Hoagy Carmichael - The Classics

So we are at 200. Hardly a milestone for some. But a monster for me. This is my turning point. It seems most of the stuff I own is now available. I've got maybe a handful of radio shows and very little else. So maybe I should just wind this thing down. Except I like being part of this little jazz blogger community. So maybe we just plug along with cool things we like and see where it goes.

Back to the subject at hand. A three lp boxset dedicated to one of the greatest songwriters ever. Hoagy's own vocals here are the highlight for me.
The great set spans from his earliest recordings to a Wynton Marsalis cover closer. While a clever lyricist, Hoagy more often than not worked as the melodicist in the company of his peers. I bought this set at a garage sale for $3. I didn't even try to barter. Chock full of some of the greatest evergreens ever composed. And then somewhere among all those covers, you get Ray singing Georgia On My Mind, a song that still stops me in my tracks to this day. For the record, my mom's 7' of Artie Shaw's Stardust is one of the records that pointed me towards jazz at a younger age than my friends.
There's not a lot I more I can say without breaking the thing down song by song...not my style. You'll know what you like and hopefully you will find some gems in here.

Originally released jointly by The Indiana Historical Society and The Smithsonian Collection of Recordings. Taken from my vinyl....

Hoagy Carmichael
The Classic Box Set

Disc One
1. Riverboat Shuffle - Frankie Trumbauer
2. Washboard Blues - Paul Whiteman
3. Stardust - Louis Armstrong
4. Lazy River - Louis Armstrong
5. Charlie Two-Step - The Boswell Sisters
6. New Orleans - Bennie Moten
7. Judy/Moon Country - Hoagy Carmichael
8. Rockin' Chair - Mills Brothers
9. Moonburn - Bing Crosby
10. Lazybones - Claude Hopkins
11. Ballad in Blue - Benny Goodman
12. Sing Me a Swing Song (And Let Me Dance) - Benny Goodman
13. Lyin' To Myself - Louis Armstrong
14. Jubilee - Louis Armstrong
15. Rockin' Chair - Mildred Bailey
16. Small Fry - Mildred Bailey
17. Two Sleepy People - Bob Hope and Shirley Ross
18. Kinda Lonesome - Maxine Sullivan
19. Old Man Harlem - Ethel Waters
20. Bread And Gravy - Ethel Waters
21. Blue Orchids - Glenn Miller

Disc Two
1. Ooh! What You Said - Bob Crosby
2. Can't Get Indiana Off My Mind - Kate Smith
3. Stardust - Artie Shaw
4. Georgia On My mind - Billie Holiday
5.The Lamplighter's Serenade - Frank Sinatra
6. Hong Kong Blues - HC
7. Lazy River - HC
8. The Old Music Master - HC
9. Don't Forget To Say No Baby! - HC
10. Stardust - HC
11. Ole Buttermilk Sky - HC
12. Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief - Betty Hutton
13. Ivy - Jo Stafford
14. The Monkey Song - HC
15. In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening - Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman
16. Stardust - Ella Fitzgerald
17. I Guess it Was You All Along - Ray Anthony
18. The Nearness Of You - Jo Stafford
19. Heart And Soul - Hank Jones
20. Memphis in June - Lucy Ann Polk
21. One Morning In May - Mel Torme
22. The Rhumba Jumps - Mel Torme



Disc 3
1. Skylark - Carmen McRae
2. Georgia On My Mind - Ray Charles
3. Serenade To Gabriel - HC
4. Stardust - Frank Sinatra
5. Baltimore Oriole - Sheila Jordan
6. Skylark - Bob Brookmeyer
7. How Little We Know - Susannah McCorkle
8. The Nearness Of You - Sarah Vaughn
9. Winter Moon - Art Pepper
10. I Walk With Music - Marlene VerPlank
11. Ole Man Moon - Marlene VerPlank
12. Come Easy, Go Easy Love - Dave McKenna
13. I Get Along Without You Very Well ( excepts sometimes) - Margaret Whiting

14. Stardust - Wynton Marsalis

One

Two

Three

Art Pepper - So In Love

Now that we have finished our Duke tribute, it is time to turn our atention to some other fine lps that you don't see often.

I am very fond of Art Pepper's works and wonder why he doesn't seem to garner nearly the acclaim he should. This set is one that really seems overlooked perhaps because the label quickly folded. A standard quartet date with later period Pepper in fine form. I always seem to feel a joyful exuberence about his later playing. He seems to have rediscovered whatever it was that brought him so much joy in the first place. This would almost be attributted to his cleaner status but his autobiography belays that fact. These five tunes we recorded at two separate dates in 79 with two different quartets. I give a slight nod to the later performance but perhaps it is because I enjoy his interaction with Cables so much or perhaps because the Porter and Charmichael tunes are two of my all time favorite standards.
Here you have it Artists House 9412.

1. Straight, No Chaser

2. Blues For Blanche*

3. So In Love*

4. Diane

5. Stardust*

Recorded 2-23-79 NYC and * 5-26-79 Burbank

Art Pepper - alto sax

Hank Jones - Piano

George Cables - Piano*

Ron Carter - Bass

Charlie Haden - Bass*

Al Foster - Drums

Billy Higgins - Drums*

produced by John Snyder