 CD “The Hunter” – with "backing vocals by Donald Fagen" who co-wrote the song. Oh yes, and listen to that guitarist. Goosebumps.

“I only hear the loudest voices, with something new to sell

But it was all big talk, big name, big noise … New York!”

 

 -- the

Edited November 9, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

SINATRA – All My Tomorrows

 

Today I may not have a thing at all

except for just a dream or two

But I've got lots of plans for tomorrow

and all my tomorrows – belong to you!

 

I'd just been thinking of that Sinatra song – composed by his 'personal song-writing team' of Sammy Cahn (w) and Jimmy Van Heusen (m) for a movie he starred-in with Edward G. Robinson. Thinking how my favorite living singer used it as her show closer on her second of three “Playing Favorites” programs. Calabria Foti selected the original late 50s recording arranged by Nelson Riddle, not Frank's later recording whose majestic arrangement by Don Costa is my all-time favorite of his.

 

So what's playing right this minute on Siriusly Sinatra?

 

“This is Jack Jones, and you are listening to Playing Favorites, and that was 'All My Tomorrows' written by Sammy Cahn for Frank Sinatra, for the movie A Hole in the Head starring Frank Sinatra and Edward G. Robinson.”

 

“I've been a Sinatra fan since I was in high school. And one day at lunch time I ran into my friend Nancy Sinatra. She said 'Hey, Jonesie! Why don't you come down to the auditorium this afternoon. I have a surprise for you.”

 

“So everyone went down there and the curtain opened and there was her father. He'd come to give us a little present: he did his show. And that was the moment I decided I wanted to become a singer!”

 

Okay I Googled for it and the first offering is the more recent recording arranged by Don Costa. I think maybe his best-ever orchestration. Listen to the opening and closing orchestral flourishes and see if you agree. Love the first two comments below the video.

Rey Thomas (4 months ago)

It’s almost impossible…impossible…to pick your favorite Sinatra song. It just can’t be done. Impossible. That being said, this song, without question, is my FAVORITE Sinatra song. Period.

 

Laurie Weinroth (2 months ago)

Gorgeous, depicts life as realistically as possible. I heard Frank in 1973 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto with my late mother. I was 18 and I felt privileged to hear such a master. They lowered a mike from the ceiling and he was singing beautifully in a boxing ring. Simply superb.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-5qMan4cj4

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

Edited November 9, 2023 by Mark Blackburn

[Mark Blackburn]

Django Reinhardt's SEUL CE SOIR – Joscho Stephan Quartet

 

No guitarist plays Django -inspired 'licks' like my favorite flat pick (plectrum) German jazz virtuoso – usually on the same brand of guitar Django treasured for its unique sound (a modern edition Maccaferri).

 

Coincidentally, I'd just been praising a young jazz guitarist in Spain for a beautiful solo on his red Gibson ES-335 -- “my favorite.” Lo and behold – a sort of 355 replica (or hybrid) that Joscho employs to perfection. All this, with a ballad by Django I'd not heard before! How the 'Gypsy Jazz Giant' would have loved this!

 

Permit an aside: My life-long finger-style hero Chet Atkins told me in a 1971 radio interview that “Django's was the only autograph” Chet ever sought from a musical hero. On his final visit to America (NYC) before his untimely death in 1953. This after we'd spent 20 minutes together alone and Chet noted that I'd “not asked for an autograph.” He could tell I didn't need his signature on paper, to treasure the memory for a lifetime.

 

 

  

Edited November 10, 2023 by Mark Blackburn