Music Man Blog Recongizes Epernay Restaurant's Support of Young Music Students

I want to share with my readers the wonderful experience I had over the last couple of months putting the public spotlight on some great young student singers from the Northern New Jersey area.  I am  involved in a French Restaurant in Montclair called Epernay.  I wanted to find a way to give young students the opportunity to get some experience performing in a small, intimate, public setting. At the same time, give our customers something special and exciting to listen to that would add to their dining experience. So we established the Tuesday night "Epernay Supper Club Series".

It took a long time to find the right students and put together a plan to have the students sing a song every 5 to 10 minutes during the (3 hour) prime dining hours.  The purpose was to spotlight the student singers while the customers enjoyed their dinner.  The experiment has proven to be an outstanding success for all involved. Epernay was very lucky to have two wonderful students star in the opening of the "Epernay Supper Club Series".

Our first student singer was Joe Longthorne who lives in Essex Fells, NJ and is currently a student at "The Boston Conservatory Of Music".  Joe did 4 performances at Epernay and each one got rave reviews from our customers. We hope to have Joe again when he is back home on school vacations.

 

Joe Longthorne

Our second student is a music major Freshman at Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ.  His name is Michael Robinson and it was thrilling to listen to this young man sing not only songs from the Great American Songbook but also do several great Broadway show songs.  Michael performed for 4 Tuesdays and did an outstanding job.  We intend to bring Michael back whenever his busy school schedule allows.

Michael Robinson

The management at Epernay is fully committed to providing an opportunity for young music students to get experience performing before a real live audience and are planning to continue our Supper Club Series in the future.  It is exciting to find talented young people who have learned to love and sing songs from the "Great American Songbook".  

I know all my readers love to listen to all kinds of music as I do.  We listen to great sounds on our ipods, our radios and our CDs.  But as good as these sources are, there is nothing that will ever replace the emotional thrill of listening to live music.  Let's all do what we can to support live performances so they will continue to be an important part of our lives.  Epernay is looking for other talented students who would like the opportunity to perform for a very appreciative live audience.  If you know anyone please let me know.

John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey, A Dynamic Duo

On Tuesday, October 12, my wife and I had the pleasure of attending  the John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey show, "The Heart of a Saturday Night" at the Cafe Carlyle in New York City. First, if there is a more intimate or romantic cafe setting in the US, I have yet to discover it. Each time I get to hear John Pizzarelli he just keeps getting better. He is never  satisfied with his past performances and keeps pushing the envelope with his playing, singing and song selection skills. But the skill I like the most is his ability to take a "standard" that we all know well and perform it in a new arrangement that makes the song new again. This was the first time that I had the pleasure of hearing John's wife, Jessica Molaskey perform live and I really enjoyed her selection of songs and wonderful voice.  I heard her sing on CDs and radio shows but actually seeing her sing in person was a real treat.  She presents herself as a seasoned professional. Prior to the show I wondered how the voices of John and Jessica and their different approach to songs would sound once they sang together. After the first few songs, I had no further questions. While both performers have a very different approach to the songs they love, the warmth and  mutual respect they generate provides the bridge between their styles. I know a lot about John's background and family, and I can only guess that Jessica has been fully assimilated into the new Pizzarelli extended family. It really works for both of them and lifts them to a higher level of performance. I am not going to review all of the great songs they performed as the "New York Times" has an excellent review you can look up on line.  However, there was one song that I must mention. It started with John singing a soft and lush version of Irving Berlin's "Count Your Blessings" and then a seamless entrance of Jessica's voice singing parts of the wonderful Jonathan Larson song "Seasons of Love" from the musical "Rent".  The show runs through Nov 6th.  If you can get to see this show, it is really worth the effort.  John and Jessica, thank you for the wonderful evening, and please plan to do more shows together in the near future!        

Montclair State University's Kaleidoscope 2010 Is An Explosion of Music

I thought the circus was the "Greatest Show On Earth" but I just found out there are now two "Greatest Shows".  Friday night I attended "Kaleidoscope 2010" at the Alexander Kasser Theater on the Montclair State University Campus that featured both students and faculty of the John J. Cali School of Music.  This performance, that was "Sold Out", was part of the "Peak Performances @ Montclair" series that presents performances of dance, theater and music throughout the year. The audience was treated with over 300 performers, playing, singing and dancing a rainbow of wonderful music from Puccini's Tosca sung beautifully by faculty member Stephen Oosting to "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story" performed by the MSU Wind Symphony and the BFA Musical Theater Dancers. There were also performances by various Ensembles from Brass to Percussion that were finely done.  For me, the highlight of the evening was the performance of "Samba" by "The Shanghai Quartet" that featured faculty member David Singer on clarinet. This suburb piece of music was written by Robert L. Aldridge, the Chairperson of the School of Music at MSU. I loved the music that was a perfect marriage of Classical and a Jazz-like arrangement fitting together like a glove. The level of dexterity performed by faculty clarinetist David Singer can only be described as breathtaking.  Montclair State University is definitely fortunate to have the gifted composer Robert L. Aldridge chairing its School of Music.  I believe this piece of music has just been recorded by "The Shanghai Quartet" and when I get more information I will share it on my blog.

Overall, I totally enjoyed the 90 minutes of non-stop music and loved the fact that the audience not only got to experience the level of musical skills of the current students of the School of Music but also  the exceptionally talented faculty.  My congratulations to the students and faculty for putting on such a professional performance.  "Peak Performance @ montclair" continues with programs all through the academic year, and you can get additional information @www.peakperfs.org.

"Ray Sings, Basie Swings", A Review

If you like Ray Charles and the Count Basie sound, I guarantee you will love "Ray Sings, Basie Swings". This outstanding CD was produced by John Burk in 2005.  There is an interesting story behind the CD. John Burk produced what I believe was the last CD Ray Charles recorded before his death, "Genius Loves Company". It was outstanding and won a well deserved Grammy. From what I have read, some time after Ray's death Mr. Burk came across a tape simply labeled, "Ray/Basie".  It was then discovered that the tape contained Ray Charles vocals with his own band.  John Burk then came up with the great idea of combinding some new arrangements for the  current Count Basie Band with Ray's voice tracks.  The results are golden and produced some sounds I think are truly outstanding.  In particular, I think the arrangement of the Beetles' song, "Long and Winding Road" is the best version of this song I have ever heard.  The Basie arrangements behind Ray's voice never gets old for me.  There are two other gems, "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" that Ray had recorded before, but I think this version is worth hearing again.  I also really liked, "Look What They've Done To My Song".  You probably already have some of these songs on this CD from other Ray Charles recordings but in my opinion, you will enjoy them even more on this CD.
By the way, I checked this CD out on iTunes and you can get it now for $6.99.  This is a great buy for 12 songs, that's only .59 per song.  Just hit the iTunes button on this blog and check out the songs I have recommended.  Then let me know what you think. Amen!

Music Man Blog Celebrates it's First Birthday

I wanted to use the first anniversary of the Music Man Blog to review its progress over the past 12 months.  The first posting was  on 9/27/09 and there have been a total of 46 postings to date. It wasn't until May 2, 2010 that I was able to start capturing accurate stats about the number of visits to this blog. So the numbers below are just for the five month period beginning May 2010 and ending September 2010.

Pageviews By Countries
1. United States                  759
2. Russia                               77
3. Canada                              40
4. Brazil                                 32
5. Germany                           27
6. Japan                                23
7. United Kingdom               22
8. Singapore                         22
9. Argentina                          18
10. Ukraine                            17
11. Hong Kong                     15
12. Latvia                                9
13. Malaysia                            5
14. Netherlands                      3
15. United Arab Emirates       2
 
I will admit that there were many times over the last year that I felt that I was writing this blog just for myself. That was not a problem because writing about artists and good music is a lot of fun to me.  But these stats show me that there is an audience out there that love great music and performers as much as I do.  I always knew that the Russian people had a great love for American music especially American Jazz and how great that I attracted a few to my blog!


Highest Month for Pageviews  
I am very excited that last month, September 2010 had the highest month for pageviews at 575.  This means the number of people finding and reading past blogs is growing.  As I said before, these stats have only started to be captured as of May 2010.  The total pageviews from May to September 2010 was 1191 so having 575 pageviews in one month is pretty cool!


National Ranking From Technorati
Technorati is the leading organization that tracks the level of activity for Blogs across the world.  Music Man Blog is ranked number 104,824 out of 1,241,893 blogs they track.  Puts us in the top 10% of all active blogs after one year, not bad!


Original Oil Painting Posted With Blogs
It has given me real pleasure sharing my oil painting with my readers.  To date, I have posted 28 of my painting on this site.  I believe that painting and music fit perfectly together and enhance our enjoyment of both of these arts.

Many thanks to all who have entered the Music Man Blog. I look forward to sharing more music and art with all my readers during the second year of this blog. If you have not yet joined my blog as a "follower", please do, I would love to have you on board.

The 20 Greatest American Standards Ever Written

 It's hard for me to believe that it's been a year since I first published my list of "The 20 Greatest American Standards Ever Written" on this blog.  My last posting of this list was on November 8, 2009.  It's time to take another look at this list to see what changes need to be made, if any.  For new readers to this blog, in order to qualify for the list, the song must be over 50 years old.  In addition to the list of songs, I have listed my favorite personal recording of these songs as a good starting reference for anyone who wants to hear what I feel is the definitive recording of all these wonderful ageless songs. Also I am ranking the 20 songs from one to twenty with one being the best of the best.  Of course, picking 20 songs out of thousands is not easy and I know every reader will have their own favorites and their own ranking and I encourage any and all comments from all of my readers.

A few comments about the changes in the list. We have a new top number one song, "You've Changed" as sung by the late Eva Cassidy.  So sad for all of us that we lost Eva at such a young age.  There are lots of recordings of this great song, but I keep coming back to her version.  How good was she to push Sinatra's version off the list?  Yes, her recording is that good!  Speaking of Sinatra, he is listed as the "Best of the Best" on five songs and it was a coin toss with many more.  Only confirms the fact that Frank Sinatra was and still is the "Chairman" of the "Great American Songbook".  I took two great songs off the list, "Body and Soul" and sadly my long time personal favorite, "Misty".  I needed to make room for "My One And Only Love" and "These Foolish Things". Lastly, "Where or When" came close to breaking into the lineup.

THE 20 GREATEST AMERICAN STANDARDS 

1. You've Changed: Eve Cassidy

2. What's New: Frank Sinatra

3. The Nearness of You: Norah Jones

4. Here's That Rainy Day: Kenny Rankin

5. Embraceable You: Lena Horne & Frank Sinatra Duet

6. The Very Thought of You: Tony Bennett & Paul McCartney Duet

7. My Funny Valentine: Carly Simon

8. I've Got You Under My Skin: Frank Sinatra

9. Over The Rainbow: Ray Charles & Johnny Mathis Duet

10. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: Ella Fitzgerald

11. In The Still Of The Night: Frank Sinatra

12. Night And Day: Frank Sinatra

13. Someone To Watch Over Me: Nancy Wilson

14. At Last: Etta James

15. All My Tomorrows: Frank Sinatra

16. The Way You Look Tonight: Tony Bennett

17. They Can't Take That Away From Me: Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong Duet

18. All The Things You Are To Me: Carly Simon

19. My One And Only Love: Nancy Wilson

20. These Foolish Things: Dinah Washington

Brian Wilson Does Gershwin

I just finished listening to the new Brian Wilson CD, "Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin".  Let me cut to the quick, if you like the Brian Wilson sound, you will like this CD.  If you like Gershwin you will like this CD. If you like the Brian Wilson sound and Gershwin songs, you will love this CD.  It turns out that the only Gershwin song that Brian knew before he made this CD was "Rhapsody in Blue" because he said his family played the record all the time at home and the melody really got into his head and has never left.  I find it hard to believe that in all the years Brian has been a major player in the music industry, he never got to know any other Gershwin songs. But that's exactly what he said when he was interviewed on XM radio's Nancy Sinatra show last week. This fact makes Brian's approach to many of these Gershwin gems very interesting.  He sang each song with an open mind and without any restraints caused by hearing the many classic recordings.  One other comment from Brian was that he was musically influenced at an early age by the music of the Four Freshmen. I had never heard this before and in thinking back about the "Beach Boys" sound, you can pick up some of the voice harmonies that the Four Freshman made famous.  Personally I really liked the CD.  I enjoyed the "Pop" approach to these "Super Star Songs" from the "Great American Songbook".   In particular, I really liked Brian's arrangement of the Gershwin song "The Like in I Love You".  I was not familiar with this Gershwin song but loved the melody and lyric. There are also four songs that sounded very much like the "Beach Boys": "They Can't Take That Away From Me", "I Got Rhythm", I've Got A Crush On You and "Nothing But Love". I loved them all.  And last but not least, there were five songs that Brian did as a solo that showed me a new side of his great talent.  His approach and sound was just great on: "I Loves you Porgy", "Love Is Here To Stay", "It Ain't Necessarily So", "S'Wonderful" and "Summertime".  At times Brian sounded the way I think "Sting" would sound singing these songs.  I hope this CD is very successful for Brian and encourages him to do another CD from songs listed on my "Top 20 Greatest Songs Ever Written in the Great American Songbook". I would be honored to work on the development of the playlist with Brian. Brian, have your people call my people!
Get the CD, you won't be disappointed!