The 20 Greatest American Standards- 2018

Sonny Stitt

It's been 8 years since I published my "20 Greatest American Standards Ever Written" blog and its still one of my popular blogs for visitors.  We all have had life experiences over the past 8 years and I thought it would be fun to revisit the list and make some adjustments that might be appropriate at this time.  In order to qualify for the list, the song must be over 50 years old.  The list represents the very best songs from the "Great American Songbook".  In order to make the list they had to contain both the best music and lyrics.  The oldest song to make the list is the Gershwin tune, "Someone To Watch Over me".  Think about this.... this song was published 92 years ago and it's still being played today to the delight of all ages.  Now that is the sign of a super, great American standard!

Some other interesting observations about the list:

There is one pair of songwriters that has 3 songs on the list:
           Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart

Several other songwriters who have two songs on the list:

           Cole Porter
           Jimmy Van Heusen
           Johnny Mandel
           George and Ira Gershwin
           Hoagy Carmichael
           Johnny Mercer
           Johnny Burke

The Year 1939 was a terrific year for great songs:,

           4 songs written in 1939 made the list.

The six-year period from 1936 to 1941 was the golden area for great songs;  12 out of the 20 songs on the list were written during this period.




"Someone To Watch Over Me"                    George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin                   1926

"Night and Day"                                            Cole Porter                                                          1932            

"The Very Thought of You"                           Ray Noble                                                           1934

"The Way You Look Tonight"                       Dorothy Fields & Jerome Kern                        1936

" I Got You Under My Skin"                         Cole Porter                                                          1936

 "Where Or When"                                        Richard Rogers & Lorenz Hart                         1937

" They Can't Take That Away From Me"   George and Ira Gershwin                                   1937      

"The Nearness of You"                                   Hoagy Carmichael & Ned Washington            1937

"My Funny Valentine"                                    Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart                     1939

"What's New"                                                 Bob Haggart & Johnny Burke                          1939

"Over The Rainbow"                                      Harold Arlen & Yip Harburg                          1939

"These Foolish Things"                                   Eric Maschwitz & Jack Strachey                     1939

"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"         Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart                    1940

"You've Changed"                                           Bill Carey & Carl Fischer                                 1941

"Skylark"                                                         Johnny Mercer & Hoagy Carmichael              1941

 "My One and Only Love"                               Guy Wood & Robert Mellin                             1952

"Here's That Rainy Day"                                 Jimmy Van Heusen & Johnny Burke              1953

"All My Tomorrows"                                       Jimmy Van Heusen & Sammy Cahn                1959

"Emily"                                                            Johnny Mandel & Johnny Mercer                     1964

"The Shadow of Your Smile"                          Johnny Mandel & Paul Webster                       1965 

CD Review: Tianna Hall & The Mexico City Jazz Trio

Most of the readers of The Musicman Blog have a deep love of the "Great American Songbook". The new CD "Two For The Road" from Tianna Hall and the Mexico City Jazz Trio will be a real treat for you.  This is the fourth release for Tianna Hall, a two-time Grammy recognized vocalist who is based in Houston, Texas. This is also her second collaboration with the Mexico City Jazz Trio. Tianna brought her unique voice and approach to some of the best American songs ever written. Take a look at this spectacular list of songs:

1. Til There Was You- Meredith Wilson
2. What Is This Thing Called Love?-Cole Porter
3. When October Goes-Johnny Mercer & Barry Manilow
4. They Can't Take That Away From Me-Andrew William Thorpe & George Gershwin
5. Black Hole Sun-Chris Cornell
6. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To-Cole Porter
7. Creep-Mike Hazelwood, Albert Hammond
8. I've Never Been In Love Before-Frank Loesser
9. Good Morning Heartache-Irene Higginbotham, Ervin Drake, Dan Fisher
10. I'm Not In Love-Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart
11. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down & Write Myself A Letter- Joe Young, Fred Ahlert
12. So In Love-Cole Porter
13. Moon River-Johnny Mercer & Henry Mancini
14. Two For The Road- Leslie Bricusse, Henry Mancini

Tianna Hall loves to sing standards and she has the musical skills to perform perfectly.  She is blessed on this CD with some super sidemen that bring the total musical product to the highest level.  Miguel Villicana did most of the wonderful arrangements and played piano beautifully, Agustin Bernal's bass playing was great and Gabriel Puentes drumming provided a perfect foundation for the group.  Of note also was the fact that David Caceres sang and played sax on "They Can't Take That Away From Me" and also was Associate Producer and assisted with the audio engineering.  David is a truly talented musician and if you are not familiar with David, look up the June 12th, 2012 blog I posted on his latest CD.

By the way, when is the last time you bought a new CD with 14 songs on it. Yea! to Tianna Hall for giving her fans a bonus number of songs. You can buy this CD for $9.99 on iTunes and other music sources.

Ron Kalina Stars In "Harmonica Convergence" at the Indian Wells Resort Hotel

Ron Kalina

Ron Kalina & Gino Antonacci

The Ron Kalina Trio

                                                                         

Gino Antonacci

                                                                 

Blake White

                                                                                 

Frank Di Salvo

Ken Steele

                                                                       

Rich Bono

On Tuesday April 16, I attended the opening of Ron Kalina's "Harmonica Convergence" at the Indian Wells Resort Hotel.  Ron Kalina put together a highly talented trio consisting of Blake White on Bass and Gino Antonacci on Vibes and Ron Playing both Keyboard and Harmonica. I want to start this review by stating that Ron Kalina is simply an amazing musician. Tonight Ron sang, played the Keyboard, played the Harmonica and then played the Harmonica and the Keyboard at the same time. Ron further surprised me and a lot of people in the audience with his singing ability.  His voice sounds like a combination of Fred Astaire, Chet Baker and Johnny Mercer.  Not a bad group of singers to hang with, don't you think! There were two songs that Ron played on the Harmonica tonight that were just brilliant, "Body and Soul" and "Skylark". These are two of the greatest love songs ever written and when played with the soulful sounds of Ron's harmonica, it just does get any better.

Gino Antonacci is one of only a few great jazz players you can still hear playing the Vibes.  I have not heard a Vibes player in many years and after hearing Gino play it quickly reminded me of how much I love the sound.  Gino fit perfectly with the sound of Ron's Harmonica and Keyboard.  And can he swing! What a treasure to have him playing right here in the Desert.

The third member of this group was Blake White who played the Bass.  I had recently seen Blake with the wonderful singer, Rose Mallett and thought he was a fine Bass player.  But tonight, playing jazz in this trio, he was allowed to push the Jazz envelope, and his solos were intelligent and clear.  He provided the rhythm glue to pull the trio together.

Tonight marked the first time this talented group of musicians has played together, but you would never guess it because they sounded wonderful.  This group will be back again at the Indian Wells Resort on Tuesday, April 24.  You won't find the sounds that this trio produces any where in the area, and I encourage all my readers to get over to the Indian Wells Resort next Tuesday to catch the show. I understand that the Resort is thinking about adding this group as a regular on Tuesday nights next season. This idea would certainly get my vote!

Joining in at tonight's opening were several familiar musicians that we all love.  First, the resident musical director at the Indian Wells Resort, Frank Di Salvo who sang a couple of great classic songs.  In particular, Frank did a beautiful singing job on the standard "My One And Only Love". I have never heard Frank sing better.

The next singer was Ken Steele whose golden-deep voice had the feel of the great voice of Johnny Hartman. Ken sang "But Beautiful" and then sang a great version of "Emily".

Rich Bono, one of the best pianist in the West, then joined the Trio and played several great songs from the "Great American Songbook". Rich is a great pianist, and I never miss a chance to hear him play.

CD Review: "Diane Hubka Goes To The Movies"

Last month I published information about a new CD, "From California With Love" that was recorded by a talented group of West Coast Musicians with the sole purpose to raise money for Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Relief.  I learned about the effort from one of the talented musicians who recorded on the CD, Diane Hubka.  Diane  found my blog and enjoyed the live music reviews I did last winter from the Palm Springs, California area. I really loved the way Diane sang on the "From California With Love" CD and I wanted to find out more about her.  Turns out she was performing to rave reviews in the New York City area for many years before moving to Hollywood California in 2004 where she collaborated with pianist Christian Jacob (who married the daughter of one of my all-time trumpet  faves', Maynard Ferguson).  Christian Jacob has also recorded with the uniquely talented Tierney Sutton.  Together Diane and Christian recorded "Diane Hubka Goes to the Movies" in 2007, and I decided to review the CD.

Diane Hubka is not just another singer!  In addition to singing, Diane plays a 7-string guitar with great skill and improvisation. She selects her material like a fine chef selecting just the right products at a food market. After her move from NYC to Hollywood Diane picked 13 songs that were written for movies, some standards and others relatively unknown but still great songs. According to Diane "It seemed the logical choice. Since coming here, I've enjoyed working with some fantastic West-Coast musicians, many who've made their living at least in part from playing in the studios."  The arrangements are wonderful and were all written by Christian Jacob. Diane chose all the musicians for the band from those she had heard and worked with after moving to California. The group includes Christian Jacob on Piano and did the arrangements, Carl Saunders on Trumpet and Flugelhorn, Larry Koonse on Guitar, Chris Colangelo on Bass and Joe LaBarbera on Drums.

There are 13 songs on this CD all taken from movies from 1937-79 and none of them are easy to play or sing.  Diane really gets to show her professional singing skills to the fullest on this CD and also solos, singing and playing her 7 string classical guitar on Track #12, "Manha de Carnaval" more popularly known as "A Day In The Life Of A Fool".  My other favorites were Track #1 "All God's Children Got Rhythm" from 1937 movie "A Day at the Races".  It's a perfect opening number for the group with everyone in the group making their presence known. Track #4, "Lovers in New York" from the 1961 movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was written by Henry Mancini, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans swings with great Trumpet work from Carl Saunders. Track #5, "He's a Tramp" from the 1955 movie "Lady and the Tramp" written by the great Peggy Lee and Sonny Burke played in an up-tempo Samba rhythm that fits the song perfectly.  Track #7 "I'm Old Fashioned" written by Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer for the 1942 movie "You Were Never Lovelier" features some great piano and Guitar work by Christian Jacobs and Larry Koonse. Track #9 "Close Enough for Love" from the 1979 movie "Agatha" showcases some outstanding Piano and Bass work from Jacob and Colangelo. Track # 11 "Wild is the Wind" the old Johnny Mathis hit from the 1957 movie of the same name features a great up-tempo rhythm used very effectively to showcase an outstanding piano solo from Christian Jacob. There is one member of the group that needs some praise for his skillful performance on this CD, Drummer Joe LaBarbera.  Joe has done some outstanding playing with the great Bill Evans and shows us on this CD why Bill Evans loved him.  Joe fits his percussion work into every song and rhythm perfectly, never overplaying or underplaying Diane or any member of the group.  Great Job, Joe.

If you like great jazz singing combined with some smooth jazz instrumental sounds, this CD is for you.  Diane Hubka is the real thing.  Her singing skills are finely tuned and she is not afraid to push aside the safety net of the classic songs of the "Great American Songbook" and experiment with new approaches to new and old songs in her own personal way.

You can preview this CD on iTunes and I urge you to do so.  Diane's first CD "Haven't We Met" was released in 1999 featured alto sax legend Lee Konitz and received Jazz Nomination for "Best Recording Debut".  Her Latest CD "You Inspire Me" was released in Japan in 2007.

Note to all my California readers: Diane will be performing live on Oct. 20 at Vitello's Jazz & Super Club, 4349 Tujunga Blvd., Studio City Ca. 91604.  Reservations: 818-769-0905  If you are in the area, make the effort to catch her show, you will not regret it!

Marilyn Maye is Magical!

On Saturday, December 4 my wife and I attended the Marilyn Maye show at NJPAC titled: "Mercer...The Maye Way".  As we were leaving the theatre, I knew writing a review would be very difficult.  It is hard to find words to express and capture the talents of such a polished and talented performer. It's not just her voice that captures everyone in the audience. It's her stage presence and understanding of the meaning of the music and lyrics she sang. Sinatra once say that there were three qualities a singer must possess in order to become a major star.  One of the three was that a singer needed to project a personality to the audience that would make them wish they could hang out with the singer. Let me just get it out... I wish I could hang out with Marilyn Maye and gain insight about her life and how she has chooses her music.  She needs to write a  book, and I would offer a possible title: "The Maye Way".

Marilyn's program on Saturday evening was all Johnny Mercer with the exception of the first two songs.  Marilyn hit the ground running with an up tempo version of the great Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II song "The Song is You".  She followed with "Love Being Here With You". Lyrics written by Peggy Lee and music by Bill Schluger. From this point on it was all Johnny Mercer and Marilyn Maye.  Marilyn sang an unbelievable 30 Johnny Mercer songs in an  hour and 15 minutes without coming up for air. I think most of us have an appreciation for the songs and lyrics of Johnny Mercer but once you hear someone as talented as Marilyn Maye sing his songs one after another, you can't help but be in awe of this man's ability to write lyrics that tell stories we can all relate to.  Marilyn spoke of her admiration and love of Mercer's Music and the effort it had on her.  She then added that she never got the chance to meet him but if she did, she most likely would have married him. My take is a little different, if Johnny Mercer ever heard Marilyn Maye sing his songs, he would have wanted to married her!
I would like to list just a few of my personal favorite Johnny Mercer songs that Marilyn sang:
1.   Satin Doll
2.   Summer Wind
3.   Moon River
4.   Come Rain or Come Shine
5.   The Days of Wine & Roses
6.   That Old Black Magic
7.   Goody Goody
8.   I'm Old Fashioned
9.   Day In, Day Out
10. Too Marvelous For Words
11. Emily
12  Drinking Again
13. Laura
No one who loves songs and lyrics from the greatest American composers should miss the chance to hear Marilyn Maye sing live.  Don't take my word for it, listen to Ella Fitzgerald who called Marilyn "The greatest white female singer in the world".
If it was within my power, I would make it a requirement for all young singers to see and listen to Marilyn Maye before they ever perform.  She sets the mark for all American singers both young and old.