Remembering Max

In December 2022, the author of this blog, Max Weissengruber passed away.

• Globe & Mail Legacy
• Aftercare Tribute Wall
  

He greatly enjoyed writing the many posts for this blog (as well as his other blog) and sharing his love and knowledge of music with people from around the world.

When attending live music, his analytical mind would kick in and spur him to create insightful observations like these: Jazz in the Kitchen - Notes by Max Weissengruber

Even all the way back in 1957, Max was passionate about jazz, as you can see in this letter to the editor in Downbeat magazine.

Below you will find a playlist of recordings of Max at the piano. They include standards and his own compositions.

" Over the Rainbow" theme done as a classical fugue. You will recognize the strains of Over The Rainbow used to create a fugue in the tradition of J.S.Bach and his compatriots.This is a marriage of a very popular American song with an adventurous use of classical music devices. Very authentic use of a fugue to create a clever piece of music.

https://youtu.be/yt047O_lo1U

"  Accentuate the Positive-Eliminate the Negative "  Listen to this impassioned " sermon' in song by Harold Arlen and the southern boy lyricist. Johnny Mercer. The woman preacher is Barbara Cook, in her eighties and having overcome many difficulties in her life, still able to inspire audiences not to despair even in the face of dire circumstances.

I often start off my day with this song joined by " Ann of a Thousand Songs" and a coffee laced with Southern Comfort. ( and it is very comforting.)

https://youtu.be/bYim922qC0Y 

"  This Times the Dreams on Me"   Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer wrote this song for the 1942 movie " Blues in the Night" which also contained the famous song named in the film's title. It is sung so  tenderly by Dick Haymes, a splendid example of the term crooner , a style always appreciated by women listeners. These crooners would deliver songs with loving conviction. restraint and clarity. The tradition began with Bing Crosby, followed by Sinatra, Haymes and other male singers like Tony Bennett plus young singers like Michael Buble continuing in the same artistic tradition.

 https://youtu.be/wq4gYupKyls

Harold Arlen songs and the saga of women mis-treated by mean men"
Three songs by Harold Arlen expose the perfidy often foisted off on women by men who don't treat women in a kindly and respectful manner.

"  The Man that Got Away"  lyrics by Ira Gershwin. explores the sadness of a woman unhappily lamenting the woes over the man that got away.

' Stormy Weather" lyrics by Ted Koehler, was introduced by Ethel Waters in aCotton Club show. So powerful was her performance, that Ethel Waters had to sing 12 encores. In her sadness, she sings "It keeps on rainin' all the time."

"  Blues in the Night" lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Right from the start, she sings " My momma done told me, when I was in pigtails, my momma done told me 'hon, a mans gonna give you the big eye but when the sweet talkin's done, a man is a two-faced, a worrisome thing, who'll leave you to sing the blues in the night."
All three songs are imbued with a blues feeling as they explore  the sadness resulting from male mistreatment. 
The songs are performed by Maureen McGovern, who is blessed with a powerful voice and a 4 octave vocal range plus the dramatic ability to convince an audience that she does feel the pain inherent in each song.

https://youtu.be/uppOeC-YyiI 

Famous Composers Praise Harold Arlen: Scholars of Classic American Song generally agree that there are 6 songwriters who were most influential in shaping what is often called The Great American Songbook. Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin & Richard Rodgers are the first five so noted. The sixth is Harold Arlen who is wholly praised by the five in their own words.

                               In Praise of Harold Arlen 
*   " He is the most original of us all."     GEORGE  GERSHWIN 

*  " He wasn't as well known as some of us but he was more talented than most of us & in a nutshell, no one has written better songs than Harold Arlen."                        IRVING BERLIN

*  " I realized that he was the greatest new talent in years. He has a real valid talent, it is his own and completely original."
                                                                   RICHARD RODGERS

*  " A distinguished personality in music and I have admired him
'       for years,:                                            COLE PORTER    

*  " His songs are almost, without exception, genuine musical creations, not experiments in limitation."  JEROME KERN

Recognizing Arlen's originality is the essence of their praise.

Despite his relative anonymity ( even though his songs are well known) " Harold Arlen accumulated one of the most impressive catalogues in the history of American popular music, not merely lucrative Hit Parade material ( although there are plenty of those)
but evergreen songs that have long outlived their original films and stage presentations."
     Edward Jablonski  Arlen biographer and personal friend.




















                                                                                                                            

                                                  

An Arlen style torch song. " The Faraway Part of Town. 
Composer Andre Previn was a long-time admirer of Harold Arlen whose songs were characterized by inventive harmony and unusual song construction not limited to the standard 32 Bar, AABA song format. This song could have been written by Arlen himself, imbued as it is by Arlen's characteristic blues feeling and "torch song" appeal.. Sung here by Judy Garland, it harkens back to Garland's own emotionally riveting performance of Arlen's " The Man That Got Away" from " A Star is Born."

https://youtu.be/8IvFVxpDGDo