Mark Blackburn

PERRY COMO – Not While I'm Around Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio (now channel 70) just played “Perry Como – Not While I'm Around” – the tender ballad from Stephen Sondheim's macabre musical Sweeney Todd (a show about a barber who slits the throats of his customers and consumes their flesh in 'meat pies') Not everyone's cup of tea. Certainly not Perry Como's (though a professional barber himself in his teenage years!). Perry loved this song enough to record it in early 1980, a few months after Sweeney Todd had opened on Broadway. Just had to re-visit Como's extensive Wikipedia entry (one of the largest for any popular singer with a couple of hundred footnotes). There's an interesting addition -- excerpts from liner notes written for a Como album by a favorite musical historian – the late Canadian-born lyricist Gene (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars) Lees: "There was another side to Perry Como that Gene Lees described in his sleeve note to Como's 1968 album Look To Your Heart:[105] ---- I remember my musical father (a Church of England / Anglican / agnostic) listening with enjoyment to Perry Como's once-a-year Christmas performance of “Ave Maria” – though, like most of us, Dad never knew the English words for the 'Hail Mary'. The Wiki notes say Perry Como never performed the hymn at public concerts (“it's not the proper place for it”) despite the fact it was perennially “the most requested song” on his long-running TV show. Near the end of his Wiki entry on notes about his Catholic faith there is this: Filming for the Kraft Music Hall Christmas show that was aired on December 17, 1964 began at the Vatican November 7. By special permission of Pope Paul VI, Como and his crew were able to shoot segments in the Vatican gardens and other areas where cameras had never been permitted previously.[172][173] The show featured the first television appearance of the Sistine Chapel Choir, and also the first time a non-choir member (Como) sang with them.[173][174] The choir performed a Christmas hymn in Latin written by their director, Domenico Bartolucci, called "Christ Is Born", as part of their presentation. Como asked his associate, Ray Charles [of "Ray Charles Singers" fame] to write English lyrics for the song, using it many times on both television shows and his Christmas albums.[173][175] The Carpenters also recorded the song on their first Christmas album, Christmas Portrait.[173] It was the only track on The Carpenters Christmas album (today nearing “double platinum” sales of 1.98 million) that I knew nothing about. Last year, May of 2020, someone uploaded to YouTube this 'remastered' version from The Carpenters Christmas special.

TONY BENNETT – My Heart Stood Still Hit the “back 1 hr” button on Siriusly Sinatra – and it's a favorite recording of Tony Bennett's from 45 years ago – my “other favorite version” of my favorite Rodgers & Hart song MY HEART STOOD STILL. [The definitive, full blown symphonic rendition, with a 70 piece orchestra is still my favorite track, from my favorite album, by Frank -- “The Concert Sinatra”] But here, for Tony, the 'orchestra' is led by cornet great Ruby Braff and a guitar hero of mine -- George Barnes who rivaled Les Paul for brilliant multi-tracking recordings of Gibson electric guitars. Here, I remember, George accompanied Tony on his then new signature model “Guild.” [Footnote: George Barnes died one year after this recording, in September of 1977, age 56. Ruby Braff left us, at age 75, in February 2003.] No specifics at Wikipedia, but one website “Discogs” has complete details on this album titled “Tony Bennett Sings Rodgers & Hart” – plus an informed comment from a kindred spirit: gboe Jul 14, 2014 Far less known and acknowledged than the Tony Bennett & Bill Evans album recorded the year before this, but personally I favor this a lot more. The intimacy in this trio setting - bass, guitar and Ruby Braff here and there on trumpet is much more evident than the Evans sessions. This one has warmth, swing, and joy while the Evans session IMO never made that happen between the Las Vegas entertainer and the sophisticated jazz virtuoso. ---- An official version (from The Complete Improv Recordings) was posted to YouTube by Tony Bennett three years ago, alas “comments turned off” which may explain the one 'thumbs up' (I think it's mine!) and 47 “views. It deserves more, you may agree. The goose bump inducing 'definitive' recording -- for what Sinatra said was his favorite Reprise album recorded on a huge MGM sound stage (using 35 mm film/tape) in long ago 1963. The official version posted to YouTube in 2018 includes the then- recently re-mastered CD with a blurry cover note about it being 73 musicians recorded on “8 tracks on a 21 position mixer on the Goldwyn sound stage in Hollywood.” P.S. Still my favorite Sinatra recording. Period. Delighted too, that my favorite singer/songwriter/guitarist James Taylor included My Heart Stood Still on his Grammy-winning AMERICAN STANDARD (2020) album. Posted with an informed note by James Taylor "1 year ago" that the song "“My Heart Stood Still” was written for the revue One Dam Thing After Another which opened at the London Pavilion on May 19, 1927. " This track was recorded in Nashville with my 'other favorite' living fiddler Stuart Duncan and Dobro great Jerry Douglas. Alison Krauss' older brother "Viktor" on acoustic bass.

BARBARA COOK & JAMES TAYLOR -- Not While I'm Around (live at Carnegie Hall) I just posted elsewhere this day an appreciation of Barbara Cook whose lovely voice left us four summers ago. I'd been guided to a video of her one-woman show -- live excerpts -- celebrating Stephen Sondheim "his songs and those Stephen wished that he had written." A fellow alumnus at the now defunct Sinatra Family Forum website -- a fellow James Taylor fan "Melanie G-H" -- just responded with a "don't forget this one" message.

NATALIE COLE – He Was Too Good To Me It's one of those days when every single song being played on Siriusly Sinatra is a personal favorite! To take just one (from the past hour) -- a track I singled out for special mention in an Amazon review (2005) for Natalie Cole's STARDUST album (maybe my favorite) – Rodgers & Hart's 'He Was Too Good To Me.' An album that went “platinum” (certified sales of 1 million) in the U.S. alone. Today it has a lengthy Wikipedia entry (below). Concerning “Track 8” arranged by Rob Mounsey “trumpet solo by Wynton Marsalis” I said in my Amazon review that year [5-stars and titled “Story telling never got better!”] If you love great old songs (including obscure, should-have-been-standards-that-somehow-got-overlooked) then you will love this album -- which is "five star" in every respect. And if great albums, deserve great liner notes, then Nat King Cole's best friend Dick La Palm (who Natalie recalls "has known me since I was born") deserves to have won the "Grammy," (if there were such a category, when this album was released). ---- "Tell me a story" Dick La Palm quotes Lester Young as saying --- by way of advice to up-and-coming jazz musicians: Meaning, `Give me more than just the notes.' If the sax giant were still around today to hear Natalie Cole's delivery of Rodgers & Hart's "He Was Too Good to Me" (my favorite here) Lester would surely bestow his benediction on Natalie Cole as a great story teller in song. ---- Just this week, Natalie told fans (at a forum devoted to her music) that "My (only) instrument is my voice." Well, her instrument is the best in the business - according to the "Who's Who" of musicians, arrangers and producers involved in this classic album. Truly, Natalie Cole is a `musician's musician' whose greatest admirers include some jazz giants -- who went out of their way to make this album the best of its kind (rivaled in greatness only by Natalie's multi-platinum "Unforgettable" which preceded this one, and the subsequent "Ask a Woman Who Knows"). One of the album's (three) co-producers Phil Ramone, noted that Natalie was her own executive producer and took complete charge of the album's `concept.' She consulted with her producers - (the others were David Foster and George Duke) - but then, Ramone says, "She challenged everything I believe in musically." Even more significantly, Ramone noted: "Rarely (do) the musicians hang around long after the session is over." (They always did for Sinatra and they did it here for Natalie.) Ramone said, the all-star cast of musical greats "thanked (me) profusely for being called to (this) date. Clearly I was not the only one moved by her." Featured soloists included giants of the trumpet, harmonica, piano, guitar and saxophone --- Wynton Marsalis, Toots Thielemans, Bob James, Lee Ritenour and Michael Brecker. The stellar cast of (nine) arrangers was headed by the current dean of orchestrators, Johnny Mandel (who arranged an updated "Silent Night" on Frank Sinatra's 2004 Christmas Collection). There is even a snippet of Nat Cole's original Hammond organ solo (from 1961) on Natalie's powerhouse update of Irving Berlin's "Let's Face the Music and Dance." There are too many highlights to list here - but Natalie herself singled out one or two of the solos in her full page of (small print) `Thank You's.' In praising the greatest harmonica player who ever lived, Toots Thielemans, Natalie said -- of his breathtakingly beautiful contribution to the Victor Young classic "Love Letters": "You have brought just the right touch of grace and style to this music. I am honored." And of trumpet giant Wynton Marsalis' "dazzling" solos in the middle and at the end of "He Was Too Good to Me" Natalie said simply, "It brings me to my knees." ---- Her great father's best friend deserves the last word, when he observes that "Songs of love - requited or unrequited -- don't come any better than these!" "Each deals with passion deftly; lightly enough to fit neatly into thirty-two bars; heavily enough to elicit sighs and tears from the ladies, and even a twinge or two from the gentlemen. "The Torch" (in these songs) is carried on the INSIDE. And so is the heat. (Only) the surface is cool!" Wikipedia note: Stardust is a studio album by American singer Natalie Cole, released on September 24, 1996. Cole won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for the song "When I Fall in Love", a duet with Nat King Cole, at the 39th Grammy Awards.[3] The song also won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement with Accompanying Vocal(s) for arrangers Alan Broadbent and David Foster.[4] The album was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance.

BARBARA COOK – I Had Myself a True Love I'm listening to channel 70 Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio – Barbra Streisand singing what turns out to be a Johnny Mercer song I can't recall ever hearing before this moment: I HAD MYSELF A TRUE LOVE. Sounds like a Black operetta tune Gershwin could have composed for Porgy and Bess. Google to learn it was from a similarly-themed Broadway Show (as old as me) – 'St. Louis Woman' with Johnny Mercer lyrics set to [mostly] not-so-memorable melodies by Harold (Over the Rainbow) Arlen. [They wrote some major hits together.] No Wikipedia entry for this song, but there's a website “International Lyrics Playground” that tells us: “From the production-troubled Broadway musical ‘St Louis Woman’ March 1946. This musical was based on the African-American poet Arna Bontemps’ novel “God Sends Sunday’ written in 1931. Some consider this soundtrack the best of the Arlen/Mercer duo …. “ [Plus a note about female singers who tried to rescue “I Had Myself a True Love” from oblivion:] “Barbra Streisand 1964. Also sung by: Dinah Shore, Barbara Cook, Audra McDonald and many others... “ Barbara Cook has always been my favorite Broadway singer – ever since she played 'Marian the Librarian' in The Music Man. Her warm and wonderful voice left us the summer of 2017 (“respiratory failure” at age 89). Google for Barbara Cook's version. Lo and behold! At a moment when I was thinking that Stephen Sondheim might have composed this one – there's a 'live' performance by Barbara, for her one-woman show celebrating “Mostly Sondheim” – his songs and “some Stephen wished he had written.” Posted to YouTube September, 2021 by someone called “Some Days You're Barbra” (with a Streisand avatar) and the informed note (below). Barbara Cook - Mostly Sondheim - I Had Myself A True Love: The legendary star of Broadway's "Music Man," "She Loves Me" and Candide" sings the songs of Stephen Sondheim and songs he wished he had written. Recorded live in true Dolby 5.1 multi-track surround sound, this 86 minute program captures the unmatched performance of one of America's most gifted artists. Accompanied by longtime musical director Wally Harper, Barbara Cook performs a memorable evening of songs by the great Stephen Sondheim mixed with songs Sondheim has said he wished he had written. It's a unique musical celebration The New York Times calls "brilliant...transcendent...you may find yourself holding your breath in awe!" As The Times of London recently declared (2003) : "Barbara Cook is the greatest theatrical singer in concert at the moment." Barbara Cook continues to perform MOSTLY SONDHEIM to critical acclaim and sold-out houses. Set list: 1. Everybody Says Don't 2. Buds Won't Bud 3. I Wonder What Became Of Me? 4. The Eagle and Me 5. I Had Myself a True Love 6. Another Hundred People / So Many People 7. In Buddy's Eyes 8. I Got Lost In His Arms 9. You Can't Get a Man With a Gun 10. Medley: Hard Hearted Hannah / Waiting for the Robert E. Lee / San Francisco 11. When In Rome (I Do As the Romans Do) 12. Happiness 13. Loving You 14. You Could Drive a Person Crazy 15. Send in the Clowns 16. Ice Cream (Vanilla) 17. Not a Day Goes By / Losing My Mind 18. The Trolley Song 19. Anyone Can Whistle [Included with video, an Amazon review I wish I'd written:] 'Barbara Cook's magnificent Mostly Sondheim concert is more than a tribute to the greatest Broadway composer of the late 20th century. It's also a tribute to the performer herself, the premier leading lady of her generation and a consummate cabaret artist. Accompanied by longtime musical director Wally Harper, Cook winds through such Sondheim selections as "Everybody Says Don't" and "Send in the Clowns." But the 86-minute program was suggested by a 1999 New York Times article by Sondheim entitled "Songs I Wish I Had Written," so it also includes non-Sondheim songs such as "I Got Lost in His Arms" and "The Trolley Song" plus peak moments from Cook's career (She Loves Me's "Ice Cream" and Follies in Concert's "Losing My Mind"). By the time she closes with a stunning a cappella "Anyone Can Whistle," the transfixed audience is sorry that it's over, but grateful they were there.' – David Horiuchi

JOHN PIZZARELLI - Harvest Moon My favorite song composed by Canada's Neil Young – Harvest Moon – not least for including, verbatim, the guitar riff that the Everly Brothers employed throughout their 60s hit, WALK RIGHT BACK. New favorite version - by John Pizzarelli, solo guitar accompaniment and harmonies by his wife Jessica Molaskey. Neil grew up here in Winnipeg – where we treasure the story about the current owners of his family home: they opened their front door one day and there was Bob Dylan, who politely asked if he could “come in for a few minutes” and see the place. All this by way of saying I cannot imagine a better version (with those 'orchestral' chords) that captures the spirit of Neil Young's original even while making it 'all yours' Mr. Pizzarelli. Around the 20:45 mark. Another highlight not to be missed. https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial

SINATRA – If I Had You “I could climb the very highest mountain . . . I could be a king, crowned or uncrowned . . . there is nothin' I couldn't do -- if I had you!” Don't you love “Sinatra First Friday on Sirius/XM” when every track is Frank. How many other singers could we listen-to all day and not tire of their voice? The Channel 70 computer screen scroll lists at this moment: "Oh, You Crazy Moon, Half as Lovely (Twice as True), Let it Snow (X3) Paper Doll, Empty Tables" And this 60-year-old gem -- IF I HAD YOU. The first song Frank recorded with “Bob's Band” – London symphony/philharmonic musicians playing arrangements by Canada's Robert Farnon. When the piano broke down on the first take, Frank asked if another was available. “No? Let's do it on the celeste.” And there is Bill Miller making it sound even better on those delicate chimes. Angelic intervention (I'd like to think) for a magic moment in June 1962 when Sinatra did his only “outside the U.S” studio recording. Released on black vinyl LP, only in “Great Britain” because Frank wasn't happy with the sound of his voice, at the end of a world tour that raised over a million dollars for children's charities.

ROSEMARY CLOONEY -- I Want to be a Sideman Another highlight – one of the best from the late David Frishberg – I Want to be a Sideman. As PAULA FUSSELL WESTBROOK noted below (in real time) “Rosemary Clooney does a good version of this too! Love it John.” We love too that Mr. Frishberg customized the lyric to focus on John's late Dad “Bucky” whose original Benedetto jazz guitar, John tells us “is now in the Smithsonian.” Jessica recalled that David Frishberg had the lyric ready for Bucky's “86th birthday celebration at the 92nd street 'Y'.” John's introduction comes in around the 18:10 mark https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/624889488700901/ David Lee Frishberg (March 23, 1933 – November 17, 2021)[1] was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and lyricist. His songs have been performed by Blossom Dearie, Rosemary Clooney, Shirley Horn,[2] Anita O'Day, Michael Feinstein, Irene Kral, Diana Krall, Rebecca Kilgore, Stacey Kent, John Pizzarelli, and Mel Tormé. Our favorite version of I WANT TO BE A SIDEMAN this one, heard on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio at least a couple or three times a year: George Clooney's Aunt Rosie.

JOHN PIZZARELLI - I Remember (Sky) On his "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere" playing for tips show tonight . . . a particular highlight for those mourning the loss of Stephen Sondheim: one of his more obscure songs: I REMEMBER (Sky)which the Wiki note (below) reminded us John Pizzarelli recorded, but which some of us had never heard before tonight. From a long-forgotten, made-for-TV musical, “Evening Primrose” (produced just once in 1966 for ABC's “Stage 67”). Jessica singled out the beauty of these words by Sondheim: “I remember leaves, green as spearmint, crisp as paper, I remember trees …. spread, like broken umbrellas. [According to Wiki ] An official soundtrack for Evening Primrose wasn't released commercially until 2008 when Kritzerland Inc. issued it in a limited release of 3,000 copies.[5] Previously, the four vocal selections had been recorded by Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters for his 1990 Dress Casual album [on which] Peters sang "I Remember." [see below] "I Remember" has been recorded by Sarah Brightman, Judy Collins, John Pizzarelli, Cleo Laine, Maureen McGovern, Betty Buckley, Julia Migenes, Dianne Reeves, and Barbra Streisand. Streisand also recorded "Take Me to The World" with Antonio Banderas for her 2016 album Encore: 'Movie Partners Sing Broadway.' Sondheim altered the song's lyrics for the project. https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/624889488700901/ In case that link doesn't work, Bernadette Peters version of I REMEMBER (Sky). Harmonically strong; melodically, not so much. (Raise your hand if you could hum this tune.)

“This is Charles Pignone with Sinatra Reprise Rarities Volume 5 .... ” Tuned in to Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio (channel 70) a moment ago, in time to hear my all-time favorite duet -- Frank Sinatra and Rosemary Clooney with a gorgeous Nelson Riddle arrangement of SOME ENCHANTED EVENING, the show-stopper from Rodgers & Hammerstein's 'South Pacific.' Recorded (circa 1963) with the same monster string orchestra Frank had employed that same year for my favorite of his albums, “The Concert Sinatra.” Recording engineering as good as anything today, six decades later. Listen to the depth of the sound stage on the opening orchestral flourish. This was recorded for the very rare “Reprise Repertory Theater” box set (quickly out of print and very hard to find). And thus, so very welcome to know it's included on the new CD “Sinatra Rarities Volume 5.” Uploaded to YouTube two months ago with “comments turned off” alas. [Wikipedia notes:] "Some Enchanted Evening" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. It has been described as "the single biggest popular hit to come out of any Rodgers and Hammerstein show."[1] Andrew Lloyd Webber describes it as the "greatest song ever written for a musical".[2] The song is a three-verse solo for the leading male character, Emile, in which he describes first seeing a stranger, knowing that he will see her again, and dreaming of her laughter. He sings that when you find your "true love", you must "fly to her side, and make her your own, / Or all through your life you may dream all alone."

Louis Armstrong – La Vie en Rose “When you kiss me, heaven sighs / And tho I close my eyes / I see la vie en rose …. “ Certain song arrangements -- we only need to hear the first few introductory notes, and instantly recognize the singer and the song. My favorite example: Louis Armstrong's simply arranged recording of an old French song LA VIE EN ROSE – whose English lyric is pure “tell me” (don't 'show me') “how much you love me.” 'Show me' lyrics are always better; think of Ray Charles' take on Cindy Walker's “You Don't Know Me” – the best show-me lyric of all time (says me). Louis Armstrong's La Vie en Rose opens with that unforgettable repeated piano riff (a full octave of notes played in a quick upward arpeggio) so 'defining' that other artists have incorporated it, verbatim, in their latter-day versions! Then almost a minute and a half of trumpet solo that is unmistakably, the artist acknowledged as “the most important in early jazz history.” First version at Spotify has been listened-to by almost 200 million (correct) patrons. First version at YouTube this day -- this one, with a respectable “51,952,591 views.” Wikipedia reminds us that the English lyric was composed by Mack David “elder brother of lyricist Hal David” – nominated for the “Best Original Song” Oscar eight times: Academy Award nominations[edit] 1950 "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" (with Jerry Livingston and Al Hoffman) from Cinderella 1959 "The Hanging Tree" (with Jerry Livingston) from The Hanging Tree 1961 "Bachelor in Paradise" (with Henry Mancini) from Bachelor in Paradise 1962 "Walk on the Wild Side" (with Elmer Bernstein) from Walk on the Wild Side 1963 "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (with Ernest Gold) from It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World 1964 "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte" (with Frank De Vol) from Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte 1965 "The Ballad of Cat Ballou" (with Jerry Livingston) from Cat Ballou 1966 "My Wishing Doll" (with Elmer Bernstein) from Hawaii ---- Mack David (July 5, 1912 – December 30, 1993) was an American lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning the period between the early 1940s and the early 1970s. David was credited with writing lyrics or music or both for over one thousand songs.[1] He was particularly well known for his work on the Disney films Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland, and for the mostly-English lyrics[2][3][4] through which Édith Piaf's signature song "La Vie en rose" gained much of its familiarity among native speakers of English.

SINATRA - Christmas Memories So grateful to Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio (now channel 70) for replaying conversations like this one, with lyricist Alan (Nice 'n' Easy) Bergman: CHARLES PIGNONE: Another song you collaborated on was Don Costa's Christmas Memories. Was that another one specifically written for Frank? ALAN BERGMAN: Yes. They were on the road together when Costa said I have this melody and Frank replied, Could you write it as a Christmas song? And so we did (Marilyn & I). CHARLES PIGNONE: That will be on the (upcoming) CD – it's a wonderful song! ALAN BERGMAN: Oh yes. [Frank -- to the perfect Costa orchestration] Singing Carols! Stringing popcorn . . . making footprints in the snow Mem'ries – Christmas mem'ries – they're the sweetest ones I know! Cookies baking in the kitchen, cards and ribbons ev'rywhere Frosty, Christmas mem'ries, float like snowflakes in the air . . . [BRIDGE – old-fashioned mixed vocal chorus] And oh! The joy of waking Christmas morning! The fam'ly 'round the tree We had a way of making Christmas mornings as merry as can be . . . ---- The trouble with “official” releases – you'd be denied my favorite Christmas painting (this one, posted six years ago). Just look at the details; there's enough time (two minutes) to appreciate them all. That perfect moment in the life of a fire . . . one older sister and two younger girls snug and warm from the cold outside – a glimpse of snow on the panes of the opposing windows. The tree! (Didn't yours look just like that? Ours did!) The strings of popcorn above the fireplace. The blankets, and that warm area rug. I close my eyes and see . . . FRANK: . . . shiny faces, of all the children, who now have children of their own: Funny, but comes December, I remember, ev'ry Christmas I've known.

"R.I.P. STEPHEN SONDHEIM - 1959 HITS ARCHIVE: Small World - Johnny Mathis" “Funny, you're a stranger who's come here, come from another town . . . Funny, I'm a stranger myself here, Small world – isn't it? . . . Small, and funny, and fine!” Someone has posted to YouTube this day (11/30/2021) a video with the red Columbia label 45 rpm record, whose fine print reminds us this was from “The Broadway production 'Gypsy' composed by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim.” [by] “Johnny Mathis with Glenn Osser and his Orchestra.” A tune so memorable you needed to have to hear it but once, and summon it up in your mind's ear 60 years on. Yet another reminder -- to those who still care to ask, 'Who wrote that song? – that great lyrics require a great melody to be memorable. I remember hearing this, the summer of '59 and thinking it was my “new favorite song.” A great lyric, set to one of Jule Styne's best melodies (Jule himself said so). One of several memorable tunes from Styne & Sondheim's only Broadway show listed under its full title at Wikipedia. Two of my favorites Small World and All I Need Is The Girl (see Sinatra and the Ellington orchestra) do not have their own links (entries) like the others in this show. Says Wiki: “Gypsy: A Musical Fable” is a 1959 musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim [ ] loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." . . . [In later interviews Stephen Sondheim stated that he did not have a good relationship with his own mother.] The musical Gypsy contains many songs that became popular standards, including "Everything's Coming Up Roses", "Together (Wherever We Go)", "Small World", "You Gotta Get a Gimmick", "Let Me Entertain You", "All I Need Is the Girl", and "Rose's Turn" . . . It is frequently considered one of the crowning achievements of the mid-twentieth century's conventional musical theatre art form, often called the book musical. Gypsy has been referred to as the greatest American musical by numerous critics and writers . . . ---- "Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood. Do not let it grieve you, no one leaves for good." -- Stephen Sondheim

SINATRA and SEAL – Santa Claus is Coming to Town Playing right this minute, on Siriusly Sinatra channel 70, a posthumous 'duet' with Frank Sinatra – from Seal's 2017 album STANDARD (intended as a bonus track on the Deluxe Edition). The English-born singer/composer is quoted in the album's Wiki note (below) as saying: "This is the album I have always wanted to make. I grew up listening to music from the Rat Pack era, so recording these timeless tunes was a lifelong dream. It was a true honour to collaborate with the same musicians who performed with Frank Sinatra and so many of my favourite artists, in the very same studios where the magic was first made – it was one of the greatest days of my recording career." A remarkable black & white video at YouTube. The best of its kind, you may agree.

DOYLE DYKES - Go Tell It On the Mountain (Christmas inspiration) As Doyle informed us on an earlier video, that instrument is a Gibson 185, "same shape," Doyle said, "as a J-200 only smaller." Is that the same 1958 guitar that Doyle was playing earlier? What a sound! Reminded of something Chet Atkins said to me (how's that for name-dropping?) the summer of '71 when he made his one-and-only appearance in Ottawa Canada. Chet advised me to "get an old Gibson" -- one that has been "played alot." [Not kept in a case, unplayed.] "They sound SO fine," he said. Case in point. Thank you for another terrific video, Mr. Dykes. P.S. Your variations on 'Go, Tell It On The Mountain' just get better and better (more and more amazing) and yet you make it look so easy. "With practice," we mortals may think, "I could play that." Oh no you can't. Especially love the modulation around the 10:09 mark -- and the glorious ending/coda with harmonic chords only their 'inventor' Lenny Breau could equal. The last guitar Doyle picks up and plays here is his early (2000) signature model TAYLOR with “a volume control for each string.” [ ! ] To play IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL. Thanks, Doyle Dykes.

Stephen Sondheim died today (11/26/2021) age 91 at his home in New York. My favorite of his songs were two that he composed (words & music) for the soundtrack of the 1991 movie DICK TRACY – the only Madonna album I ever purchased new (on cassette - remember those?). “Sooner or Later” won Mr. Sondheim his “Best Original Song” Academy Award. My other favorite from the film was “What Can You Lose.” This one. Not so strong melodically (no matter how many times I hear it I can't hum the tune) but achingly beautiful harmonies and a poignant lyric about “being friends” and not lovers. That's Mandy Patinkin – better known to millions as “Inigo Montoya: You killed my father, prepare to die” – in the Princess Bride. Remember? Maybe my favorite six minutes in all of film history: for the sword fight, ending with, "Kill me quickly." "I would as soon destroy a stain glass window, as an 'artist' like yourself. However. Since I can't have you following me either . . . "

TONY BENNETT / BILL EVANS – A Child Is Born Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio is playing a lot of Tony Bennett recordings -- at least five of them today alone. At this moment, it's the definitive version of a seasonal jazz standard – A CHILD IS BORN: Tony, alone together, with piano great Bill Evans who died young, age 50, three years after this recording in 1977. I'd just been re-reading Tony's autobiography 'The Good Life' in which our greatest living singer [just nominated for six Grammy awards] recalled Bill Evans telling a NYC radio interviewer in 1976, when they recorded their first of two albums: “Every great jazz musician I know – all of them – idolize Tony Bennett. From [drummer] Philly Joe Jones to Miles Davis – you name it; the reason is that Tony is a great musical artist. He puts music first and has dedicated his life to it. He has great respect for the music and the musicians – and it comes through: It's a joy to work with somebody like that.” Tony Bennett recalls in his autobiography THE GOOD LIFE that Bill finished that interview by stating that his “recording with Tony was one of the prime experiences of my life.” Just before he died, Tony said Bill tracked him down by phone when “I was passing through some little town on the outskirts of Austin, Texas of all places, and he said: “I wanted to tell you one thing: Just think about truth and beauty. Forget about everything else. Just concentrate on truth and beauty, that's all.” Tony added: “I've tried to live by those words ever since.” Wikipedia note [recently expanded] "A Child Is Born" is a jazz instrumental that was later recorded with lyrics added. It was written in 1969 by the jazz trumpeter Thad Jones with lyrics added independently by Alec Wilder after hearing the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra perform the instrumental.[when?] The instrumental and the song have been recorded by a number of musicians including Tony Bennett, Stanley Turrentine and Bill Evans[1] (also released on Christmas with Sinatra & Friends), as well as notable recordings by Kenny Burrell, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Hank Jones and Helen Merrill. Lyrics[edit] Now, out of the night / New as the dawn / Into the light / This Child / Innocent Child / Soft as a fawn / This Child is born One small heart / One pair of eyes / One work of art / Here in my arms / Here he lies / Trusting and warm / Blessed this morn / A Child is born Form[edit] "'A Child Is Born' is a 32 bars long song in 3/4 time, and when soloing over it, jazz musicians "usually omit the last two bars", leaving a "30-bar solo form".[3] The original was recorded in B-flat major. It features a slow, lengthy introduction on the piano, lasting over a minute. Bob Yurochko in his book A Short History of Jazz refers to it as a "beautiful ballad" of mainstream jazz.

“Thanks, everybody,” said John Pizzarelli, “for Lo – these last 69 request shows.” Said Jessica: “We couldn't have done it without you!” Then they launched their show closer – an ingenious medley of “counting blessings” songs. Permit an aside: Earlier this night I'd been recalling my musical Mom singing the words to a tune she liked from the Bing Crosby movie musical White Christmas: “If you are worried, and you can't sleep – just count your blessings instead of sheep. And you'll fall asleep, counting your blessings.” Words & music by Irving Berlin – who is quoted in the Wikipedia entry (below) in an anecdote that wasn't there last time I looked. Yes, as if saving the best to the last, John Pizzarelli played Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep) tonight as the show-closer (at the 56:32 mark). in a poignant medley-duet with his talented wife Jessica Molaskey (who has the most wonderful smile and musical laughter). They intertwined the lyrics of two songs – the one sung by Jessica I'd not heard before, with the refrain: “Five-hundred-25-thousand, six hundred minutes – How do you measure in a life? In daylight? In sunsets? in midnights, in cups of coffee? In inches and miles? laughter and strife . . . ” They make each other laugh when John flubs the moment of segue – transitioning from his “counting sheep” song, to Jessica's “counting moments” in a life together. As a sort of coda, John plays a guitar solo of such beauty – a melody I've not heard before. (His own composition?) Did I say, 'Wonderful show.' Well it was. Oh yes-- loved that “50 year old” 'Vega' banjo, reminding us that when you hear it at close range, it's the loudest instrument, 'unplugged' that ever was. Reminded of Mel Torme's old joke: “What do you call a thousand banjos at the bottom of the sea? A good start.” [Wikipedia note:] "Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin and used in the 1954 film White Christmas. It is commonly performed as a Christmas song, although the lyrics make no reference to the December holiday. The song arose from a personal experience of Berlin when his doctor suggested he try "counting his blessings" as a way to deal with insomnia brought on by stress. Said Berlin: “ . . . after the worst kind of a sleepless night, my doctor came to see me and after a lot of self-pity, belly-aching and complaining about my insomnia, he looked at me and said "speaking of doing something about your insomnia, did you ever try counting your blessings?" https://www.facebook.com/JohnPizzarelliOfficial/videos/382691086973718

TONY BENNETT & LADY GAGA -- Cole Porter Songs -- 6 Grammy nominations James Taylor's AMERICAN STANDARD album (2020) was the latest Grammy-winner in the 'Best Traditional' category which (as I like to say) is “usually owned by Tony Bennett.” Well, true to form Tony is again nominated this year – but for six (count 'em) GRAMMYs – including the biggest prize of them all – “Album of the Year.” For his latest all- Cole Porter album with Lady Gaga. They appeared last night (11/23/2021) on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.' “Thank you so much,” said Lady Gaga, "to the Recording Academy / GRAMMYs for these 6 nominations for 'Love For Sale.' I am stunned and shocked and beyond grateful. I don’t know what to say. I just keep crying and am utterly speechless. This means so much to me, Tony Bennett, the Bennetts, my family, jazz music, and the great Cole Porter who wrote all these timeless classics. I’ll never forget today and congratulating Tony on his 6 nominations.”

BILLIE HOLIDAY - It's the Mood That I'm In Just for me (I'd like to think) Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio (now channel 70) is playing a delightful duet I praised a week ago on John Pizzarelli's Facebook page – John together with my favorite living singer Calabria Foti – and my new favorite version of an old jazz standard -- IT'S THE MOOD THAT I'M IN. John scats in unison with his guitar solo on the musical bridge. Only George Benson is as good as John at that amazing motor skill – humming the exact notes being played at speed on the guitar! Is it at YouTube? Never, it seems. The album it's from is Calabria's most recent “Prelude to a Kiss” where it's the second-last of eleven tracks. Beautiful violin throughout by Calabria herself. So. Who did the best early version? Why Billie Holiday herself – with the Teddy Wilson band.

ELLA - What Am I Here For? The song playing right this minute on channel 70 introduced by this week's show host: “I'm Sue Raney Playing Favorites on Siriusly Sinatra. I got signed to Capitol when I was 17 years old – born in Kansas, I grew up in New Mexico . . . and was on a little Country radio show – Glen Campbell was also on that show! But I grew up on Country music – as well, of course, as the pop music of the day – Nat Cole, Frank Sinatra and Doris Day . . . “And when I signed with Capitol my first album was with Nelson Riddle . . . someone suggested it would be good for me if I listened to Ella in order to 'swing a little more.' I also listened to Sinatra but Ella – being a woman, I wanted to sing with her, and learn how she phrased and how she 'swung.' And I remember so well putting on this record, singing along with her, to emulate her style and her feeling. And this is one of those songs I played and sang along with – What Am I Here For?”

In the years (almost two) since James Taylor announced his AMERICAN STANDARD album (the latest Grammy-winner in the 'Best Traditional' category usually owned by Tony Bennett) I've been keeping a private tally of songs I'd love to hear James include on “American Standard II.” The list includes one of my father's favorites (from long ago 1929) by Howard Dietz & Arthur Schwartz – I GUESS I'LL HAVE TO CHANGE MY PLAN. I could always imagine James' voice singing about “those blue pajamas.” Some others I'd hope to hear him sing: my family's favorite song, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE, which Dad said described Mom “to a T.” What else? JUST IN TIME from the 1956 Broadway show “Bells are Ringing” with one of the best tunes composed by Jule Styne. Another is LONG AGO (and Far Away) – one of the last great songs (1944) from the dean of composers, Jerome Kern with a lyric by Gershwin – Ira, George's older brother (who survived him by over half a century). In my mind's ear I can hear James Taylor making 'all his own' Rodgers & Hart's I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TIME IT WAS. And their most famous song, MY FUNNY VALENTINE – what would James do with that? James Taylor's good friend Linda Ronstadt may have retired the trophy (for me) on AM I BLUE. But again, our favorite singer/songwriter could convince me (with a new, 'two-guitar arrangement' with John Pizzarelli) that he composed that song introduced by Ethel Waters in 1929. Something made me re-watch “The Making of American Standard” – the delightful nearly nine minute feature that James shared with fans back in February 2020. Lo and behold, at around the 1:03 mark there is a list in James' handwriting of other songs he'd been considering for inclusion. Including most all of these I've just listed! As Mom used to say, There ARE no coincidences!” You know what she meant. Once more, with feeling . . .

SINATRA - Here's That Rain Day "Come to bed," says my Irene. It's 1:11 a.m. and Siriusly Sinatra channel 70 is playing my favorite version of HERE'S THAT RAINY DAY -- the Don Costa arrangement that is part of the "Glad To Be Unhappy" medley -- the TV performance complete with thunder and rain -- you know the one. It's never at YouTube but when I wasn't looking someone posted just the 'Rainy Day' segment. What's it from? Where's a wise man when you need one in the wee small hours. Tied for First Place (Best Ever TV Version of Here's That Rainy Day) you may agree: Tonight Show band stalwarts Doc Severinsen, Tommy Newsome and Ed Shaughnessy play Johnny Carson's favourite song 'Here's That Rainy Day' to close David Letterman's tribute to Carson.

LOUIS & ELLA - Summertime There are versions of great 'standards' of the American Songbook that your mind's ear will summon up whenever you hear a title and think, Who did this best? When it comes to Gershwin's SUMMERTIME, the retire-the-trophy rendition belongs to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong – a 65-year-old recording that gets regular airplay on Siriusly Sinatra satellite radio (now channel 70). Their arranger was a lesser-known musical genius – film composer Russell Garcia. [Wiki note below] ' Jazz at the Philharmonic' producer Norman Granz asked Mr. Garcia to arrange and conduct the symphony orchestra for Ella and Louis' definitive version for their “Porgy & Bess” album (1957). The most viewed version at YouTube this night "13,436,366 views" -- four million more than its views total of “1 year ago” when I see my namesake reviewed it and included a jazz critic's insightful reflection on the genius of Louis Armstrong. [Wikipedia entry for the arranger] Russell Garcia, QSM (12 April 1916 – 19 November 2011)[1] was a composer and arranger who wrote a wide variety of music for screen, stage and broadcast. Garcia was born in Oakland, California, but was a longtime resident of New Zealand. Self-taught, his break came when he substituted for an ill colleague on a radio show. Subsequently, he went on to become a composer/arranger at NBC Studios for such television shows as Rawhide 1962 and Laredo, 1965–67. He worked at Universal Studios and MGM, where at the latter he composed and conducted the original scores for such films as George Pal's The Time Machine (1960) and Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1961). He also orchestrated the music for Father Goose (1964) and The Benny Goodman Story (1956). Garcia collaborated with many Hollywood musicians and celebrities, including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong One of five brothers, Garcia grew up in what he said was an "ordinary" household where music was something that came out of the radio.[2] When his family noticed the five-year-old Russ standing by the radio every Sunday morning waiting for the New York Philharmonic to come on, it was obvious the child had a special interest in music. One of his brothers presented him with an old cornet he bought for $5, which Russ taught himself to play. In school he started a jazz band to play his new horn, and ended up using the band as an outlet for his compositions and arrangements of standards, all of which were self-taught. "I've been able to read music since I was little," he said at the time. "I don't know how, because I had lessons only when I went to high school. Call it instinct, call it a gift, I've never questioned my musical ability. I'm thankful for it. If I take up a sheet of manuscript paper and a pen there's a whole orchestra playing in my head. At times I can't write quickly enough to keep up with what's flowing out of me." Garcia and his wife Gina Mauriello Garcia, a published author and singer-lyricist-writer in her own right, were members of the Baháʼí Faith since 1955.[3] In 1966, at the height of his career, the Garcias sold their home and possessions, bought a boat, and set sail . . . According to Garcia's obituary in the Los Angeles Times and his obituary by Marc Myers in Jazzwax, a daily jazz blog[7][8][9] Garcia did the orchestration[10] for "the 65-piece studio symphony"[8] for Charlie Chaplin's 1952 film Limelight. However, in 1972, when Limelight won an Oscar for the best original dramatic score, the three Oscars were given to Chaplin, Raymond Rasch and posthumously to Larry Russell, who was also a composer and movie arranger at the time.[8][9] In 1957, through his Universal Studios contract, he arranged and conducted Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald's record album Porgy And Bess.[10] He undertook three more albums and a concert at the Hollywood Bowl with Armstrong. ---- Although he loved what he was doing, he decided to walk away from it all in 1966. "I fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II and vowed that if I ever got out of it alive, I was going to dedicate myself to world peace." The Garcias decided to sail the Pacific Ocean, carrying the message of peace and the Baháʼí Faith to the remote islands of the South Pacific. Garcia said, "Not many people have the chance to follow their hearts with no financial worries. We had the "charm" working for us: we knew the royalties would see us through for some years." They spent the next six years on their 13-metre fiberglass trimaran the Dawn-Breaker, as "traveling teachers," anchoring in such exotic locations as Jamaica, the Galapagos Islands, the Marquesas and Tahiti. At the age of ninety-two, Garcia was still composing and touring internationally, and he conducted his own 95th birthday concert in Kerikeri. [He died that year, 2011.]

JAMES TAYLOR -- Going Around One More Time " . . . I said, 'That's it! I'm through! I quit -- then Juanita, she looked so FINE . . . " 'The Brothers Taylor' -- a photo shared by James. Kid brother Livingston turns 71 today (11/21/2021) ---- My favorite song composed by Livingston. Yours too?