Wanting to be " Like It Was"   Sometimes, in our imagination we would like to return and relive golden moments from the past. This song is from Stephan Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, a musical that starts in the present and goes back in time to a beginning. Carol Burnett sings so effectively about days gone by, days that are gone but delightedly yet wistfully remembered.

https://youtu.be/E6rVUrQP8_c 

Everybody Ought to Have a Maid: In his first Broadway musical, Stephan Sondheim solves that old complaint " It's hard to find good help today" In Everybody Ought to have a maid, Zero Mostel and friends in A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To the Forum list all the licentious benefits of a live- in maid in Ancient Rome.

 https://youtu.be/Ahqu1nd3Zu8

Guess I'll Go Back Home This Summer  This poignant song was written by Willard Robison,.He was a songwriter in the rural, folksy tradition of Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer and this song invokes thoughts of any places from which we all might have come. It was sung by Jack Teagarden, a masterful jazz trombonist who was also a compelling vocalist with a natural , down home country jazz feel.


https://youtu.be/4hPwmh6s7s8

Everything I've Got Belongs to You  With Richard Rodgers, Larry Hart wrote these tongue-in-cheek lines that promise to lunch multiple mayhem on the singer;s target. Done in an equally sardonic and minimalist fashion by Blossom Dearie, she is also accompanied by Dr. Billy Taylor, song scholar and jazz educator.

https://youtu.be/Nynn1XMj8DE 

You Are There   Memories of those who have gone still haunt those left behind, A Johnny Mandel composition with lyrics by Dave Frishbergm a composer in his own right of songs like Peel Me A Grape and My Attorney Bernie.
Roseanne Vitro, a singer new to me sings with great conviction and clarity,  is accompanied by pianist Kenny Werner.

https://youtu.be/ZScfz65CrQc 

Joy Spring    Jazz Trumpet legend Clifford Brown wrote this ode to the joy that spring can bring. Lyrics were added by Jon Hendricks of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross whose own nroots in jazz were helpful in creating lyrics for an up tempo, challenging jazz composition. Karrin Allyson, a talented singer/pianist is up to the challenge of performing such a unique jazz influenced song.

https://youtu.be/N19RpTLhAZM 

This Happy Madness  Sinatra and Jobim sing lyrics by Canadian Gene Lees who worked at the Spec and later edited Downbeat magazine.
There is a tricky, triple internal rhyme scheme by Lees when he has Sinatra sing
" And I fell gladly, sadly and madly into love."

https://youtu.be/DVQ_OCXiBmY 

Cow Cow Boogie   Gene DePaul and Don Raye wrote this boogie woogie classic in a country and western style. It was recorded by Freddy Slack and his orchestra and sung by Ella Mae Morse with Slack playing the boogie style piano. It was the first million dollar record from the newly formed Capital Records  started by Johnny Mercer and Buddy DaSilva,

https://youtu.be/ortOAiClE34 

With the Sun Warm Upon Me. In 1953, Harold Arlen and lyricist Dorothy Fields wrote a charming, almost country-like song called With the Sun Warm Upon Me. This performance is another by today's inadvertent discovery
of singer Liza Pulman, a versatile Singer/Actress from Great Britain. Her album  devoted to songs by Harold Arlen is one I can highly recommend to Arlenphiles.

https://youtu.be/JSr_nbhpwHs 

Arlen Songs about the Weather:  Since weather conditions can influence moods and behavior here are 3 sings by Harold Arlen in A Weather Medley: Ill Wind (Ted Koehler)  Come Rain ior Come Shine (Johnny Mercer) and When the Sun comes out (Ted Koehler) They are beautifully sung by Liza Pulman, a British Singer and actress from a CD featuring all Arlen songs. She deserves wider attention in North America.

https://youtu.be/b65OPF4BEiE 


 

Spring is here-Piano solo by Don Thompson

Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote a timeless ballad lamenting the fact that Spring had come and yet " Why doesn't the breeze delight me ? Maybe it's because nobody loves me, Spring is here , I hear !
Don Thompson is a multi talents musician ho played bass with George Shearing, plays vibes as well as the excellent piano on this fundraising event. His work with George Shearing clearly enhanced his mastery of complex and innovative harmony and is most delightful to listen to several times in a row.

 https://youtu.be/Kz8Oo4fXXZU

I'll Remember April  Music by Gene Depaul, lyrics Don Raye. They also wrote another fine song ' You don't know what love is:   Both are popular with jazz singers and instrumentalist; Sinatra does I'll Remember April and Sting and trumpeter perform You Don't Know what love Is a very soulful song, not a true classic blues but drenched in the feeling of the blues.

 sINATRA

https://youtu.be/pepYluyez4k 

Sting &Chris Botti

https://youtu.be/u0asEjkDyvE 

Please Be Kind  This 1938 song by Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn asks the man in a relationship with a woman in her first affair " to please be kind and handle her heart with care." In a world where male sexual aggressiveness is being challenged, this is good advice for aspiring Lothario's.
The arrangement for Peggy Lee is by Nelson Riddle but is conducted by Frank Sinatra whose musicianship and interpretive sensitivities are often overlooked.

 https://youtu.be/_4bBpROC360





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It's So Peaceful In The Country  For those tiring of the hectic urban existence, this Alec Wilder song tells of the charms of a bucolic lifestyle. The lengthy verse or intro, sets the stage for the exposition in the following chorus.Wilder is the author of a book I often quote. American Popular Song; The Great Innovators; 1900-1950, He played through more than 17,000 songs of that era to establish his demanding criteria of what constitutes a " good song" vs a " Hit song." That is not to say that some hit songs are not also good songs  from an aesthetic point of view. June Christie's arrangement is by Pete Rugalo, a highly respected jazz oriented arranger from the West Coast " cool school."

https://youtu.be/8uZad9A9SIg 

Irving Berlin's Better Luck Next Time  For the 1948 film Easter Parade, Irving Berlin wrote a tender ballad for Judy Garland playing a charctyer who belives she has lost the onlt love of her life.
Berlin always wrote in a simple, direct way understandable by everyone when contrasted with Cole Porter's rich vocabulary and clever rhyming ability. This is a poignant and effective performance by Judy Garland. 

https://youtu.be/soul5EKZUr4 

Lover Come back to me  Sigmund Rombrg wrote this soaring melody ,lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein Jr for the 1928 musicalNew Moon.The song has become a favorite of jazz musicians as an up tempo number. However, it also benefits from an operatta syle as performed originally. Classical style diva , Barbara Hendricks, is backed by a symphonic arrangement that is very moving and probably what Romberg had in mind.
In contrast, Anita O'Day creates a loose, jazzy interpretation that is valid in its own terms,

https://youtu.be/G5o3pxVzonw 

https://youtu.be/MWL0xF9uTZY