Major Composers of the
Great American Songbook
Harold Arlen
Irving Berlin
Vernon Duke
Duke Ellington
George and Ira Gershwin
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Rodgers & Hart
Jimmy Van Heusen
Burton Lane
Johnny Mercer
Cole Porter |
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“In a hundred to a hundred fifty years from now, I believe that people will recognize the
music of Gershwin and Ellington as the Classical Music of our time."
- Tony Bennett
The Great American Songbook consists of songs composed
during the Golden Age of songwriting in the 1920's-1960's… songs
that continue to permeate our culture and melt our hearts. The Songbook contains songs from the Hollywood
musical, Broadway musical, and the infamous Tin Pan Alley. The songs endure years later partly
due to their original success on stage, and they continue to fill our ears as the main body of tunes
in the jazz world. On October 24, 2008 vocalist Alysia Lee and pianist Faith McCoy presented a concert
featuring Great American Songbook favorites at Bloomingdale School of Music, and we are pleased to present
excerpts of it to you as part of the Internet Concert Project.
Crafting a Program
The Great American Songbook is dear to my heart. It is the soundtrack to some of my most treasured moments.
My father has always been a jazz fanatic, and I have fond memories of ciphering through his enormous
LP collection in search of new aural delights. Many of those tunes are from the Great American Songbook. I
also have a fascination with the Hollywood musicals of old. The Songbook contains for me wonderful kernels
of my history.
In order to craft the program, I researched songs by Arlen, Gershwin, and other favorite composers.
I also turned to other performers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, Eileen Farrell, and Barbara
Cook—singers who have set aside much of their output to the Great American Songbook. I compiled
lists of my favorites and sorted them by theme, noticing quite a few that were recurrent: Love, Heartache,
Music, and Hope. The concert I presented with my friend and colleague Faith McCoy was centered around
these themes. I also thought it was important to perform songs that have been written recently that
continue the storytelling tradition of the Great American Songbook.
- Alysia Lee |
|
Rodgers and Hart |
Concert Program and Videos
Performance Videos
Selected Composer Bios
Performer Bios
Alysia Lee, soprano
Faith McCoy, piano
Music:
| Hit me with a Hot Note |
Duke Ellington |
From Sophisticated Ladies
| I’ve Got Rhythm |
George and Ira Gershwin |
Love:
| Sleepin’ Bee/I Never has Seen Snow |
Harold Arlen |
From Leave It to Me
| Bill/Can't Help Lovin Dat Man of Mine |
Oscar Hammerstein II/Jerome Kern |
From Show Boat
| How Long has this been Going On? |
George and Ira Gershwin |
From Rosalie
| Someone to Watch over Me |
George and Ira Gershwin |
Heartache:
| Blues in The Night |
Harold Arlen |
From the film Blues in the Night
| Black Coffee |
Sonny Burke and Paul Francis Webster |
Hope:
| Look for the Silver Lining/Over the Rainbow |
Cole Porter/Harold Arlen |
From the films Look for the Silver Lining and The Wizard of Oz
Recent Songs:
| Taylor the Latte Boy |
Marcy Heisler/Zina Goldrich |
| Hero and Leander |
Adam Guettel |
From Myths and Hymns
Performance videos presented by arrangement with ASCAP |
