Irving Berlin

[Chaszz]

Irving Berlin was not a jazz musician or composer, but I guess one of the terms, Mainstream, in the description for this section fits him. I spent last night on the internet reading about him and listening to his music. Amazing output. Could only play in one key, F sharp, on the piano and could hardly add chords to his melodies. But his musical translators were made to play each melody with a wearyingly long variety of chord changes until he found the exact chords he had in his mind for the tune.

Of course, COULD only play in one key is not an accurate description. He considered learning music and rejected it outright, fearing that learning rules would destroy his talent. He very well may have been right. So COULD only play in one key should be changed to WOULD only play in one key.

In White Christmas, the first part of the melody wrings deep nostalgic feeling from only five  chromatic notes in the scale, each right next to the note before or after it: E, F, E, E flat, E, F, G flat, G. A whole melody full of meaning spanning only five half-tones.

In Cheek to Cheek, the bridge (second theme of the song) is conventional, except that it repeats twice:
Oh I love to climb a mountain
And reach the highest peak
But it doesn't thrill (boot) me half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek

Oh I love to go out fishing
In a river or a creek
But I don't enjoy it half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek

But then the bridge extends further in an unprecedented way with DANCE WITH ME (etc.)...

Where in the world does that chord come from in DANCE WITH ME.... ? Instantly it changes the conventional tune into something like a thunderbolt in a Beethoven or Brahms symphony, before settling down to a prettier segue back to the main theme. In the process turning the conventional bridge into a wholly original three-part structure. 

How Deep is the Ocean... what an intense, searingly direct combination of melody and lyric, simple and perfect as if a faceted, highly polished jewel were found in the wet sand. So simple it doesn't require a bridge or a third verse of the main theme, either of which would dilute its direct uncomplicated greatness. 

Is there any other genius in any field, who purposely knew virtually nothing about his medium? All artists should know as little!

[The new erato]

Superb songs from a natural genius. Genius indeed!

[king ubu]

I do favor Cole Porter, just slightly ahead of the Gershwins ... and I have a soft spot for oddballs like Hoagy Carmichael (as a performer, too ... dig him in "To Have and Have Not", singing "Am I Blue" with Lauren Bacall - it doesn't get much better!) or Willard Robison. But yes, Berlin wrote some wonderful songs ... but also some I don't have much use for (that is, coming from jazz - if you're talking "mainstream" as in musical and whatever, that may be different, but in "mainstream jazz", no one needs "White Christmas" or "Alexander's Ragtime Ball"). Lest I forget: Berlin did help Porter (who took a while to get his break, and who had a totally different background of course).

Either way, he gave us many great songs such as "Let's Face the Music and Dance" (I confess to loving Diana Krall's version of this bigtime! Horrible video, just listen without watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLZfhHW98Os), "Cheek to Cheek", "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", "Soft Lights and Sweet Music" (as played by John Coltrane on "Traneing In": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaEXRBC3Pdw), "They Say It's Wonderful" (Coltrane and Johnny Hartman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9xOv8r3-XU), "How Deep Is the Ocean", "All By Myself", "Isn't This a Lovely Day", "Change Partners" (Sonny Rollins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXOzh0yHiIU) ...

[Drasko]

https://www.youtube.com/v/zO9axGrzDE0

[king ubu]

Forgot to mention, and this deserves its own post:

[asin]B000050J5Y[/asin]
Ella Fitzgerald's series of song book albums is amazing and still unique to this day - the linked one is, btw, the edition to get, from Verve's Master Edition (that is if you care for a proper remastering not stolen by the PD pirates, as well as for a nice booklet and all).

Marc Myers has a write-up about it on his fine site Jazzwax:
http://www.jazzwax.com/2011/03/ella-fitzgerald-and-irving-berlin.html


Also, here's Krall doing "Let's Face the Music and Dance" in concert - she can play, don't mind what the detractors say (she did steal/borrow her repertoire from peculiarly few sources though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK_KObAbwBc

Video doesn't load on my end, here's the link, in case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK_KObAbwBc