APRIL SNOW   Sigmund Romberg was born in Europe and came out of the European operetta tradition. In America, he was a successful composer of musicals. April Snow was written with that excellent lyricist Dorothy Fields for 1947's Up In Central Park. 
Tomorrow marks the beginning of April and the true spring season.
This song tells of a love "That's Light and swift as the April Snow." It comes and goes very quickly with no lasting qualities. 
Sung by the HI LO'S, that pioneering vocal group founded by the brilliant arranger Gene Puerling, the performance is also very light and swift, just like an April Snow.

 https://youtu.be/CrFdf5O6w68


 

PRETTY WOMEN    Stephan Sondheims music is often criticized for its complex and difficult melodic and harmonic constructions. His lyrics, on the other hand, are recognized as some of the most ingenious and clever ever created for the Broadway stage.
From Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street , Sondheim penned a tribute to pretty women and the power they have to excite the emotions of male admirers,
In the musical, Sweeney and Judge Turpin, who has imprisoned Sweeney's daughter Joanna but plans to marry her eventually. Sweeney ends up killing thwe Judge who end up as one of Mrs. Lovett's meat pies. Gruesome indeed. Listening to this lovely melody one would have no idea about what will eventually happen.
In their own very different ways, they both love and praise the charms of " Pretty Women ."

https://youtu.be/9tI-NNvHwi0 

OLD FRIENDS    For the show Merrily We Roll Along, Stephan Sondheim wrote Old Friends, a tribute to the lastinh connection between friends because as he said " Whose Like Us  "----DAMN FEW !
Growing together throughout their lives, only oldold friends have lasting connections and shared memories that more recent friends cannot duplicate.

https://youtu.be/l5FyEQ7cqrM

That's All   Written by Alan Brandt and and Bob Haymes( singer Dick Haymes younger brother) it had been described by Alec Wilder, song archivist supreme, as " One of the last free-flowing,native and natural melodies in the grand pop style. It's one of the warmest, most natural and least "stidied" songs Wilder knew ( of the more than 17,000 songs he studied for his magnum opus " American Popular Song: The Great Innovators: 1900-1950.
Who better to convey the intrinsic warmth of the song than 
Nat King Cole whose style is ideally fitted to the requirements of the song.
As a bonus, here is a Sinatra version proving that a great song can be performed in different styles and still remain great.

https://youtu.be/sooSaQpGnMM 

https://youtu.be/SINfqtCq0lY 

Spring arrives at last. Now that Winter is about to be given that old heave h, time for some classic songs of spring. Here are two by Richard Rodgers. The first " Spring is Here" has lyrics by Lorenz Hart. He wasn't too happy because " Nobody loves me" Nonetheless , it has a beautiful melody and lyrics are ruefully exquisite. It is sung by Frank Sinatra from his landmark LP Only The Lonely , a collection "Guess I'' Hang My Tears Out To Dry and Blues In The Night.
 Oscar Hammerstein Jr. was called The Cock-Eyed optimist from one of his own South Pacific songs and he had an essentially positive view of life, as did Richard Rodgers. Together they wrote It Might as well be Spring for the movie State Fair where it was sung by Dick Haymes. Mel Torme. another masterful 20th century singer is note -perfect  and Shearing starts with an intro quoting Brigg Fair, a British folk melody before launching into a French Impressionist harmonic Rhapsody to underscore the very gossamer like vocalizing of Torme.

https://youtu.be/IoHsCn9Td8s 


https://youtu.be/cwBuI07cy6g

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square  Written in 1929 in France, the song gained great popularity in 1940's recorded by Vera Lynn . It helped Londoners focus on a more pleasant time in London even while the Germans were bombing the city  I have heard many vocal renditions of this fine song but I believe the  live George Shearing-Mel Torme is the finest. Great vocalizing and highly imaginative piano accompaniment 
At the conclusion, Shearing, on the piano, simulates a bird-like trill just like that of the Nightingale. With this performance. there " surely was magic abroad in the air ."


https://youtu.be/CJKjn2OtyH0

London By Night  Although this blog celebrates American popular song , Eric Coates London by Night and E. Maschitz .A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square are songs written by two Londoners yet very much in the tradition of Jerome Kern or Richard Rodgers. Strong melodies with literate lyrics.
The Singers Unlimited are an A Capella group who overdub multiple voices to create an orchestral vocal
sound. You can also enjoy the pictures of that great city
 https://youtu.be/yjA9NwWEfLA

BIG BAND EXTRAVAGANZA   Anyone over the age of 60 is likely to have heard and danced to the music of the great Big Bands. John Wilson's huge pops orchestra presents a symphony of big band selections featuring songs by Duke Ellington, Glen Miller, Cole Porter Lionel Hampton etc. Younger people involved with the Swing phenomenon have also given  new life to this material
There is an unforgettable emotional excitement in these songs provided by the great arrangers and players who bring them to life. I defy anyone not to tap there toes and fingers while listening.

https://youtu.be/f-cgygWdJOE

Corrected version of Sinatra  The Girl From Ipanema

The earlier post has Sinatra singing several other Bossa Nova songs by Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.
This is the version I wanted to provide. 

https://youtu.be/bwcmGSUWGw4 

 

Sinatra sings The Girl from Ipanema. 
For me, a strictly personal view id that it was theintroduction of the Bossa Nova musical style from Brazil that brought a fresh musical style to offset the incessant noise and banging of Rock and Roll ( which was helpful when chasing co eds in college. )
Antonio Carls Jobim was the most prolific composer, pianist and guitarist of the Bossa Nova movement. Here he is with Frank Sinatra singing about The Girl From Ipanema- a sultry vision of loveliness strolling along the beachfront.

https://youtu.be/bwcmGSUWGw4 

Arlen's Goodbye Songs: " What's Good About Goodbye? "& " Don't Like Goodbyes "
" What's good about Goodbye"  is sung by Tony Martin who risks arrest by trying to leave the Casbah to follow Marta Toren. He sings the song knowing he may never see her again.
" Don't Like Goodbyes " is sung by Pearl Bailey in her role as a Madame Fleur in a Haitian bordello who knows some of her ladies will be leaving The House Of Flowers. 
Both songs express the sadness of departure and the unlikelihood of return.

 https://youtu.be/ncAv39ySmnM


https://youtu.be/fVM61ntxN90 

 

Moanin' In The Mornin'  This is a true "torch song" one of the many Arlen created over the years. Along with lyricist E. Y. Harburg, the song was introduced in the 1937 version of Hooray For What.
Although not a traditional blue number, the loneliness and despair that characterizes the blues tradition is present as sung by songstress Dinah Shore who also had a fine recording of Arlen's Blues In The Night.

https://youtu.be/AcjlHAKSlY8 

More Than You Know  In 1929, Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose and Edward Elescu wrote the song that famed songwriter Johnny Mercer said was his favorite popular song. Here we have two famous singers Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett each performing with lesser known young singers doing  a song from The Great American Songbook.
Streisand pairs with Michael Buble and Bennett with Carrie Underwood These performances prove once again that standards like More Than You Know continue to attract newer performers. Good singing of good songs will never be out of style.

 https://youtu.be/ATcUiyBaKhM

https://youtu.be/3kpu4mYrbQg

Two songs by Kurt Weill-My Ship and It Never Was You
Kurt Weill, the German born composer of the Three Penny Opera and other classical works came to America and wrote a number of theatrical works like Lady in the Dark, and Lost in The Stars and Knickerbocker Holiday.
Julie Andrews and Andre Previn perform My Ship from Lady In he Dark 9 Ira Gershwin) and the lesser known It Never Was You from Knickerbocker Holiday ( Maxwell Anderson) . That show also introduced September Song sung by Walter Huston. 
Previn always provides interesting and effective accompaniment for female singers.

 https://youtu.be/XmAEMyLIdxc

A Nightingale Sang in Berkely Square  
American composer Manning Sherman and British Lyricist Eric Maschwitz combined to write a wonderful, emotionally evocative song about a local district in London.

American singer Mel Torme and British pianist George Shearing combine in a stunning live performance with Shearing producing an authentic birdlike trill just like the iconic Nightingale. Torme sings as perfectly as is humanly possible, a tribute to his musicianship

https://youtu.be/_ZMD0ApAxiE