Oscar Hammerstein Archives | Page 15 of 16

July 12, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: The Folks Who Live On The Hill

The song of the day for Saturday, July 12, 2014 is “The Folks That Live On The Hill.”

About This Song

“The Folks That Live On The Hill” was written in 1937 by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. It was introduced in the 1937 movie High, Wide and Handsome, where it was introduced by Irene Dunne. Bing Crosby recorded it that same. Peggy Lee recorded this song in 1957 for her album The Man I Love, which was conducted by Frank Sinatra and the song has remained associated with her since that time.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “The Folks That Live On The Hill” for his autobiographical album Astoria: Portrait of the Artist, released in 1990. It was arranged and conducted by Jorge Calandrelli.

We choose this song today in honor of its lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein II, who was born on July 12, 1895 in New York City. Best known for his very successful collaborations with Richard Rodgers, he worked in the earlier part of his career with Jerome Kern, with whom he co-wrote Show Boat in 1927. During his later years, he lived in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. One of the his neighbors was Foxy Sondheim, who had just divorced her husband, and brought her son Stephen to live in Bucks County. Stephen Sondheim became friends with the Hammerstein children and, eventually, with Oscar. Oscar mentored the young Sondheim and taught him about the musical theater. Even though Sondheim was primarily a musician and composer, Hammerstein urged the young Sondheim to work with Leonard Bernstein on West Side Story and with Jule Styne on Gypsy. And thus was born one of the great artists of musical theatre.

http://open.spotify.com/track/38kABxg7jKSRBo1Yd5V7k5
“The Folks That Live On The Hill,” as well as Astoria: Portrait of the Artist, is available from iTunes.

Since it’s Saturday, here’s Miss Peggy Lee singing today’s song, from 1981.

May 30, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: All The Things You Are

The song of the day for Friday, May 30, 2014 is “All The Things You Are.”

About This Song

“All The Things You Are” was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein for the 1939 musical Very Warm For May. In American Popular Song, Alec Wilder considers it to be one of Kern’s finest songs and with good reason. It’s a beautiful tune and Hammerstein’s lyrics are excellent.

About This Version

If I were forced to pick a single Tony Bennett album to take to my desert island, it would have to be Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall. For one thing, as wonderful as his studio recordings are, his live performances are even more wonderful. Also, in my opinion, he hit a peak in 1962 was really phenomenal, with great success with both this concert as well as his other recordings released that year. Everything I’ve heard from 1962 sounds absolutely wonderful. Oh yes, and it was the year of “I Left My Heart In San Francisco.” The orchestra that he and Ralph Sharon put together for the concert was great, as were all of Ralph’s arrangements. It’s a gorgeous album and is consistently ranked as one of the best concert recordings ever made.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4XohhDSDnbIMP8kIbESsuv
“All The Things You Are,” as well as Tony Bennett At Carnegie Hall, is available from iTunes.

January 27, 2014 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Remembering Jerome Kern

Jerome Kern was born on this day, January 27, in 1885 in New York City. He died in New York on November 11, 1945.

Kern stands as one of the most important American composers of stage and film music. His memorable songs include “Long Ago (And Far Away,” “The Last Time I Saw Paris,” “The Way You Look Tonight,” and our featured song, as recorded by Tony Bennett, “All The Things You Are.”

Show Boat, written in 1927 with Oscar Hammerstein II, is perhaps his most important and long-lasting work. The score is memorable, with great songs including “Ol’ Man River,” “Bill,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man.” From an historical standpoint, Show Boat is one of the earliest examples of the so-called “integrated” musicals, where the songs serve to advance the plot.

In 1935, when musical films became more popular, Kern relocated to Hollywood. Some of his film work included music for Music in the Air, I Dream Too Much, Roberta and Swing Time. Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire, included the song “The Way You Look Tonight,” which won the Academy Award for best song.

Kern and Hammerstein also wrote the song that we are featuring today: “All The Things You Are,” from the 1939 Very Warm For May. Bennett’s recording is from his 1962 Carnegie Hall concert.

All The Things You Are (From "Very Warm For May") - Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - June 1962
Listen to All The Things You Are (From "Very Warm For May") - Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - June 1962 on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Ralph Sharon & His Orchestra · 1962

November 28, 2013 By Suzanne 1 Comment

Song of the Day: My Favorite Things

The song of the day for Thursday, November 28, 2013, US Thanksgiving Day, is “My Favorite Things.”

About This Song

“My Favorite Things” was written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein for the 1959 musical The Sound of Music. Sadly, it was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein; Oscar Hammerstein died from cancer nine months after the opening of the musical on Broadway.

US readers might be interested to know that a live production of The Sound of Music, starring Carrie Underwood as Maria, will air on NBC next Thursday, December 5. I watched a “making of” one hour special about this production on TV Wednesday evening, and it looks quite interesting. I was kind of charmed to see that Carrie Underwood has been listening to her mentor, Tony Bennett. Early in the broadcast, she was asked if she was nervous and she replied that of course she had the butterflies, but if you don’t have butterflies, the audience will likely sense that you don’t really care.

About This Version

Today’s version is from Tony Bennett’s wonderful 1968 album, Snowfall, which was arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon. Musical supervision was by Tony Tamburello and the album was produced by Jack Gold.

As we near our Christmas celebration with The Twelve Days of a Tony Bennett Christmas, beginning on December 14, we’ll be featuring most of the songs from this wonderful album. An editor at iTunes sums up exactly how I feel about this extraordinary album:

The 1968 set Snowfall is far more than an obligatory holiday release from a legendary singer. Teaming with British arranger/composer Robert Farnon, Tony Bennett brings a warmth and emotional commitment to the familiar tunes, lending them a unique luster. With his customary ability to personalize a song lyric, he makes “The Christmas Song,” “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland” and other Yuletide standards feel immediate and vital.

I think it’s far and away the best Christmas album ever recorded.

http://open.spotify.com/track/0MoZADdiiC9yzcWpBbNYAC
“My Favorite Things,” as well as the album Snowfall, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

July 12, 2013 By Suzanne 1 Comment

Song of the Day: All The Things You Are

The song of the day for Friday, July 12, 2013 is “All The Things You Are.”

We choose this song today to honor this song’s lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein, who was born on this day in 1895 and died on August 23, 1960.

About Oscar Hammerstein

Oscar Hammerstein II was born into a prominent American theatrical family. His grandfather, Oscar Hammerstein I, was a theater impresario and his father was a theatrical producer and theater manager. Oscar Hammerstein attended Columbia University as an undergraduate and Columbia Law School as well. However, he left law school to start his theater career.

His first significant piece was the book and lyrics for the 1927 Show Boat, written with Jerome Kern. Show Boat was said to have revolutionized the American musical, with the songs and dances not only arising from the plot, but also furthering the plot and the character development. After Show Boat, he continued to work with Kern on several lesser musicals, including the show that gave us our song of the day, Very Warm For May.

Hammerstein is best remembered for his extraordinary association with Richard Rodgers, which began with Oklahoma in 1943. As with Show Boat, Oklahoma further revolutionized American musical theater with a deeper integration of the book and music. due in large part to Hammerstein writing both the book and the lyrics for the productions he worked on.

The partnership with Rodgers lasted until Hammerstein’s death in 1960 and brought us some of America’s greatest musicals: Carousel, The King and I, South Pacific and The Sound Of Music. Hammerstein passed away shortly after The Sound Of Music opened.

In addition to his writing, Oscar Hammerstein was on the boards of several professional associations including the Dramatists Guild and the Screen Writers Guild. He won two Pulitzer Prizes, two Academy Awards and five Tony Awards. He was a philanthropist as well.

Oscar Hammerstein was also a mentor to the neighborhood son of one his friends, a young Stephen Sondheim.

About This Song

Written for the 1939 Broadway music Very Warm for May, All The Things You Are was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein. In American Popular Song, Alec Wilder notes that Very Warm For May must have had a terrible book “since otherwise the show’s failure is incomprehensible. For it had one of Kern’s best scores. Indeed there are five songs worth considering, the greatest of them being All The Things You Are“.

The song has lent itself to numerous jazz interpretations by some of America’s finest jazz musicians, including Artie Shaw, Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie and Dave Brubeck. In his book The Jazz Standards, Al Gioia relates that “I recall talking to saxophonist Bud Shank a few months before his death at age 82, when he noted that he never felt he had exhausted the possibilities of this specific song, which he had first recorded almost 60 years earlier.”

About This Version

Today’s version comes from the 1962 Carnegie Hall Concert.

All The Things You Are (From "Very Warm For May") - Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - June 1962
Listen to All The Things You Are (From "Very Warm For May") - Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY - June 1962 on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Ralph Sharon & His Orchestra · 1962

“All The Things You Are,” was well as the complete Tony Bennett at Carnegie Hall album, is available from iTunes.