A WONDERFUL ARLEN/KOEHLER SPIRITUAL

A Wonderful Arlen/Koehler Spiritual:  The first collaboration of Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler was " Get Happy" an infectious and genuine tribute with what Arlen's biographer Edward Jablonski said were " Words rooted in Negro spirituals, which had become a part of American musical consciousness since the late nineteenth century with the debut ( and popularity) of the Fisk Jubilee Singers." The introductory verse started with the shout " Hallelujah" with the rest of the song introducing words such as " judgment day" "troubles" " the Lord and the River (.Jordan)"

A number of years after the 1930 success of " Get Happy" Arlen and Koehler collaborated on a decidedly non-commercial musical venture called Americanegro Suite. This unconventional concept from two white songwriters was intended to be a honest tribute to the power and often jubilant religiosity of  a musical tradition that offered sustenance and hope for Afro Americans. Arlen and Koehler had spent considerable time in the Cotton Club and were well-versed and respectful of the black musical experience and its most admired performers.
Six songs were created . as Jablonski commented that " They were conceived, it is true, in the Negro narrative idiom, but they are almost without exception genuine musical creations , not experiments in imitation." After playing the songs for Jerome Kern, whose opinions Arlen cherished, Kern went out of the room and came back with a handsomely carved walking stick and presented it to Arlen as  tangible appreciation of what Arlen had created. The cane had once belonged to Jacques Offenbach and was highly prized by Kern.
Further positive appreciation of the Suite came from Hall Johnson, the noted composer, arranger and choir director. Johnson was most familiar with the spiritual idiom having completed many choral arrangements of traditional spirituals. He stated, quite definitively, that "  Of all the many songs written by white composers and employing what claimed to be a Negroid idiom in both words and music, these six songs easily stand far above the rest." Credible praise indeed !"

Please listen to " Where Is Dis Road A-Leadin' Me To ?"  A sixty-six bar aria has a number of challenging shifts in tempo and a vocal range that requires a thoroughly trained vocal capability. It is performed by Eileen Farrell, a magnificent opera and concert soprano who also was an accomplished singer of popular songs and who had a close musical and personal relationship with Harold Arlen.
This is music making of the highest standard and remains true to the rich and soulful Afro American spiritual tradition..
It is performed as a concert song with a sensitive and supportive piano accompaniment.

LINK:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRdgqMRRFKQ