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Torchy (album)
''Torchy!'' is a 1956 album by jazz singer Carmen McRae arranged by Jack Pleis and Ralph Burns. Critical reception Jason Ankeny described the album as "a lush, potently atmospheric collection of romantic ballads rendered for maximum impact" and that the "...sheer intensity of McRae's vocals render orchestration virtually moot. Few singers have equaled her conviction or her fierce intelligence, and her interpretations of songs like "But Beautiful," "My Future Just Passed," and "We'll Be Together Again" pack a devastating emotional punch." A reviewer of ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine noted that this album looks more like a pop release than others, but does not lose its appeal to the jazz crowd, as well as that MacRae sings with his usual warmth and good taste. Track listing # "Last Night When We Were Young" (Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg) – 2:38 # "Speak Low" (Kurt Weill, Ogden Nash) – 3:07 # "But Beautiful (song), But Beautiful" (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke (lyr ...
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Carmen McRae
Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretation of lyrics. Early life and education McRae was born in Harlem, New York City, United States. Her father, Osmond, and mother, Evadne (Gayle) McRae, were immigrants from Jamaica. She began studying piano when she was eight, and the music of jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington filled her home. When she was 17 years old, she met singer Billie Holiday. As a teenager McRae came to the attention of Teddy Wilson and his wife, the composer Irene Kitchings. One of McRae's early songs, "Dream of Life", was, through their influence, recorded in 1939 by Wilson's long-time collaborator Billie Holiday.Brian Berger"Carmen McRae" HiLobrow, April 8, 2015. McRae considered Holiday to be her primary influence. Early career In her late te ...
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Yip Harburg
Edgar Yipsel Harburg (born Isidore Hochberg; April 8, 1896 – March 5, 1981) was an American popular song lyricist and librettist who worked with many well-known composers. He wrote the lyrics to the standards " Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (with Jay Gorney), " April in Paris", and "It's Only a Paper Moon", as well as all of the songs for the film '' The Wizard of Oz'', including " Over the Rainbow". He was known for the social commentary of his lyrics, as well as his leftist leanings. He championed racial, sexual and gender equality and union politics. He also was an ardent critic of high society and religion. Early life and career Harburg, the youngest of four surviving children (out of ten), was born Isidore Hochberg on the Lower East Side of New York City on April 8, 1896.Yip Harburg: Biography from Answers.com
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Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance (song), A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Song Is You", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight" and "Long Ago (and Far Away)". He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and Yip Harburg. A native New Yorker, Kern created dozens of Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals and musical films, Hollywood films in a career that lasted for more than four decades. His musical innovations, such as 4/4 dance rhythms and the employment of syncopati ...
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Yesterdays (1933 Song)
"Yesterdays" is a 1933 song about nostalgia composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Otto Harbach. They wrote the song for ''Roberta'', a musical based on the novel ''Gowns by Roberta'' by Alice Duer Miller. "Yesterdays" was overshadowed by the musical's more popular song, " Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", which was a number one hit for the Paul Whiteman orchestra. Other recordings * Gato Barbieri -- ''The Third World Revisited'' (1988) *Billie Holiday - 1939 recording , and 1952 recording *Larry Coryell – '' Shining Hour'' (1989) * Miles Davis 1951 recording, and 1965 recording. * Dorothy Donegan * Clifford Brown -- '' Clifford Brown with Strings'' (1955) *Booker Ervin -- '' The Song Book (1964) * Marianne Faithfull -- '' Strange Weather'' (1987) * Tal Farlow -- '' Tal'' (1956) * Ella Fitzgerald -- '' Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book'' (1963) * Nnenna Freelon --''Nnenna Freelon'' (1992) * Four Freshmen -- ''Voices in Latin'' (1958) * Erroll Garner – ''Magician'' ...
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Richard A
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong in rule'. Nicknames include " Richie", " Dick", " Dickon", " Dickie", " Rich", " Rick", "Rico (name), Rico", " Ricky", and more. Richard is a common English (the name was introduced into England by the Normans), German and French male name. It's also used in many more languages, particularly Germanic, such as Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Dutch, as well as other languages including Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Finnish. Richard is cognate with variants of the name in other European languages, such as the Swedish "Rickard", the Portuguese and Spanish "Ricardo" and the Italian "Riccardo" (see comprehensive variant list below). People named Richard Multiple people with the same name * Richard Andersen (other) * ...
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Johnny Mercer
John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Wallichs Music City, Glenn E. Wallichs. He is best known as a Tin Pan Alley lyricist, but he also composed music and was a popular singer who recorded his own as well as others' songs from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. Mercer's songs were among the most successful hits of the time, including "Moon River", "Days of Wine and Roses (song), Days of Wine and Roses", "Autumn Leaves (1945 song), Autumn Leaves", and "Hooray for Hollywood". He wrote the lyrics to more than 1,500 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway theatre, Broadway shows. He received nineteen Academy Awards, Oscar nominations, and won four Academy Award for Best Original Song, Best Original Song Oscars. Early life Mercer was born in 1909, in Savannah, Georgia, where one o ...
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Lionel Hampton
Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, and Quincy Jones. In 1992, he was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1996. Hampton was a member of the executive committee of the Writers and Artists for Peace in the Middle East, a pro-Israel group. In 1984, he signed a letter protesting German arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Biography Early life Lionel Hampton was born in 1908 in Louisville, Kentucky, and was raised by his mother. Shortly after he was born, he and his mother moved to her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. He spent his early childhood in Kenosha, Wisconsin, before he and his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1916. As a youth, Hampton was a member of the Bud Billiken Club, an alternative to the Boy Scouts of Ameri ...
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Midnight Sun (Lionel Hampton And Sonny Burke Song)
"Midnight Sun" was originally an instrumental composed by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke in 1947 and is now considered a jazz standard. Subsequently, Johnny Mercer wrote the words to the song. First recording "Midnight Sun" was first recorded by Lionel Hampton himself and his orchestra in a Los Angeles studio on November 10, 1947, with solos by Hampton and trumpeter Wendell Culley (Decca Matrix L 4546).Cf. entry of "Midnight Sun"
in the

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Arthur Herzog, Jr
Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Italian it is Arturo. Etymology The earliest attestation of the name Arthur is in the early 9th century Welsh-Latin text ''Historia Brittonum'', where it refers to a circa 5th century Romano-British general who fought against the invading Saxons, and who later gave rise to the famous King Arthur of medieval legend and literature. A possible earlier mention of the same man is to be found in the epic Welsh poem ''Y Gododdin'' by Aneirin, which some scholars assign to the late 6th century, though this is still a matter of debate and the poem only survives in a late 13th century manuscript entitled the Book of Aneirin. A 9th-century Breton landowner named Arthur witnessed several charters collected in the '' Cartulary of Redon''. The Irish borrow ...
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Johnny Burke (lyricist)
John Francis Burke (October 3, 1908 – February 25, 1964) was an American lyricist, successful and prolific between the 1920s and 1950s. His work is considered part of the Great American Songbook. His song " Swinging on a Star", from the Bing Crosby film '' Going My Way'', won an Academy Award for Best Song in 1944. Early life Burke was born in Antioch, California, United States, the son of Mary Agnes (Mungovan), a schoolteacher, and William Earl Burke, a structural engineer. When he was still young, his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Burke's father founded a construction business. As a youth, Burke studied piano and drama. He attended Crane College and then the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he played piano in the orchestra. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1927, Burke joined the Chicago office of the Irving Berlin Publishing Company in 1926 as a pianist and song salesman. He also played piano in dance bands and vaudeville ...
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Jimmy Van Heusen
James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television, and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Award for Best Original Song, Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his compositions later went on to become jazz standards. Life and career Born in Syracuse, New York, Edward Chester Babcock began writing music while in high school. He renamed himself to Jimmy Van Heusen at age 16, after the shirt makers PVH Corp., Phillips-Van Heusen, to use as his on-air name during local shows. His close friends called him "Chet".Coppula, C. (2014). ''Jimmy Van Heusen: Swinging on a Star''. Nashville: Twin Creek Books. Jimmy was raised Methodist. Studying at Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University, he became friends with Jerry Arlen, the younger brother of Harold Arlen. With the elder Arlen's help, Van Heusen wrote songs for the Cotton Club revue, including "Harlem Hospitality". He then ...
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But Beautiful (song)
"But Beautiful" is a popular song with music written by Jimmy Van Heusen, the lyrics by Johnny Burke. The song was published in 1947. One of five songs written by Burke and Van Heusen featured in the Paramount Pictures movie '' Road to Rio'' (1947), it was introduced by Bing Crosby and is also associated with his leading lady Dorothy Lamour. The song was a hit in 1948 for Frank Sinatra (reaching the No.14 spot), Bing Crosby (#20), Margaret Whiting (#21) and Art Lund (#25). The original key is G major and has the form A-B1-A-B2. Chick Corea recorded a piano solo version of it in the original key of G major, but it has been recorded in many different keys, including F major (later Sinatra), C major (Bill Evans and Stan Getz), D major (Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga), Billie Holiday (B-flat major) and Nat King Cole (E major). It is usually performed as a ballad. Other versions * Tex Beneke released a version in 1947 with Garry Stevens on vocal. *Tony Bennett on his first album with th ...
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