Today's Great American Songbook Playlist

chicks

Lunatic Member
Songs of the Great American Songbook, that greatest archive of American music. Disparaged and neglected during the dark years of the '60's - '90's, currently enjoying something of a revival thanks to several films and the work of the inexhaustible Tony Bennett, among many others.

Much of the Songbook became Jazz standards, and provided the raw material for the best Popular music of the '50's.

I find myself listening to and savoring the Great American Songbook more and more, primarily through its Jazz interpreters, but have also been discovering and enjoying its more pop-oriented singers.

Dinah Shore / Andre Previn
Dinah Sings Previn Plays
songs in a mid-night mood

Capitol (1960)

100_3467.JPG
 
That picture of Sarah is not to be believed.

I moved on from Mr. Parker to Muddy Waters tonight, so no songbook, though the big Columbia Bennett set is close at hand.

Funny you should list the Clooney - I noticed earlier this evening that you can get the entire songbook set through Amazon for less than $40.

s.
 
4189HY0EFCL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


'Blue Gardenia' - Dinah Washington

In between all the albums I listed over on the jazz thread, I also spent a little over an hour with Jonathan Schwartz's show on the Sirius Sinatra channel. Wish the quality were better, but the music is impeccable.

s.

'
 
Fred Astaire
Steppin' Out: Astaire Sings

Verve (1994)

In 1952 Fred Astaire joined Oscar Peterson and some of Verve's best sidemen to lay down jazzy, laid-back versions of songs he had made famous in his Broadway and film career. Those 38 tracks, released as The Astaire Story, have been condensed into this collection, Steppin' Out: Fred Astaire Sings. While Astaire was not blessed with great vocal chops, the best American songwriters including George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Cole Porter loved him for his unerring sense of rhythm and sympathetic treatment of lyrics, qualities that are well displayed here. Tony Bennett hit the pop mainstream with his 1994 album of jazzy Astaire standards. Here's the original.
--David Horiuchi

7041c060ada0edfef018e110.L.jpg
 
Tony Bennett
Steppin' Out

Sony (1993)

This is the album that transformed Tony Bennett from crooner to hipster, a run that culminated in his 1994 MTV appearance. Steppin' Out is Bennett's tribute to Fred Astaire, who introduced as many American standards as anyone due to his relationships with such songwriters as Berlin, Porter, Kern, and the Gershwins. While Bennett avoids some obvious choices ("Night and Day" and "A Foggy Day" had been covered in his earlier Sinatra tribute), he picks a number of classics from Astaire's 1930s heyday as well as some songs from his MGM years, including the gem of the album, "You're All the World to Me." Bennett is ably assisted, as always, by the Ralph Sharon Trio. Great singer, great songs, great album.
--David Horiuchi

51ty%2BOlqwDL._SS500_.jpg
 
John Coltrane / Johnny Hartman
John Coltrane And Johnny Hartman

Impulse! (1963)

Is this the definitive version of Lush Life? I haven't heard it done better.

8107c060ada014e8a6ddb110.L.jpg
 
What a gorgeous, human picture of O'Day!

I think the transition to cds put paid to such covers - it isn't that you couldn't take the picture, it's that they lost their power at cd size.

Yeah, that "Lush Life" is as good as it gets.

s.
 
Wow!! Great site! The more I look, the more cool stuff I found. They even have a library of 140 books on the topic.

Thanks for posting it!
 
What a gorgeous, human picture of O'Day!

This copy is in excellent shape, and personalized by Anita on the back:

To Vern,
Oct 6, 1961
So nice talking with you-
Your friend,
Anita O'Day


Vern took very good care of this LP! :D
 
Wow!! Great site! The more I look, the more cool stuff I found. They even have a library of 140 books on the topic.

Thanks for posting it!

You're welcome. I still use allmusic.com, which covers a lot more music, but this site is amazingly comprehensive and informative for the standards. Only problem is, it's very tempting to click and spend...
 
Back
Top Bottom