Lush Life - Billy Strayhorn
I know this is blasphemy, but I think Lush Life is a dreary tedious song. (It's made even worse when overly-indulgent singers do it so slow I need to shave again when it's finished. Nature Boy and Lazy Afternoon are two others I'd like to toss into a bottomless pit.) But it does have some cool changes and I have heard versions I don't hate. I prefer to play it with a salsa feel, so here's my personal chart. Alternate chords have been harvested from various sources including Billy Taylor, Tito Puente, and a pianist I met one summer while working on a cruise ship - you can thank him for the Coda outro.
Lush Life (Db Latin) - Billy Strayhorn
Wonderful! Wonderful! - Sherman Edwards
"Wonderful! Wonderful!" is a 1957 song composed by Sherman Edwards with lyrics by Ben Raleigh. It was a hit single for Johnny Mathis in 1957 and was recorded about the same time as "It's Not For Me To Say," a chord chart for which I recently posted.
The sheet music for this song is written in 4/4 time, but the song is played "in two" (or better, "in eight"), meaning that the feeling is one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and. There is a bass note played on each beat and a light drum hit on each "and." The song has an atypical AABA structure. The A sections are 16 measures long but the B section is only 4 measures long. However, in order to incorporate the song into existing iReal Pro styles, I had to break each measure in half. Thus, the chord chart has 32-bar A sections and an 8-bar B section. I found that the best style for the chart is Jazz-Ballad Even at 150 bpm, which is close to the original tempo. If we get an "in two" style in the future, the chart may have to be modified.
The chart itself was originally written by a previous poster. I have corrected a few mistakes, made a few harmony changes of my own, and the split the measures in half.
This is one of series of Johnny Mathis songs for which I've posted charts. His hits are popular with many of the audiences for which I perform. It was featured on an episode of the old TV series "The X-Files." I hope you enjoy this almost-forgotten song from the 1950s.
Wonderful! Wonderful! (k ver) - Sherman Edwards
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
The Gentleman Is a Dope - Richard Rodgers
Here are two versions of the tune.
ORIGINAL VERSION, from the sheet music. It's in D minor, although the singers on YouTube sing it in Bb minor, the key in which it was sung in the show Allegro.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QpMbxeeRJME
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jUFO2tUBV4c
https://www.scribd.com/doc/271984697...a-Dope-Allegro
Gentleman Is a Dope (Orig), The - Richard Rodgers
MY VERSION, which is slower and has a number of different changes.
Gentleman Is a Dope-Rev JE, The - Richard Rodgers
Cheers,
Jer
No Other Love - Richard Rodgers
The tune for No Other Love was originally part of Richard Rodgers' score for the acclaimed 1952 TV war documentary series Victory at Sea. In the orchestral suite compiled from the score the piece was titled Beneath the Southern Cross.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDuQ...=RDsDuQp_AfVJk
In 1953, Rodgers "borrowed" his own tune and included it in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Me and Juliet as No Other Love, with lyrics by Hammerstein.
It was a hit tune for Perry Como:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfiSbyF5YYE
It was even recorded by Jay and the Americans:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77h84WomwKM
Personal note: My band and I played for Jay Black's son's wedding.
My version takes liberties with some of the harmonies for more of a jazz flavor. A lead sheet for the standard version can be found in Hal Leonard's Ultimate Broadway Fake Book, and others.
No Other Love-Rev JE - Richard Rodgers
Cheers,
Jer
Hymn To Freedom - Oscar Peterson
Here's a more complete chart to this beautiful gospel-like tune.
Here's Peterson playing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCrrZ1NnCuM
Here's a transcription on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07F0Oac0_Gs
And here's a lead sheet. It's in Bb, whereas Peterson plays it in F.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/halleonard-c...843160p10z.jpg
Hymn To Freedom-Rev JE - Oscar Peterson
It's Grieg to Me - Grieg-Engelbach
Okay, the title is a silly cliché.
This is the main theme from Grieg's Piano Concerto, adapted as a Latin-Jazz tune.
The chart can be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/37nr6q9b41...%20Me.pdf?dl=0
(Well, the chart was there ~7 years ago:()
It's Grieg to Me - Grieg-Engelbach
Cheers,
Jer
Where Is Your Heart - George Auric
I'd like to thank Larry Seyer for posting a chord chart for this almost-forgotten song from a time when we both were young. "Where Is Your Heart" was a song featured in the 1952 film "Moulin Rouge. In the film, the song was called "It's April Again" and was quite different from the 1953 hit by Percy Faith with vocal by Felicia Sanders. In addition, a version by Montovani and his orchestra was also very popular. The song is in a standard 32-bar AABA form with straightforward diatonic harmony.
I edited Larry's chord chart and made some changes. Firstly, I transposed it into Eb, the standard fake book key, as found in the Movie Fake Book by Hal Leonard. Next, I elongated Larry's introduction to 8 measures. Finally, I corrected some mistakes in the chords.
Here it is, a memory from my youth.
Where Is Your Heart - George Auric
I Can Dream, Can't I - Sammy Fain
In 1938, two memorable songs emerged from the Broadway flop "Right This Way" with music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Irving Kahal: "I'll Be Seeing You" and the lesser known "I Can Dream, Can't I." The latter was a hit, first for the Tommy Dorsey band in 1937, and then for the Andrews Sisters and for Toni Arden, both in 1949. It was also featured in an episode of the TV series "Mad Men."
Sammy Fain (1902-1989) had a long career as a songwriter both for live musicals and films. Early songs include "Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella," "You Brought A New Kind of Love To Me," and "When I Take My Sugar To Tea." Later songs include "Dear Hearts and Gentle People," "I'm Late" and "Alice In Wonderland" (from the Disney film "Alice in Wonderland"), "The Second Star From the Right (from the Disney film "Peter Pan") and "April Love" (from the film of the same name) . He was nominated ten times for the Academy Award for best song and won twice for "Secret Love" and "Love Is A Many Splendid Thing." Fain was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.
"I Can Dream, Can't I" has a standard 32-bar ABAC form, with each section being 8 measures long. The lovely melody is very tightly composed based on two main motives. The two A sections, identical for the first seven measures, are based on a three-note descending scalar motive on the first, fourth, and seventh scale degree, all with the same rhythm: half note, quarter note, and half-note. The first B section starts with three instances of a three-note scalar motive using quarter-note triplets; similar motives using the same rhythm are used in the second B section. The repeated use of these two motives brings a satisfying coherence to the melody. The lyrics, a plaintive admission of unrequited love fit the melody beautifully.
The Tommy Dorsey (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2NX5KhzIJ0) and Andrews Sisters (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ1qmGJ3eyY) performances are both available. Particularly nice is a 1975 performance by Karen Carpenter from the Carpenters album "Horizon" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myXD...kVFmgnHwBxm7kf, which also includes the little-known verse.
Lead sheets are available in a number of fake books, including The Ultimate Fake Book published by Hal Leonard. My chart uses the Jazz-Ballad style at 90 bpm. I hope you enjoy playing this beautiful song.
I Can Dream, Can't I - Sammy Fain
Glad To Be Unhappy - Rodgers-Hart
Glad to Be Unhappy was written by Rodgers and Hart for their 1936 musical On Your Toes.
My favorite recording of it is by Eric Dolphy on flute, which starts with the verse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzFTnx8XYh8
My version contains no verse, and uses my own changes.
Glad To Be Unhappy-Rev JE - Rodgers-Hart
Cheers,
Jer
