Well hello there. Sorry for the long, unplanned absence—I was very sick and barely coherent at times for the past week and a half. I’m feeling much better now and finally have enough clarity to string complete thoughts together again. Thanks very much for bearing with me!
I’ve been putting off the vaguely defined “Great American Songbook” for years now. Getting my head around the work of great songwriters like George & Ira Gershwin; Johnny Mercer, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter seemed like a daunting, impenetrable task. Where to begin? Where to even begin researching where to begin? Abruptly I realized this afternoon that Ella Fitzgerald recorded sixteen discs’ worth of material for Verve records, with each album focusing exclusively on one legendary American songwriter or songwriting team. Given that Ella followed written melodies very closely, and she has one of the most beautiful voices ever recorded, I decided to work my way through her Ella Fitzgerald Sings the _________ Songbook on Verve in chronological order of release.
This listening project is likely to carve a minimum of 6o hours out of my life, since I’ll be taking my time to study and analyze many of these songs in some depth. That’s quite a bit of time, but not nearly as much as Matt Blick’s quest to study the entire Beatles catalog.
I’ve always paid lip service to the importance of listening to great songwriters and learning from their best work, but this is by far the most serious commitment I’ve made to following my own advice in this regard. It’s nice to have a long-term listening project.
Before I go, I’d like to let you know that I’ve started a new website called Good Aural—which is based entirely on listening. It’s likely to emphasize jazz, classical, and other culturally important music, though I hope I’ll also have the resources to pay some attention to old-time radio shows and historically important sound recordings such as presidential speeches.
I hope you’re all well. Thanks again for bearing with me! Write a song this weekend.
Good move. I’ve got most of ’em. The Gershwin set is by far the best due in no small part to Nelson Riddle’s arrangements (The Man I Love is EPIC).
Fred Astaire is another good one to check out if you want the original song. He was never the greatest singer in the world but he stuck to the melodies as written (hardly surprising as he starred in a number of the shows that the tunes were originally written for).
One very minor critcism of the sets though. To listen to the songbooks, you would think Ella couldn’t handle up tempo numbers. Hardly anything gets above mid paced, but check out her scat singing Charlie Parker tunes on How High The Moon (from Mack The Knife Live In Berlin) or ripping up That Old Black Magic (on Best Of The BBC Vaults) and you’ll realise she was a classy dame AND a shredder!
Matt rocks! I grew up on a couple of those albums (my parents, both musicians, had few records, but good one). No better guide than Ella…she always sounded young and in love and happy (on the happy tunes) and wise…my still-favorite jazz singer. We’d all do well to study these songs.
It might be interesting to try to rewrite the lyrics…not that they aren’t classic…but to figure out what’s dated about the language or the rhyme style…
Isn’t it amazing how young she sounded even as she aged! What a singer. After hearing these songs done by Ella, it’s hard to put up with hearing anybody else stagger through them.
Thanks Ruth – you rock too!
lyrics that could stand being rewritten? – there’s a million – How about
“but people from Missouri never incensed me ” (They All Laughed) I’m sure that made sense in the original show
I love Love Is Here To Stay
The radio and the telephone
And the movies that we know
May just be passing fancies,
And in time may go !
But, oh my dear,
Our love is here to stay.
works so well with the melody