#Harold Arlen

[citizenscreen]

Composer Harold Arlen (sitting, right) joins Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger (back row, left) and and others for a Wizard of Oz sing-along in the NBC radio studio, circa 1939.

[jazzdailyblog]

"Jazz Lab:" A Quintessential Hard Bop Collaboration

Introduction: The late 1950s were a transformative period in jazz, as musicians explored new forms of expression within the evolving subgenre of hard bop. This era gave rise to some of the most innovative recordings in jazz history, many of which still resonate with listeners today. One such recording is “Jazz Lab”, a remarkable collaboration between alto saxophonist and arranger Gigi Gryce and…

[onewordshy]

Mary Wilson (of The Supremes) sings "Stormy Weather"

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Song of the Day - “Come Rain or Come Shine”

Today is the birthday of this fantastic song.

On March 30th, 1946, the Broadway show “St. Louis Woman” opened.

The musical’s tunes were written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer and the gem of the bunch was “Come Rain or Come Shine”.

In the show, this song was delivered by Ruby Hill and Harold Nicholas, sung as a duet.

The musical didn’t do that great, but this song rose up and became one of the most popular and most-recorded jazz standards of the era…

My dad had a big swing jazz band, and for a while, the lead singer was Jane Barbe, who is legendary for also being the voice that told you what time it was …”… at the tone, the time will be…”

I would sit in on all of the rehearsals and any recording sessions in the studio, and I idolized Jane like mad… so I learned this song at age five and tried to belt it out in my room the way Jane could…

Of the hundreds of covers, I suppose, after Jane with my dad and his band, Billie Holiday would get my vote as best.

Ray Charles is pretty phenomenal with this song too.

I think Judy Garland would’ve owned this one but for having the most god-awful arrangement of it that anyone could ever devise - with really fast bongo drums…

Dinah Washington is right up there.

Just a gorgeous tune....

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM6RQxVmGEI]

[Thanks Mary Elaine LeBey]

[weaversweek]

"Reach" and "Over the rainbow"

Unlike last year's effort, Fear of Music is not presented chronologically. Unlike many other lists of 50, this one is not ordered from great to even better.

However. It makes sense to start in the year 2000, and it makes sense to start with one of the songs just scraping into the top 50. Two of the Uncool50 have been replaced, this is the only one where I had serious doubts about whether it still merited a place. (Does this suggest I skimped on research last year? Probably.)

"Reach" - written by Cathy Dennis and Ronnie Hazelhurst, performed by S Club 7 - a European hit single in summer 2000. It's the era of manufactured pop, bursting through like sunshine through the clouds. Those harmonies! The uplifting melody line!

The whole century's going to be as fun and positive as this, right?

S Club 7 split less than two years later. Cathy Dennis wrote other big hits - I considered "Toxic" and "Can't get you out of my head", but neither survived into the top 100.

Eva Cassidy died in 1996. She was a natural musician - came up with three-part harmonies from nowhere, improvised with skill and precision - but never hit the record company leagues.

Indie label Blix Street had rights to Eva's live performances and studio records, and hawked them to tastemakers. One was Paul Walters, the producer of Terry Wogan's breakfast show on Radio 2.

From nowhere, Eva Cassiday was everywhere. Blix Street have eked out Eva's tiny back catalogue to a remarkable degree; I just hope they'll never try to use an autocomplete bot to "re-create" her.

"Over the rainbow" was written in the 1930s by Harold Arlen and Yip Harberg in 1938; I'd name Eva's as the definitive recording.

[transfemgeorgecostanza]

cigarette emoji

[thebrownees]

They wrote the soundtrack of a generation. Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, Harry Warren, Jimmy van Heusen, Victor Young, and more...

[nonesuchrecords]

Cécile McLorin Salvant performs “Optimistic Voices / No Love Dying,” from her Grammy-nominated album Ghost Song, live at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York this past spring, with Sullivan Fortner on piano, Keita Ogawa on percussion, Marvin Sewell on guitar, Alexa Tarantino  on flute, and Yasushi Nakamura on bass. The songs were written by Harold Arlen/Herbert Stothart/Yip Harburg and Gregory Porter, respectively. 

[odk-2]

Frank Sinatra - One for My Baby (1958)

Frank Sinatra - One for My Baby (and One More for the Road) (1958) Johnny Mercer (Lyrics) | Harold Arlen (Music) from: "Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely" (LP) (2018 Deluxe Edition)

Traditional Pop

JukeHostUK (left click = "play") (320kbps)

Personnel: Frank Sinatra: Vocals

Orchestra: The Nelson Riddle Orchestra

Piano: Bill Miller

Guitar: Al Hendrickson Al Viola

Harp: Kathryn Julye

Double Bass: Joe Comfort Eddie Gilbert

Drums / Percussion: Frank Flynn Bill Richmond

Horns: Trumpet: Cappy Lewis

Trombone: Milt Bernhart   Russell Brown Ray Sims Tommy Pederson

French Horn: James Decker James McGee George Price

Reeds/Woodwinds: Clarinet: Gus Bivona   Sal Franzella   Chuck Gentry Morris Bercov

Oboe: Arnold Koblentz Champ Webb

Flute: Arthur Gleghorn Harry Klee

Bassoon: Don Christlieb Norman Herzberg

Strings: Violin: Israel Baker Victor Bay   Alex Beller   Arnold Belnick   Daniel Karpilowsky   Emo Neufeld   Ben Gill   Paul Shure   Felix Slatkin   Marshall Sosson   Victor Amo Gerald Vinci

Viola: Alvin Dinkin   Stanley Harris Paul Robyn Dave Sterkin

Cello: James Arkatov   Armand Kaproff Joseph Saxon and Eleanor Slatkin

Conductor: Nelson Riddle Arranger: Nelson Riddle Producer: Voyle Gilmore

Recorded: @ The Capitol Tower Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California USA on June 25, 1958

Album Released: on September 8, 1958

Capitol Records

[singeratlarge]

SONG OF THE WEEK: “Ac​-​Cent​-​Tchu​-​Ate the Positive.” https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.bandcamp.com/track/ac-cent-tchu-ate-the-positive This song was written by the great American songwriters, Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer in 1944. Mercer sang it in the style of a sermon. He described his inspiration for the lyrics: "[My] publicity agent went to hear a sermon by Father Divine, and his subject was 'you got to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.’ …and I said 'Wow, that's a colorful phrase!'" The song has been covered many times in diverse styles, from country to jazz to punk. It reached me through the film soundtrack L.A. CONFIDENTIAL.

This track is from my collection of songs I play in assisted living homes. For some time I've been performing for people in various stages of dementia and disability. I've seen miraculous things happen while singing to people who are considered to be "disconnected"—suddenly they're singing, clapping, tapping, dancing...all because of these familiar tunes. There is proof-positive that music reaches into more areas of the brain than language, math, and other forms of communication. You can help me to continue this work. Your download my music helps to underwrite my expenses to keep doing musical service in these homes. Thanks for tuning in and stay positive!

#Positivity #JohnnyMercer #GreatAmericanSongbook #HaroldArlen #popmusic #standards #jazz #FatherDivine #LAConfidential #RussellCrowe #assistedlivinghome #carehomes #dementia #Alzheimers #disability #JohnnyJBlair #Singeratlarge

[cbjustmusic]

Janis Ian with Tommy Emmanuel performing "At Seventeen”, a song that Ian wrote and for which she won the 1976 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The performance ends with “Over the Rainbow”. _____________________ At Seventeen Songwriter: Janis Ian

I learned the truth at 17 That love was meant for beauty queens And high school girls with clear skinned smiles Who married young and then retired

The valentines I never knew The Friday night charades of youth Were spent on one more beautiful At 17 I learned the truth

And those of us with ravaged faces Lacking in the social graces Desperately remained at home Inventing lovers on the phone

Who called to say, "Come dance with me" And murmured vague obscenities It isn't all it seems At 17

A brown eyed girl in hand-me-downs Whose name I never could pronounce Said, "Pity please the ones who serve They only get what they deserve"

And the rich relationed hometown queen Marries into what she needs With a guarantee of company And haven for the elderly

Remember those who win the game Lose the love they sought to gain In debentures of quality And dubious integrity

Their small-town eyes will gape at you In dull surprise when payment due Exceeds accounts received At 17

To those of us who knew the pain Of valentines that never came And those whose names were never called When choosing sides for basketball

It was long ago and far away The world was younger than today And dreams were all they gave for free To ugly duckling girls like me

We all play the game, and when we dare To cheat ourselves at solitaire Inventing lovers on the phone Repenting other lives unknown

That call and say, "Come dance with me" And murmur vague obscenities At ugly girls like me At 17

_________________________ Over the Rainbow Music by Harold Arlen; Lyrics by Yip Harburg

When all the world is a hopeless jumble And the raindrops tumble all around Heaven opens a magic lane

When all the clouds darken up the skyway There's a rainbow highway to be found Leading from your windowpane

To a place behind the sun Just a step beyond the rain

Somewhere, over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I dreamed of Once in a lullaby

Somewhere, over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true

Some day I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where laughter falls like lemon drops away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me

Somewhere, over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true

If happy little bluebirds fly Beyond the rainbow Why, oh, why can't I?

[citizenscreen]

Composer Harold Arlen was born on February 15, 1905 #botd, in a fabulous picture with Lena Horne

[ingridverse]

I don't know if you both are clowning or not, but the educated fleas reference is to the "trained" fleas of a Flea Circus, a circus sideshow in which real or simulated fleas perform.

Also, the lyricist needed a rhyme for "bees do it"

forever fascinated by the many machinations of brennan's mind

[roysexton]

“A word of caution. This is not a comedy club. You are not onstage.” Joker: Folie à Deux

For many, these years of the pandemic era stripped away things that offered balance and refilled wells – movies, theater, travel. Consequently, people lost themselves in work – aiming to ride the highs of Zoom-fueled interviews, podcasts, and meet ups – perhaps at times being advised by friends and colleagues that they were “too much” for this world, and at other times being told they were “not…

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

1933 Harold Arlen - Let’s Fall In Love :: Though the 1933 film “Let’s Fall In Love” featured Ann Sothern and Edmund Lowe atop the cast list, the real star was the title song, heard here and there throughout the movie. Among the many recordings of the tune that became available in early 1934 (Eddy Duchin’s was the best-seller), my personal favorite is this rather melancholy one by the song’s co-writer Arlen. LP audio, originally issued on 78rpm: Victor 24467 - Let’s Fall In Love (Koehler-Arlen) by Harold Arlen, orchestra conducted by Ray Sinatra, recorded November 1, 1933

Sung by the song's composer, Harold Arlen (b. Hyman Arluck, 1905-1986), who also composed some 500 other songs including "Over the Rainbow".  Mr. Arlen's unsophisticated but heartfelt rendition of his own composition evokes a different, more innocent era.