Podcasts from The Jeff Blumenkrantz Songbook Volume 1

I admit to being years behind the curve with this one, but after discovering the music of Jeff Blumenkrantz about four years ago, I have finally taken the time to download and listen to (most of) his collection of 20 recordings of the songs from The Jeff Blumenkrantz Songbook Volume 1, along with about 18 recordings of songs not in the songbook. I have made it through probably half the collection so far, and I look forward to listening to the remainder and any future songs Mr. Blumenkrantz may add to the collection.

I first learned of Jeff's songwriting by falling in love with (have so many have) his "I Won't Mind" on Audra McDonald's album. It took me a long time to realize that this was the same Jeff Blumenkrantz I had done summer stock with in 1984 (like there could be more than one?). I had seen his name in performing credits from time to time, but hadn't realized he had added songwriter to his accomplishments. Well, not to dis Jeff's capable performance abilities, but I suspect that at the end of his career it will be as a songwriter that he is most warmly remembered--and rightfully so.

With a wide range of styles and themes, and a keen intellect for writing lyrics that often manage to be poetic and conversational at the same time, these are songs that performers clearly love to sing, as evinced by the stellar line-up of performers singing on his podcasts--Sutton Foster, Kelli O'Hara, Kate Shindle, Megan Mullally, Marin Mazzie, Judy Blazer, and on and on. There are some men, too, but it seems to be with women that Mr. Blumenkrantz's music really takes hold. The singing is uniformly good, and often great, with performances that draw out the nuances in the songs without making them too precious. There are comedy numbers, too, which are all character-based and deserve wider hearing.

The last few recordings I have to listen to include most of Jeff's settings of Edna St. Vincent Millay poems. I've only listened to one so far and it had a tremendous, emotional impact with an art-song sensibility that will bring me to the other settings in the near future. When I have more to say about those songs, I will. Until then, if you want to check out Jeff's music for yourself, the podcasts are all available free through www.jeffblumenkrantz.com.

Enjoy.

The Jeff Blumenkrantz Songbook Volume I

Music by Mr. Blumenkrantz, lyrics by Mr. Blumenkrantz, Edna St. Vincent Millay and many others.

Cast: Jeff Blumenkrantz, Kelli O'Hara, Sutton Foster, Judy Blazer, Marin Mazzie, Kate Shindle and others.

Ghost Light Monday -- Paddle to the Sea, short film

If you don't know the children's book Paddle to the Sea by author and illustrator Holling C. Holling, you must check it out. Written in the 1940s it follows the travels of a small, carved, Indian canoe-figure as it floats through the Great Lakes, down the St. Lawrence River and into the Atlantic Ocean. The story is whimsical, with beautiful illustrations and teaches a lot about the geography of the Great Lakes.

I was surprised to come across a National Film Board of Canada live-action film of the story, made in 1966, but recently re-released on DVD by Criterion. I thought my niece and nephews might like it (since they know the book at least as well as I do), but thought I would check it out myself first (excuse). The Canadian Film Board generally produces wonderful short films, most of them documentaries.

While the photography and scenery of the film is beautiful and, at times, breath-takingly shot (Niagara Falls) by producer and director William Mason, I was a little disappointed in the film as a whole. It's only 30 minutes long--not long enough to really cover the most edifying parts of the story (the seasonal changes, geography, history, and industry of the Great Lakes). Neither was it enough time to really feel the length of the journey and the time span which it takes--as depicted in the book. Also the Native American (or rather First Nations, as this is set on the Canadian side of things) aspect disappears quickly in the film. In the book the Indian boy returns at the end, not in the film version. Also, one of the strongest impressions I have from the book are the illustrations (as exemplified by the title page), and the film uses none of them.

I will pass the DVD on to the kids in my life, because I do think some of the nature footage is worth seeing and it's another way to tell a story they will hear again and again over the years, but only to augment the book, not to replace it.

Paddle-to-the-Sea
written and illustrated by Holling Clancy Holling
published first in 1941

Paddle-to-the-Sea

film written and directed by William Mason

produced by the National Film Board of Canada in 1966

released on DVD by the Criterion Collection

Show Tunes--Rosemary Clooney CD

I should have looked at the label of this CD release more closely before picking it out of the stacks at the library; it's on a jazz label and most of the 12 tracks on Rosemary Clooney Show Tunes, while indeed being songs from Broadway shows, are treated as jazz standards presented in a club or cabaret setting. Jazz arrangements are not my thing.

Oh, well, it's hard to go wrong with Rosemary Clooney, and indeed, she rarely goes wrong on this disc. While her voice may be well past its prime, her interpretations, musicality and communicative skills are at their peak. This disc could serve as a primer for younger performers who let too much of their own personality get in the way of good songs. Rosemary uses her personality and personal experiences to inform the song, never to mask it.

My beef with jazz arrangements is that they too often follow the same format and mold--a verse of the song, some instrumental solo turns, another verse of the song. This happens too often on this disc, which all but one track involving all six of the session instrumentalists. The one song that is piano-only is my favorite on this recital--"Where do you start?" by Johnny Mandel with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. If this tune is from an actual show, I couldn't find it, but the song is melancholy and soulful, and Rosie imbues it with a lot of feeling.

There are three Rodgers and Hart tunes on this disc--the only songwriters represented more than once--and Ms. Clooney clearly feels at easy with the 1st R&H's swing and rhymes. Another successful swing arrangement is of the title song from Guys and Dolls.

Show Tunes
Music by Rodgers and Hart, Burton Lane, Frank Loesser, Kurt Weill, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Johnny Mandel, and others
Cast: Rosemary Clooney
Recorded for the Concord Jazz label in 1992

Standing Room Only--Jerry Hadley Recital Disc on CD

I have previously considered the wonderful singing and sad story of the late Jerry Hadley in three entries, so I was pleased when I came across his recital disc Standing Room Only. It is a varied mix of Broadway standards and rarities, several of which were new songs to me, surprisingly.

In reading a bit about Hadley's background and career, I was surprised to learn he was an Illinois native and received his Masters degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana--also the alma mater of one of my favorite baritones, Nathan Gunn. Obviously, these are two very different singers, but there does strike me to be a similarity in their muscular upper registers.

The tracks on this recording are all well done and well-sung. The liner notes make a point of saying that the orchestrations and arrangements are all new. I assume part of the reason behind that is to bring some of the songs into the rich center of Mr. Hadley's tenor range.

This album is at its best when offering material to showcase Mr. Hadley's wonderful legato singing, notably "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables, and "Younger Than Springtime" from South Pacific. But there are character pieces, too, that are well done, with Mr. Hadley able to scale-down his ringing open top to present a lighter sound. Also impressive is the trust placed in some of the arrangements, not all of which feel the need to bring on the brass section to drive home their point; some are very sparsely instrumentalized (is that a word?) to create a contrast with bigger arrangements. "Momma Look Sharp" is perhaps the most effective of the smaller-scale efforts.

After listening to this very good recital disc, it's not difficult to come up with another 18 musical theater songs I would have enjoyed hearing him sing. Sadly, that can never be.

Standing Room Only

Broadway Favorites

(including songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rodgers & Hart, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Marvin Hamlisch, Lerner and Loewe, Frank Loesser, and others)

Cast: Jerry Hadley, Paul Gemignani, American Theatre Orchestra

Released on the RCAVictor label in 1992

American Masters--Ella Fitzgerald Something to Live For, television biography on DVD

Ella Fitzgerald is an artist that I find it easy to be inspired by--and this PBS American Masters television biography makes it plain to see why. Ella Fitzgerald Something to Live For gives good insight into Ms. Fitzgerald's personal life while giving over the bulk of its time to her professional life.

She recorded almost 2000 songs in her 5 decade career, and nearly 35 of them are excerpted or played in full during this 90 minute documentary. There is a nice balance between the well-known Ella hits and the unfamiliar. A funny highlight for me was a trio of Ella, Dinah Shore and Joan Sutherland singing "Three Little Maids" from the Mikado.

There are perhaps too many duets excerpted in this show, including with Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Louis Armstrong, Perry Como, and others. While some of these duets are fun and interesting, it takes away time from showcasing what Ms. Fitzgerald could accomplish when in complete control of the music-making.

And control is what she demonstrates in every song. No one could roll out a legato line, or bend a pitch like Ella. The scat and swing singing is also of the highest order. How does one manage to do both so well?

Ella Fitzgerald--Something to Live For

from PBS American Master's Series on DVD

Benjamin Britten's "Rejoice in the Lamb" preparation for live performance

Tomorrow, the church choir in which I sing is performing Benjamin Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb during the service. So I thought I would share my lamb thoughts...

When the choir started rehearsing Rejoice in the Lamb, you could easily count the number of confused looks on members' faces--mine among them. The poetry of Christopher Smart (pictured, right) and the message Britten extracts from it are not obvious at first. There is a slight Gertrude Stein "pigeons on the grass, alas" quality to much of the verse that obfuscates its meaning. But this is not mere word-play. There is also a child-like quality that belies an adult understanding of the ways of God.

Christopher Smart was in in an insane asylum and considered mad when he wrote the poem he called Jubilato Agno. He seems to have equated some of his fate to that of Jesus--misunderstood by the public powers, and resigned to suffer at their hands. But Smart also saw God in this suffering. He saw God in everything--in his cat, in mice, in flowers, in rambling off the alphabet, in silly rhymes. But what drew composer Benjamin Britten to Smart's poem, I believe, is Smart's belief that we are perhaps closest to God in music, whether making it or listening to it.

Britten wrote this piece in 1943. Imagine London at that time. The city has been a primary target of bombing for four years. During the blitz, civilian lives are being lost daily. Public services like power, water, trash collection are sporadic. Supply chains from Europe and elsewhere have been interrupted, so food is often in short supply. Blackout orders have shut down all the concert halls, theaters, and movie houses. Entertainment of all types has come to a complete stop for fear of being in a crowd when the bombs start falling.

It is in this world that Benjamin Britten is asked to compose a cantata for use in church--about the only place that live music is being heard. And WH Auden hands Britten a poem from a forgotten 18th Century poet. A poem which has raised its author's reputation from obscurity and madness to prominence and brilliance. A poem which, while written in 1763, was not published until 1939 after being pieced together from hand-written loose-leaf sheets that had somehow survived 175 years. A poem which was probably written to stave off deeper depression during Smart's institutionalization and daren't consider anything other than his cat Jeoffry. Did Britten see this as the survival story that England needed in its dark days?

The music Britten composes is by turns nursery rhyme-like tunes, robust mixed-meter dances, and chant. Chant opens the piece, and is used again for the darkest, most penetrating moments of the cantata. The dances enliven the texts about how the many Old Testament characters to which Christopher Smart refers should glorify God. Dance meters also are used when the chorus sings it anthem to music-making.

The nursery rhyme-like tunes come during three solo sections; a treble soloist (a female soprano in my choir) likens the stretches and meanderings of a cat's movement to praying. The organ part portrays the cat with its twists and turns. An alto soloist sings of the bravado of a mouse (perhaps this is an analogy to how we are to engage our lives?). Thirdly, a tenor soloist muses about flowers and draws comparisons to Christ, the bloom of Mary. Here, the arching line of the soloist floats over a chipper organ part that seems to me to be tripping through a field of daisies.

You can make your own correlations between that time and ours. Between Christopher Smart's story and your personal struggles. Between Benjamin Britten's faith and your own. For me, when the darkness seems to be all around and I'm not certain where the next bomb is going to fall, I am glad to be able to revel in the "Shawn, Lawn, Fawn", and the "Flute, Suit, Moot, and the like", believing that "the trumpet of God is a blessed intelligence" which comes "from the hand of the artist, and from the echo of the heavenly harp, in sweetness magnifical and mighty."

Hallelujah. Amen.

Rejoice in the Lamb

Music by Benjamin Britten
Text from Jubilate Agno by Christopher Smart
One performance only by
St. Pauls United Church of Christ Chancel Choir
Lincoln Park, Chicago IL 60614

Sunday, May 16, 2010 11am service

Billy Elliot The Musical live on stage in Chicago

I believe this is a "sit-down" production that is in Chicago for a long stay. Judging by the full house and enthusiastic audience, Billy Elliot The Musical deserves a good run.

It took me a while to get my head around this show; it breaks some conventions that I have stuck in my craw about musicals. Mostly, the expectation that the moving moments of a show will be during songs; here the highlights are during dances. Billy's dancing was of course the standout and Cesar Corrales, the young performer who played Billy in the matinee I saw, was excellent. Not just a well-trained dancer, but an actual stage presence.

The music by Elton John was a little disappointing to me. Apart from Billy's "Electricity", the songs don't have a tune that you can leave the theater humming. And Billy's song is nearly immediately swept out of your head by the wonderful dance number that follows. Having seen Sir Elton's Lion King and Aida, I know the man can write effective stage musical songs.

In Billy Elliot, there are three roles other than the title character who have primary songs--Billy's father; dance instructor Mrs. Wilkinson; and Billy's friend Michael. Mrs. Wilkinson is portrayed in Chicago by Emily Skinner, an accomplished Broadway veteran from Side Show, Jekyll & Hyde, and The Full Monty. That experience shown in her performance. Armand Schultz as Billy's father was best when not singing.

One thing this show did a lot, and usually well, was blend Billy's real life with his fantasy life. This happened in the dancing dress number for Billy and Michael, the pas de deux for Billy and Grown Billy, and in scenes between Billy and his deceased mother. Even the struggle between striking miners and British police authorities was a blend of realities of sorts--although I found this less effective. Perhaps purposely, the police presence was made into a joke with their first entrance that seemed straight out of Gilbert and Sullivan.

I have to end with a probing question that kept me awake last night: why when Billy left at the end of the show to go off to The Royal Ballet school, did the actor climb into the orchestra pit?

Billy Elliot The Musical
Music by Elton John
Book and lyrics by Lee Hall
Opened in London in 2005, the New York production opened in October, 2008
This Chicago production opened in March, 2010 and has an open run.
Cast: Emily Skinner, Armand Schultz, Cynthia Darlow, Patrick Mulvey, Cesar Corrales (my Billy), Gabriel Rush (my Michael),