Harold Arlen-The American " Natural"

Harold Arlen-The American " Natural"  The Great American Songbook or Classic American Popular Song, was the collective creation of a number of American innovative song writers who breathed new life into American popular song traditions which had been immersed in European musical traditions. Alec Wilder contributed a landmark study in his 1973 book,  American Popular Song   The Great Innovators  1900-1950 . In the Introducution, Editor James T. Maher wrote that" probably just before the turn of the century, the American popular song took on and consolidated , certain native characteristics-verbal,melodic,harmonic and rhythmic-that distinguished it from the popular song of other countries." He went on to add that " These songs were American: unlike earlier songs published in America  they were native not only in provenance but in their musical character. Their vigor,novelty and musical daring removed them light years from European precedent even though in Jerome Kern's song, one may sense certain vague resonances of contemporary London theater music."
 Given the emergence of a distinctly American musical style, Wilder stated that there were a number of innovative creators of the new musical form and, at the top of his list, were Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin,George Gershwin,Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter and Harold Arlen. There were other notable composer and lyricists who contributed great songs to the " Songbook" but these six men had the most significant careers in terms of both quality as well as significant output.
 Of all of these innovators, Harold Arlen is the sole subject of this blog and is referred to in the title as the American " Natural." Why natural ? Wilder believed that " Even in his later, more ambitious melodies, he never drew upon or was influenced by European music of any kind. He is wholly a product of American jazz, Big Band music and American popular song. In a New Yorker article, John Lahr ( the son of Bert Lahr. the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz)  wrote that "Unlike the music of most of his contemporaries, Arlen's harmonic flair and his melodic opulence were not influenced by Europe; instead , they grew out of the liberating principles of American jazz."
                               Listen to the comments of his fellow innovative song writers.: 
  
Irving Berlin: " He wasn't as well known as some of us and, in a nutshell , no one has written better songs than him":
Jerome Kern: " His songs are almost, without exception, genuine musical creations and not just experiments in limitation."
Richard Rodgers: " I realized he was the greatest new talent in years. He has a real valid talent and it's completely original."
Cole Porter: " A distinguished personality in music and I have admired him for years."
George Gershwin : " He is the most original of us all."
Ira Gershwin: " As one of the most individual of American show composers, he is distinctive in melodic line and unusual construction."
Johnny Mercer: " He is probably our most original composer"

These are the genuine words of praise for Harold Arlen by the song writers  Wilder identified as the most innovative composers writing in the tradition of classic American popular song. What they uniformly express is the distinctive individuality and originality that are the hallmarks of Arlen's writing. 
We will follow Arlen's life and creative development in chronological fashion from his teenage years in the 1920's till his death in 1986. It is a life and career well  worth remembering.

Max Weissengruber