Songbook Summit: Fifteen Pioneers of American Sound by clarinetist and saxophonist Will Anderson is a slim, informative, and anecdote-filled collection of short bios highlighting musicians and composers who introduced, defined, and refined the best of what’s called The Great American Songbook.
The phrase refers to the popular jazz and swing-infused compositions that dominated the charts, sales and performances of American music from the 1920s to the late 1960s. Many were singles, popularized by particular singers, some associated with Broadway productions, Hollywood hits and Tin Pan Alley – magical moody and marvelously clever tunes and lyrics that reflected a unique era in American culture.
The collection comes at an important time in the history of American music and for our nation on its 250th anniversary, a reminder of the immigrant roots and heritage of so many artists – particularly Jewish and Black - who got the country through The Depression, World War II and the fast-changing be-bop boom years of the 50s and 60s.
Will Anderson usually performs with his identical twin Peter, also a clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and arranger. They both have impressive resumes, garnering praise from leading critics all over the country for their imaginative fresh perspectives on classic jazz. Recently, they revisited East Hampton, contributing to what seems to be a resurgence of jazz, hot, sweet and cool. Not to mention their philanthropic work on behalf of Juilliard.
The Musicians, kings of harmony and rhythm include Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, The Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw , Frank Sinatra. The Composers, all of them famous include Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter (these two writing their own lyrics as well as music), George Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael (did you know he was a lawyer?), Richard Rodgers (over 900 songs and contributing to 43 Broadway musicals).
Harold Arlen (Gershwin said he was the most original “of all of us”), Jimmy Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock, who was a test pilot for WWII fighter planes) and took his music name Van Heusen from a men’s shirt ad), and Henry Mancini. Just hearing their names evokes memories.
A fascinating fact is that all of them knew or knew of each other and were spurred by admiration as well as competition. So what are some other anecdotal goodies Anderson reveals? Did we know that “Begin the Beguine,” written by Cole Porter but arranged with a Latin beat and made madly popular by Artie Shaw, was the longest jazz composition ever written? One hundred and eight measures instead of the typical 32. That Jerome Kern’s harmonically complex “All the Things You Are” is the second most recorded jazz song after Johnny Green’s “Body and Soul”?
Although most people know something about each of the musicians featured here, it’s good to have them together because in so many cases, they were together, learning from each other, competing, helping one another – writing compositions and giving performances that brought the house down, made reputations, created dance crazes and simply put . . .brought comfort and joy. Songbook Summit, brief as it is, also includes telling moments in the lives of these great artists, comments or behavior that deepen understanding of these innovative, obsessive men – and, yes, they were all men – that give an inside look into their humanity at challenging times, their quirks and personal lives, and most of all, their passion to pursue what they loved.
