Monday 26 August 2019

CRY  ME  A RIVER:  This is a superior pop song from 1954. It was written by Arthur Hamilton and is very much in the tradition of the torch songs of Harold Arlen. George Gershwin and Cole Porter, noted creators of the Great American Songbook canon.
Elegantly sung by Ella Fitzgerald, she is accompanied by a sumptuous orchestral arrangement by Jorge Callendrelli and played by the London Symphony Orchesta which brings out the sadness inherent in both the melody and the lyrics.

 https://youtu.be/0ZyKaBwRP7o

Saturday 17 August 2019

TOO LATE NOW- but not for Marilyn Maye.  A superb singer, Maye is 91 and still performing. She holds the the record for the most appearances ( 76) by a singer on
Johnny Carsons " Tonight Show."  Even Ella Fitzgerald called Maye her favorite white girl singer, The New Yorker describes her as " A last-of-her kind crooner who can still mesmerize an audience as she interprets the Great American Songbook with an unfussy warnth that feels transported from a less ironic age, She belives that she sings to you, not for you.

Too Late Now is from the 1951 movie " Royal Wedding", music by Buron Lane, lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner.  There is such ease of expression in Marilyn's singing and she could offer a Master Class to today's strident " divas" who feel evrything must be at a fever pitch in omostrder to impress. Marilyn prefers to tell the story in a flowing. unforced manner. It is conversational =not an assault on the ears. At 91, Mariyn Maye is a most remarkable and enviable performer. 

 https://youtu.be/wPjEJPBuWZE

Thursday 8 August 2019

Country Girl   Tony Bennett sings another Robert Farnon song, Country Girl. It is a reflective song,written in the style of an English folk ballad with lyrics by Kenneth McKellar, a Scottish singer/songwriter. This is a live performance with a large orchestra, conducted by the composer/arranger Robert Farnon. 

https://youtu.be/cYN-R2Qrhx0

Wednesday 7 August 2019

How Beautifil Is Night :  This is a rhapsodic blending of music and poetic expression. The composition is by former Torontonian, Robert Farnon. He led a Canadian version of the Glen Miller military band during WW11 and stayed in Great Britain where he established a stellar reputation as a master of Light Orchestral Music. He is acknowledged as the greatest arranger for strings by musical giants like Andre Previn and Quincy Jones. This song, .arranged and led by Farnon, features the Singers Unlimited, four singers who over dub a number of different parts so it sounds like a full chorus.Their vocal arrangements are by Gene Puerling. His reputation as an imaginative arranger for vocal groups is on the same level as Farnon's orchestral writing.
I also include a piano version with George Shearing backed by Faron's orchestra.
Amidst the caterwhauling that describes much of current popular music, the serenity of this piece in the hands of it's creator is quite profound.

https://youtu.be/HQjePvI5FGQ   Singers Unlimited

https://youtu.be/JLkXyJbBB4A    George Shearing