The Great American Songbook

Great Performances: Dean Martin and Louis Armstrong perform a Dixieland Medley

2007-11-05T12:37:00.000-05:00

This qualifies as positively amazing: Dean Martin and Louis Armstrong swing smoothly through an incredible medley of Dixieland tunes...

Great Performances: Ella Fitzgerald sings "For Once In My Life" (1968)

2007-11-02T08:55:00.000-04:00

Ella Fitzgerald delivers an absolutely exquisite rendition of "For Once In My Life"...

Great Performances: Peggy Lee sings Cole Porter's "From This Moment On" (1954)

2007-11-01T11:40:00.000-04:00

Sultry, sizzling Peggy Lee burns up Cole Porter's "From This Moment On"...

Great Performances: Bobby Darin sings Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin"

2007-10-31T08:21:00.000-04:00

Bobby Darin sings a kickin' contemporary version of the Cole Porter classic "I've Got You Under My Skin"...

Great Songwriters: Billy Rose

2007-10-27T13:30:00.000-04:00

Whether Billy Rose really wrote lyrics for all the songs that bear his name seems to be at issue these days. Recent research suggests he might have appended his credit to ditties where he contributed no more than a catchy title or a couple of words. Regardless, there can be no question Rose was a guy who got things done. Famous for his ability to cut publishing deals for songwriters that resulted in larger royalty checks than were customary at the time, Rose might have used this leverage to get his name on many a composition. After all, if Billy Rose was attached to a song, it meant everyone was getting paid.

Born William Samuel Rosenberg on September 6th, 1899 in New York City, Rose graduated from the High School of Commerce, was trained in shorthand by John Robert Gregg, and at age 16, won a high speed dictation contest. This led to a job with the War Industries Board in 1917, as a shorthand reporter.

After the war, Rose enjoyed his first success as a songwriter, collaborating with partner Con Conrad on the comic strip inspired "Barney Google" ("with the goog-goog-googly eyes") and "You've Got to See Mama Every Night" ("or you can't see Mama at all"). In 1924, he had another novelty hit with "Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight," co-authored with Marty Bloom and Ernest Breuer.

His first foray into Broadway came a year later, when Gertrude Lawrence sang his song, "A Cup of Coffee, A Sandwich and You" (co-authored with Al Dubin and Joe Meyer), in the Charlot Revue. He wrote lyrics for several other Broadway shows, before marrying 'Funny Girl' Fanny Brice in 1929, and producing the Broadway musical revue Sweet and Low for her in 1930.

Other Broadway shows produced by Rose include Crazy Quilt, Jumbo, Clash by Night, Carmen Jones, and Seven Lively Arts. Jumbo, a massive undertaking with an unprecedented $350,000 budget, debuted in 1935 at New York's Hippodrome Theater. The show featured indoor aerial stunts, high-wire acts, wild animals, and a 35 foot puppet designed by Remo Bufano—not to mention a fine Rodgers and Hart score and an appearance by Jimmy Durante. While the show failed to turn a profit, it was still massively successful, garnering positive reviews and packed houses, and making Rose one of the most famous producers in America.

From here, Rose would mount bigger and bigger shows, including The Aquacade, a floating amphitheater, featuring water ballet, roller skating, hundreds of swimmers, and two Olympic champions, Johnny Weissmuller and Eleanor Holm. (Holm would become Rose's second wife, after his divorce from Fanny Brice in 1938.) The Aquacade debuted at the 1937 Cleveland Great Lakes Expo, and Rose staged it again at the 1939 New York World's Fair and the 1940 San Francisco World's Fair.

Rose also opened a nightclub, Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe, in New York City, which just happened to be where a young dancer named Gene Kelly first started to gain attention. In 1947, Rose began writing "Pitching Horseshoes," a weekly column which was syndicated in over 200 newspapers across the country.

Great Performances: Judy Garland and Mel Torme sing "The Trolley Song"

2007-10-25T10:39:00.000-04:00

This is absolutely hilarious! Mel's rapid-fire vocal asides are brilliant...

Great New Releases: 2 Classic Andy Williams LPs reissued by Ace

2007-10-23T17:14:00.000-04:00

Due 11/27/2007 from the Ace Label in the UK...

Andy Williams: Andy Williams/Sings Steve Allen (Ace CDCHD 1173)

Andy Williams' first 2 LP releases, both originally on the Cadence label. 1957's Andy Williams was essentially a compilation of all the A and B sides he had released between 1956 and 1957--but what a compilation! All of the A sides charted, including Butterfly at #1, Canadian Sunset in the Top Five, I Like Your Kind of Love in the Top Ten, Lips of Wine in the Top 20, and Baby Doll in the Top 40. Quite an accomplishment for a newcomer at a time when rock n' roll was taking over the charts. 1959's Sings Steve Allen finds Williams taking on some of Allen's finest compositions, including Impossible and Picnic.

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TRACKS:
Canadian Sunset
I Like Your Kind Of Love - With Peggy Ann Powers
Walk Hand In Hand
Lips Of Wine
Not Anymore
It Doesn't Take Very Long
Baby Doll
Butterfly
High Upon A Mountain
Stop Teasin' Me
Since I've Found My Baby
Straight From My Heart
Tonight
Meet Me Where They Play The Blues
Stay Just A Little While
Playing The Field
Impossible
Young Love
Picnic
An Old Piano Plays The Blues
Spring In Maine
All The Way Home
Lonely Love
Forbidden Love

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Great Performances: Nat King Cole performs "Nature Boy"

2007-10-22T08:45:00.000-04:00

Nat King Cole performs "Nature Boy"--what else is there to say?

Great Songwriters: Mort Dixon

2007-10-22T08:43:00.000-04:00

Mort Dixon kicked off his songwriting career in 1923 with a winner that would become an American standard, "That Old Gang of Mine," co-authored with Billy Rose and Ray Henderson.

Dixon's first taste of show business, however, came years beforehand; while serving in World War I, Dixon directed the army show Whiz Bang, which toured France after the war.

Born on March 20th, 1892 in New York City, Dixon returned there after Whiz Bang to take the stage as a Vaudeville actor, and pursue a career as a Broadway lyricist. Most famously, he collaborated with Harry Warren and Joe Young on songs for the 1931 musical revue Laugh Parade, produced by and starring the legendary Vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn.

Dixon's collaborations with Harry Warren would result in some of his finest work, including the classic "I Found a Million Dollar Baby (In a Five and Ten Cent Store)," which also featured the talents of the great Billy Rose. Additionally, Dixon collaborated with Ray Henderson, most notably on the tender "Bye Bye Blackbird," and the abovementioned "That Old Gang of Mine." Other luminaries Dixon worked alongside include Harry M. Woods ("I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover") and Allie Wrubel ("The Lady in Red").

Fred Astaire sings "They Can't Take That Away From Me" in 1937 (video)

2007-10-21T11:22:00.000-04:00

The incomparable Fred Astaire, singing George and Ira Gershwin's "They Can't Take That Away From Me" in Shall We Dance (1937).

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Video: Sand Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City Implosion

2007-10-20T12:23:00.000-04:00

The place the Rat Pack called their East Coast home (and the place Frank Sinatra performed his final public U.S. concerts), The Sands Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, was imploded on Thursday night, October 18th. Here's a video:

Great New Releases: Nancy Wilson, Julie London, Sarah Vaughn, Joe Williams and Count Basie

2007-10-19T09:35:00.000-04:00

Coming 10/23 from Capitol/EMI:

Nancy Wilson: The Nancy Wilson Show
Live in 1964 at the Coconut Grove in LA, with a 16-piece band. First time on CD. Remixed from the original 4-track tapes and mastered in 24-bit.

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TRACKS: 1. Fireworks [Live] 2. Don't Take Your Love from Me [Live] 3. Don't Talk, Just Sing [Live] 4. Guess Who I Saw Today [Live] 5. Ten Good Years [Live] 6. Saga of Bill Bailey [Live] 7. Music That Makes Me Dance [Live] 8. I'm Beginning to See the Light [Live] 9. You Can Have Him [Live]

Julie London: All Through The Night
Julie London's superb 1965 tribute to Cole Porter, featuring The Bud Shank Quintet (with guitarist Joe Pass). Includes the bonus track "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To."

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TRACKS: 1. I've Got You Under My Skin 2. You Do Something to Me 3. Get out of Town 4. All Through the Night 5. So in Love 6. At Long Last Love 7. Easy to Love 8. My Heart Belongs to Daddy 9. Every Time We Say Goodbye 10. In the Still of the Night 11. You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To [bonus track]

Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One
Wonderful 1959 collaboration featuring Harry "Sweets" Edison on trumpet, Jimmy Jones on piano, and Don Lamond on drums. Includes 2 bonus tracks from the same sessions.

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TRACKS: 1. Have You Met Miss Jones? 2. Ain't No Use 3. Every Time I See You 4. You Stepped out of a Dream 5. Gloomy Sunday 6. What Do You See in Her? 7. Jump for Joy 8. When Your Lover Has Gone 9. I'm Gonna Laugh You out of My Life 10. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams 11. Somebody Else's Dream 12. Trouble Is a Man

Joe Williams and Count Basie: Every Day I Have The Blues
A 1951 classic from the Roulette catalog. Includes the bonus tracks Confessin' the Blues, Five O'Clock in the Morning, and How Can You Lose.

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TRACKS: 1. Every Day I Have the Blues 2. Baby, Won't You Please Come Home 3. It's a Low Down Dirty Shame 4. Shake, Rattle, And Roll 5. Just a Dream 6. Cherry Red 7. Good Mornin' Blues 8. What Did You Win 9. Ain't No Use 10. Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You 11. Confessin' the Blues [bonus track] 12. Five O'Clock in the Morning [bonus track] 13. How Can You Lose [bonus track]

Great Performances: Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder sing "For Once In My Life"

2007-10-18T08:56:00.000-04:00

Two legends...

Great Performances: Bobby Darin sings "Cry Me A River"

2007-10-18T00:24:00.000-04:00

Bobby Darin's devastating rendition of "Cry Me A River," from the Seeing Is Believing DVD...

Great Musicians: Guitarist Al Caiola

2007-10-17T11:33:00.000-04:00

Johnny Mathis: Open Fire Two Guitars on CD

Al Caiola is a prolific session musician and solo recording artist who has been laying down great licks since the 1940s. His playing can be heard on the historic Johnny Mathis LP Open Fire Two Guitars (Columbia C-1270, 1959), as well as on recordings by Sarah Vaughan (Sarah Vaughan In Hi-Fi [Columbia CL 745-M, 1956]), Bobby Darin (That's All [Atco 33-104, March 1959]), Tony Bennett (Who Can I Turn To [Columbia CS-9085, 1964), and many early Frank Sinatra recordings.

Caiola also worked as a conductor and arranger for United Artists Records in the late '40s and early '50s. He released his first solo album, Deep in a Dream, on the Savoy label in 1955. His solo career didn't really take off, however, until the 1960s, with a series of UA albums mixing covers of movie and TV themes, current hits, and Caiola's own original compositions. Caiola scored top 40 hits with his versions of the themes from Bonanza and The Magnificent Seven.

While all this was going on, the tireless and multi-talented Caiola was also serving as conductor and arranger for producer Ethel Gabriel's Living groups series (Living Strings, Living Voices, etc.) on RCA's budget label, Camden.

In 1985, Caiola accompanied Frank Sinatra on his European Tour, as lead guitarist, and continues to work today, most notably backing up Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.

Great Performances: Cab Calloway sings Johnny Mercer's "Blues In The Night" (1942)

2007-10-16T18:09:00.000-04:00

This one's a kick and a half: Cab Calloway performs the Johnny Mercer classic, "Blues In The Night," with able assistance from the Palmer Brothers...

Great Songwriters: Harry Warren

2007-10-16T14:08:00.001-04:00

Composer Harry Warren has written some of the most enduring melodies in American pop music. His 1938 collaboration with Johnny Mercer, "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," is an excellent example. Originally sung by Dick Powell in the Warner Brothers picture Hard to Get, this sweet and romantic little ditty became a rockin' rhythm number for Bobby Darin in 1961, and a funky finger-snapper for Mercer himself in 1974. Both versions retain the warm spirit of Warren's original melody, and both versions bring an instant smile to the listener.

Other timeless Warren compositions include "I Only Have Eyes for You," "That's Amore," "The More I See You," and the Oscar-nominated "An Affair to Remember" (from the 1957 motion picture of the same name). Between 1931 and 1957, Warren received 11 Oscar nominations, 3 wins, authored over 250 songs for all four major studios (Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, MGM, and Paramount), and hit the number 1 spot on the charts 21 times. While Warren also wrote successfully for Broadway (Billy Rose's 1930 musical revue, Sweet and Low), his true fame is as the man who wrote the soundtrack to Hollywood.

Born Salvatore Anthony Guaragna on December 24th, 1893 in Brooklyn, New York, Warren was something of a jack-of-all-trades in his early years. He taught himself to play several instruments, including the drums, the accordion and the piano, and he sang in the church choir. At the age of 16, he quit high school to take a job playing drums in a traveling circus. At various times he also worked as a stagehand for a Vaudeville theater, as a prop man and offstage piano player for Vitagraph Studios, and as an actor in silent films, playing small roles, often as a messenger boy.

His big break came in 1922, when he co-authored "Rose of The Rio Grande," with lyricists Edgar Leslie and Ross Gorman. Previous to this, Warren had been trying to write both music and lyrics, but none of those compositions managed to capture the attention of music publishers. This one did, and was in fact his first published song, setting him on a lifelong path of collaboration with various lyricists. These included Al Dubin ("About a Quarter to Nine"), Leo Robin ("The Lady In The Tutti-Frutti Hat"), the abovementioned Johnny Mercer ("The Atchison, Topeka, And The Santa Fe"), and Mack Gordon ("Chattanooga Choo-Choo"). Warren's collaboration with Gordon resulted in the first Gold record ever awarded, for Glenn Miller's 1941 recording of "Chattanooga Choo Choo."

Warren's most enduring work of all can be seen in the musical extravaganza 42nd Street, which began life as a hit motion picture for Warner Brothers in 1933, and has since re-emerged as a hit Broadway show, with productions in 1980 (a 9-year run) and 2001 (a 4-year run). The Harry Warren/Al Dubin classics from this show include the title song, "Shuffle Off To Buffalo," and "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me."

Great Arrangers: Richard Wess

2007-10-16T12:19:00.000-04:00

Personal details about arranger/conductor Richard Wess, such as his date and place of birth, seem to be virtually impossible to find. Luckily, his work is far easier to track down, and it speaks for itself.

As the man behind Bobby Darin's 1959 breakthrough LP That's All, Wess helped vault the young singer into worldwide fame, with mega-hits such as "Mack the Knife" and "Beyond the Sea."

Wess' earliest work as an arranger and conductor appears to be on the 1957 Sallie Blair album, Squeeze Me (Bethlehem BCP 6009). Blair was a vocalist of great wit and personality, not unlike Bobby Darin. Her rendition of "Almost Like Being In Love" features an exciting Darinesque vocal flourish as she launches into the refrain. Finger-snaps reminiscent of Darin's can be heard on her swingin' version of "Ain't (S)He Sweet." These tracks, and several others on the album, feature Wess playing piano and celeste. Band members Joe Cabot, Al DeRisi, Frank Rehak, Chauncey Welsch, Romeo Penque, Jerry Sanfino, and Joe Soldo would later appear as part of the Richard Wess Orchestra for Darin's That's All LP.

Wess also had an album of his own in 1957, the intriguingly titled Music She Digs the Most (MGM E-3491). Once again, Wess played piano, and his bandmates included saxophonist Al Cohn and guitarist Mundell Lowe (another That's All player). The disc was a nice collection of standards, including "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "Give Me The Simple Life," and "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To."

Bobby Darin's close friend and publicist, Harriet "Hesh" Wasser, is credited with bringing Darin and Wess together in 1958 for their collaboration on That's All. The result was a defining moment for Darin, earning him respect with the adult audience and making him the first rock n' roll artist in history to successfully cross over into standards.

Wess and Darin would team up for several other fine LPs, including This is Darin (Atco 33-115, January 1960), From Hello Dolly to Goodbye Charlie (Capitol 2194, November 1964), and Bobby Darin Sings the Shadow of Your Smile (Atlantic 8121, April 1966). The result was always magical.

In addition to his work with Darin, Wess also served as conductor and arranger for Chris Connor (Witchcraft [Atlantic LP 8032, 1959]), Ruth Brown (Late Date With Ruth Brown [Atlantic LP 1308, January 27, 1959]), Connie Francis (Songs to a Swinging Band [MGM SE-3893, 1960]), Sammy Davis Jr. (The Goin's Great [Reprise R-6339, 1969]), and many others.