Buds won't Bud--------- Catchy, Clever Arlen/Harburg Ditty
This is a Two for One Arlen offering since he first wrote the song and then sings it in his unique swinging manner that Will Friedwald described as " He swings with an abandon I can't imagine coming from any other white band singer of the era
( the 1930's) other than Bing Crosby and Cliff Edwards." On numerous occasions, people thought that the singer they were listening to was black, so comfortable was Arlen with the prevailing jazz and blues idioms.
Harburg's lyrics were more in the saucy and clever style of Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart and they effortlessly match Arlen's own zippy melody.
Only Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer among the great songwriters could effectively sing their own material. If you've ever heard Cole Porter , Irving Berlin or Richard Rodgers sing or play the piano you will know what I mean.
https://youtu.be/T0M4Msoz5_k
Saturday 26 December 2015
RIGHT AS THE RAIN-STUNNING HAROLD ARLEN BALLAD SUNG BY LEONTYNE PRICE
Right As The Rain-Stunning Harold Arlen ballad sung by Leontyne Price
For the 1943 show Bloomer Girl, Harold Arlen and lyricist E.Y.Harburg wrote a tender ballad for Evalina, the Southern Girl in love with a rakish Southern gentleman . This is a song that Alec Wilder described as " A lesson in melodic writing that flows from start to finish in a long, increasingly intense and dramatic fashion.
Sung by Leontyne Price, the magnificent opera and concert singer, it proves that even formally trained singers can do justice to a Broadway ballad and coming from the South herself, Ms. Price sings with conviction but without excessive operatic formality.
In contrast, Tony Bennett sings the song as a romantic pop ballad and it is equally effective on its own terms.
A good melody can be interpreted in many ways provided each performance does justice to the melody and the story unfolding in the lyrics.
https://youtu.be/D5PFLogttFE
https://youtu.be/duWWMeHaqfw
For the 1943 show Bloomer Girl, Harold Arlen and lyricist E.Y.Harburg wrote a tender ballad for Evalina, the Southern Girl in love with a rakish Southern gentleman . This is a song that Alec Wilder described as " A lesson in melodic writing that flows from start to finish in a long, increasingly intense and dramatic fashion.
Sung by Leontyne Price, the magnificent opera and concert singer, it proves that even formally trained singers can do justice to a Broadway ballad and coming from the South herself, Ms. Price sings with conviction but without excessive operatic formality.
In contrast, Tony Bennett sings the song as a romantic pop ballad and it is equally effective on its own terms.
A good melody can be interpreted in many ways provided each performance does justice to the melody and the story unfolding in the lyrics.
https://youtu.be/D5PFLogttFE
https://youtu.be/duWWMeHaqfw
Monday 21 December 2015
HAROLD ARLEN'S FIRST RECORDING-SINGING WITH THE BUFFALODIANS
Harold Arlen's first recording as a singer with The Buffalodians.
Having left high school at age 16, Arlen began as a pianist, singer and arranger with the Buffalodians, a hot jazz band playing in Buffalo area speakeasies and Lake Erie boat excursions.
The song is How Many Times by Irving Berlin as arranged by Arlen. You can hear Harold's high-pitched singing that is a preview of much of his later jazz influenced compositions, arranging,playing and singing.
Edward Jablonski, Arlen's first biographer wrote that " Unlike many of the great songwriters of his generation--Burton Lane, Arthur Schwartz- he was initially drawn to and influenced by the music of jazzmen, white and black, before he seriously studied the show music of Jerome Kern and especially George Gershwin." Arlen idolized Gershwin who would later be quoted as saying that " He (Arlen) is the most original of us all."
It's safe to say that of all the major popular song innovators only Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer spent any time playing and singing with jazz groups and orchestras. Certainly Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and Richard
Rodgers , as well-educated , middle and upper class individuals could not be found playing with jazzmen as much as they might have liked this new found musical entertainment. Their own piano playing was not up to such a task.
Arlen's entire career demonstrates his empathy with and mastery of jazz and blues music.
Note: A new Arlen biography " The Man That Got Away" by Walter Rimmer has shed new light on aspects of Arlen's life hitherto undocumented . It has been critically acclaimed by early reviewers.
https://youtu.be/p1N66itSyMY
Having left high school at age 16, Arlen began as a pianist, singer and arranger with the Buffalodians, a hot jazz band playing in Buffalo area speakeasies and Lake Erie boat excursions.
The song is How Many Times by Irving Berlin as arranged by Arlen. You can hear Harold's high-pitched singing that is a preview of much of his later jazz influenced compositions, arranging,playing and singing.
Edward Jablonski, Arlen's first biographer wrote that " Unlike many of the great songwriters of his generation--Burton Lane, Arthur Schwartz- he was initially drawn to and influenced by the music of jazzmen, white and black, before he seriously studied the show music of Jerome Kern and especially George Gershwin." Arlen idolized Gershwin who would later be quoted as saying that " He (Arlen) is the most original of us all."
It's safe to say that of all the major popular song innovators only Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer spent any time playing and singing with jazz groups and orchestras. Certainly Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and Richard
Rodgers , as well-educated , middle and upper class individuals could not be found playing with jazzmen as much as they might have liked this new found musical entertainment. Their own piano playing was not up to such a task.
Arlen's entire career demonstrates his empathy with and mastery of jazz and blues music.
Note: A new Arlen biography " The Man That Got Away" by Walter Rimmer has shed new light on aspects of Arlen's life hitherto undocumented . It has been critically acclaimed by early reviewers.
https://youtu.be/p1N66itSyMY
Saturday 28 November 2015
"I Had Myself A True Love" Poignant Aria from St. Louis Woman
" I Had Myself A True Love" Poignant aria from St. Louis Woman. Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer wrote a wonderful score for St. Louis Woman which depicted the characters and lively culture of African Americans . It was based on a play set in turn-of-the century St. Louis. Alec Wilder, song scholar and critic that this was " A long song and very nearly an aria but so beautifully made and under such adroit control that it never gets out of hand as ambitious, highly emotional songs often do."
The song requires a singer of the capacity of a Broadway diva like Audra McDonald to mater the complexity and vocal demands of this unique song aria.
The song requires a singer of the capacity of a Broadway diva like Audra McDonald to mater the complexity and vocal demands of this unique song aria.
Monday 13 April 2015
SINATRA & GARLAND-2 VERSIONS OF THE ULTIMATE TORCH SONG-THE MAN OR GAL THAT GOT AWAY
Sinatra & Garland-2 versions of the ultimate torch song--The Man OR Girl that got away
In the 1954 film " A Star is Born", Judy Garland played a Big Band singer who w as catapulted into movie stardom. Early in the film, Garland is in an after hours jazz club where musicians go to play for themselves.
In an iconic film moment, Judy sings a lament for lost loves in the emotional Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin song
' The Man that Got Away." Her stunning performance is on a par with her earliest triumph singing " ,Over The Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz.."
Frank Sinatra also latched on to this torch song but now the lyrics underscore " The Gal that Got Away."
Both Sinatra and Garland were consummate singing actors who could bring to life the character and feelings of the person who sings the song.
Popular songs will never stop exploring the emotional turmoil of a love that has been lost. Such songs should continue to be written since they are an important aspect of the human condition. Harold Arlen has written many of these kinds of songs like " One for My Baby" " Blues in the Night" " I Gotta A Right To Sing the Blues" " Ill Wind" " Last Night When W e Were Young" and " Stormy Weather."
Garland version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYoc8h75KVM
Sinatra version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W84Te_AvdeA
In the 1954 film " A Star is Born", Judy Garland played a Big Band singer who w as catapulted into movie stardom. Early in the film, Garland is in an after hours jazz club where musicians go to play for themselves.
In an iconic film moment, Judy sings a lament for lost loves in the emotional Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin song
' The Man that Got Away." Her stunning performance is on a par with her earliest triumph singing " ,Over The Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz.."
Frank Sinatra also latched on to this torch song but now the lyrics underscore " The Gal that Got Away."
Both Sinatra and Garland were consummate singing actors who could bring to life the character and feelings of the person who sings the song.
Popular songs will never stop exploring the emotional turmoil of a love that has been lost. Such songs should continue to be written since they are an important aspect of the human condition. Harold Arlen has written many of these kinds of songs like " One for My Baby" " Blues in the Night" " I Gotta A Right To Sing the Blues" " Ill Wind" " Last Night When W e Were Young" and " Stormy Weather."
Garland version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYoc8h75KVM
Sinatra version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W84Te_AvdeA
Tuesday 27 January 2015
"ILL WIND"- GREAT HAROLD ARLEN TORCH SONG FROM THE COTTON CLUB REVUE
"Ill Wind"--Great Harold Arlen torch song from The Cotton Club Revue:
Written in 1934, with lyricist Ted Koehler, Ill Wind is just one of the dramatic torch songs Arlen had written during his lengthy career. In the 1930's, Harlem's Cotton Club featured the finest black entertainers like Lena Horne,Ethel Waters, the Nicholas Brothers and bands likethose of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. Arlen wrote a number of songs, some quite rique fro the Society folks who travelled uptown to a place where blacks could entertain but not sit as customers.
In the 1970's, Hollywood launched a movie called The Cotton Club. It recreated the life and times of that turbulent but highly creative period during Prohibition days.
This most evocative song was sung in the movie by Lonette McKee. The film footage shown along with her performance captures the dangerous night club atmosphere with gangsters fighting for control of the Club and the lives of the black entertainers .It was a most exciting era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaShvVW1w5U
Written in 1934, with lyricist Ted Koehler, Ill Wind is just one of the dramatic torch songs Arlen had written during his lengthy career. In the 1930's, Harlem's Cotton Club featured the finest black entertainers like Lena Horne,Ethel Waters, the Nicholas Brothers and bands likethose of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. Arlen wrote a number of songs, some quite rique fro the Society folks who travelled uptown to a place where blacks could entertain but not sit as customers.
In the 1970's, Hollywood launched a movie called The Cotton Club. It recreated the life and times of that turbulent but highly creative period during Prohibition days.
This most evocative song was sung in the movie by Lonette McKee. The film footage shown along with her performance captures the dangerous night club atmosphere with gangsters fighting for control of the Club and the lives of the black entertainers .It was a most exciting era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaShvVW1w5U
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