" Spring ( and pandemics) can really hang you up the most." Tommy Wolfe and Fran Landesman once wrote a song that dispensed with all the alleged glories of springtime.Instead, the song belives that springtime charms are largely illusory.The optimistic " we shall overcome" rhetoric around the pandemic reality may also overlook the battles that are still to be fought and won. Minimizing the significance of the challenges ahead may also ' Really hang you up the most."
Jane Monheit performs a passionate and sobering worry about both spring and the virus. The verse or introductory section says it all.

 https://youtu.be/s-Gik7DVYWQ

"  A perfect example of jazz improvisation" Theories of what constitute improvisation in music may be helpful. But listening to great examples of this art form makes it emotionally available.You may  be familiar with Debussy;s Clair De Lune from his Suite Bergamasque. Pianist Fred Hersch begins by playing the composition as written and as we know it. Then he takes off in a magical , accelerated flight of fancy. We now hear aspects of the basic melody but augmented by what Hersch feels inspired him to build on the original, creating a new composition of his own,
In fact, much of classical music uses theme and variation tropes. Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini contains 18 different treatments of the original theme. 

https://youtu.be/wEMWZM3k_q0

" A Jazz Pianist describes his approach to playing"  Bill Evans, a major influence in jazz piano developments explains how he approaches his approach to improvisation and more technical aspects of his art. Even if you are not a pianist or song scholar, the way he talks about his musical convictions lets us in on the mind of a true artist. He plays for himself and what pleases him. Fortunately. it also pleases many others.

https://youtu.be/P-8VamlySXU

"

' Two Jazz ballads that sound like classical piano ballads or nocturnes. Billy Strayhorn's "Lotus Blossom,"   played by Fred Hersch , just as it was written and not requiring improvisation. It was already perfect.
Next is "Valentine," played live by it's composer, Fred  Hersch. There are some improvised passages but since Hersch was the composer, he could augment his original conception with some moments when he could re -compose the piece but never stray too far from the original.
Chopin or Rachmaninoff would not be ashamed to put their names on such pianistic gems.


https://youtu.be/N3lzKxt20Zo


https://youtu.be/1BARaUnqeBs

" April in Paris" In 1932 Vladimir Dukelsky ( renamed VERNON DUKE by his friend and supporter George Gershwin to Americanize the name for am aspiring popular songwriter) The Russian born classical composer, a contemporary of Igor Stravinsky, teamed with a New York lyricist E.Y Harburg,to write a song evoking all the majesty and thrills of the City OF Light. The verse or separate intro section is placed not at the beginning, as is normal, but tucked away in The middle before the rousing refrain starting with " I never knew the charm of Spring, never met it face-to-face""
Dawn Upshaw, a classicly trained singer ,,unlike many of her contemporaries, does know how to sing American popular songs. As a rule, she doesn't try to reach the balcony as opera singers are required to do.  However, In the middle section, she unleashes her emotional conviction in the songs message as the orchestra also rises to the occasion..

https://youtu.be/u2OkHbT5yFQ 

" Corrected version of " Autumn in New York"

This is the Dawn Upshaw version that has replaced the one I originally sent out, that version no longer available.'' 

pLEASE LOOK AT THE PERFORMANCE NOTES ON THE ORIGINAL VERSION # 1.

https://youtu.be/WyfFxkyLsQQ        cORECTED VERSION

" For Once In My Life"   Tony Bennett introduced this song by Ron Miller and it is one of Tony's own favourite numbers. Here he teams with Stevey Wonder to produce a wonderful recording with both singers demonstrating the personal emotional depths in their singing styles. The arrangement is superb and highlighted by Stevey's harmonica solo backed by the string section.

 https://youtu.be/v8PUjQpu78s

" American in Paris"  George Gershwins orchestral masterpiece given the best performance I have ever heard. The Venezuelan conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, hs such an emotional affinity for the music that he inspires the orchestra to literally 'blow their brains out." This piece really captured the essential buoyancy and uninhibited joy of the American zeitgeist.
Musicologist Robert Kaufman, a former brass instrumentalist was also enthralled by the spirited authenticity of Dudamel's interpretation,especially by the trombone and French Horn sections.

https://youtu.be/EGt000iascg 

"  That Face " Producer and Manhattan celebrity David Susskind was enraptured by the face of Joyce Davidson who he eventually married.She was a Canadian born television interviewer and personality who. with husband Susskind, became part of the glittering Manhattan social scene. David loved the song written by Lew Spence and lyrics by Alan Bergman ( inspired by his soon-to-be wife Marilyn with whom he co- wrote lyrics for Michel LeGrand,Johnny Mandel, Dave Frishberg and Barbra Streisand.)
Whenever Joyce and David entered the Cafe Carlyle, a watering hole for Manhattan society,singer & pianist Bobby Short would immediately start playing "That Face" much to the couple's delight and appreciation.
Here it is performed by Fred Astaire whose clear diction and articulation of the lyrics conveys the passion evoked by " That ( marvellous) Face."



 https://youtu.be/q5lznRBoMIo

" Imagine writing 3 great songs in one night !" Bandleader Isham Jones did so in 1924. Inspired by the brand new piano his wife had presented, he wrote " I'll Se You In My dreams" , "The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else", and perhaps the best one " It Had to be You."
All three are presented in this post. 

I'll see you in my Dreams--Pied Pipers with Jo Stafford 
https://youtu.be/ZgJ0GHXqAyI

Sinatra: The One I Love belongs to Somebody Else
https://youtu.be/Az8Mst7jCHA

" It Had to be You "Johnny Mercer favourite song Barbra Streisand & Michel Buble duet

https://youtu.be/ATcUiyBaKhM

Richard Rodgers two great songs about "SPRING." Spring is here is a somewhat sombre reflection that although Spring is here but" Nobody Loves Me." These lyrics reflect the unhappy and unsuccessful love life of lyricist Lorenz Hart. He even later wrote the song " Nobody's Heart (belongs to me) The melody is quite plaintive, especially when one just hears it only as an instrumental, wihout those sorrowful words.Frank Sinatra aptly conveys the sad lament inherent in Lorenz Hart's lyrics.
" It Might As Well Be Spring, whose poetic lyrics were by that "cockeyed optimist" Oscar Hammerstein. A happily married family man and mentor of Stephan Sondheim. He exclaims that " I'm As Busy As a Spider spinning day dreams. I'm as jumpy as a puppet on a string, I'd say that I had Spring fever, but it isn't even Spring." Doris Day's sunny persona is very suited to Hammerstein's hopeful lyrics which refer to Spring Fever as the cause for her restlessness, waiting for something to happen in her life.
These two very different word smiths both benefit from the spendid melodic gifts of Richard Rodgers.

https://youtu.be/O8HH5zEn-Ec

 
https://youtu.be/Jm3D4_Ij_cU