Welcome to the round up of posts you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.
I hope your week has gone well. There has been glorious sunshine here and knowing how unpredicable our summers can be, we have been making the most of it. The fledgling starlings having stuffed themselves at the Birdseed Cafe and Spa, are now disappearing for most of the day, just popping in for a bath and a drink. With nearly 10 days without rain there is little standing water around and so our two baths have to be filled at least three times a day to keep up with demand. When I sit outside they ignore me and it is quite the sight watching their antics.
I have a very special lunch on Friday which I will tell you about next week… delighted to be meeting up in person with a talented children’s author and friend to many of us in the writing community.
As always my thanks to my friends who contribute to the blog…
William Price King joined me this week for the Big Band Era with Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller and the Conga…On Friday William began a new series…introducing the members of ABBA..You can also find William – Blog– IMPROVISATION– William Price King on Tumblr
Debby Gies will be here with her series Spiritual Awareness on Monday exploring the spirit of those who have passed and how we might notice them in our lives Signs, Synchronicity, and Energy . On her own blog you will find her Sunday Book Review for Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison, a perfect summer read especially for shoe lovers. Head over to …D.G. Kaye
Carol Taylor will behere on Wednesday with the first in her Green Kitchen seriesrunning every three weeks to the end of the year. Carol has returned from Australia and you can enjoy some of her adventures and photographs in her Monday Musings and have a grand tour of Grenada, the Spice Island in her A-Z Cuisines of the World.. Head over to enjoy Cuisines of the World Grenada..
Toni Pike was here on Wednesday with her series on Personal Powerand this week, Don’t Give Your Power Away…it certainly got people sharing their own experiences. Head over to check out Toni Pike’s Books
Welcome to the 2023 series of the music column where I am joined as always by Jazz singer and composer William Price King. We hope you will join us every Tuesday for some of the chart hits of the big band era from the 1930s through to the 1950s.
Some of the earlier videos are not of the best quality however where possible we have sourced remastered copies to share with you. Considering some are almost 100 years old, it is remarkable that they exist at all. A testament to the love of the music of that era. Along with our selections each week we will also be showcasing one of the dance crazes from the 1920s onwards and as with the music videos some are not of the highest quality and in some cases I have substituted more modern versions.
Here is my next selection from the Big Band chart in the 1940s from Lionel Hampton
Lionel Hampton “Flying Home” (1940)
“Flying Home” was written by Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton with lyrics by Sid Robin. It was developed while Hampton was in the Benny Goodman band. A gig in 1939 required the band to fly from L.A. to Atlantic City, the first time Hampton had flown. He began whistling a tune while waiting for the plane to taxi. Goodman asked him what it was, to which he replied “I don’t know, we can call it ‘Flying Home,’ I guess.”
Hampton later confessed that he was humming the tune as a way to keep his mind off of the impending flight. It was first recorded by the Benny Goodman Sextet in 1939, featuring solos by Hampton and Charlie Christian. The tune charted twice, in two different versions by the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. The first version, which rose to #25 in 1940, featured Ziggy Elman on trumpet. The second and most renowned version, with Dexter Gordon on tenor sax, featured an outstanding saxophone solo by Illinois Jacquet and charted in 1942, rising to #23. Michael Zirpolo
Here is my next selection from the 1940s from Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller “Pennsylvania 6-5000” (1940)
“Pennsylvania 6-5000” (also written “Pennsylvania Six-Five Thousand”) is a 1940 swing jazz and pop standard with music by Jerry Gray and lyrics by Carl Sigman. It was recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra as a Bluebird 78 rpm single.
Many big band names played in Hotel Pennsylvania’s Cafe Rouge in New York City, including the Glenn Miller Orchestra.The hotel’s telephone number, Pennsylvania 6-5000, inspired the Glenn Miller 1940 Top 5 Billboard hit of the same name, which had a 12-week chart run. The instrumental was recorded on April 28, 1940 in New York. The 78 single was released in June, 1940 as RCA Victor Bluebird 78 B-10754-A backed with “Rug Cutter’s Swing”. The song was also an advertisement for attendance at the band’s live performances, as a call could be put through to Hotel Pennsylvania’s venue the Cafe Rouge for a reservation. Classic Mood Experience
The conga line is a novelty line dance that was derived from the Cuban carnival dance of the same name and became popular in the US in the 1930s and 1950s. The dancers form a long, processing line, which would usually turn into a circle. It has three shuffle steps on the beat, followed by a kick that is slightly ahead of the fourth beat. The conga, a term sometimes mistakenly believed to be derived from the African region of Congo, is both a lyrical and danceable genre, rooted in the music of carnival troupes or comparsas
The conga dance was believed to have been brought over from Africa by enslaved people in the West Indies, and became a popular street dance in Cuba. The style was appropriated by politicians during the early years of republic in an attempt to appeal to the masses before election. During the Machado dictatorship in Cuba, Havana citizens were forbidden to dance the conga, because rival groups would work themselves to high excitement and explode into street fighting. When Fulgencio “El Checho” Batista became president in the 1940s, he permitted people to dance congas during elections, but a police permit was required.
Your Hosts for The Big Band Era
William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.
His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.
While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.
Sally Cronin is an author, blogger and broadcasterwho enjoyed four years as part of the team on Onda Cero International’s English speaking morning show in Marbella and then for two years as a presenter on Expressfm the local radio station in Portsmouth. She co-presented two ‘Drive Time’ shows a week with Adrian Knight, hosted the live Thursday Afternoon Show and The Sunday Morning Show guests including musicians and authors. Following this she became Station Director for a local internet television station for two years, producing and presenting the daily news segment, outside broadcasts and co-presenting the Adrian and Sally chat show live on Friday evenings.
She and her husband David have now returned to Ireland where they live on the Wexford Coast where she blogs and continues to write books.
It is nine years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. We continue in 2023 with series sharing the lives and music of some of the great names in music over the last century
Welcome to the series about musical legends from the last 100 years and now we explore the life and music of Jazz singer Diana Krall
Music Legends – Jazz – Diana Krall – Part Four – 2010s and Beyond
In this final part of the Diana Krall story I would like to look at her most recent work and also include some of the honours that she has received so far. It is also interesting to find out what an artist feels about their own work, so I have some quotes by Diana to include in the post.
Here is a list of some of her honors so far in her wonderful career.
In 2000, Diana Krall was awarded the “Order of British Columbia.”
In 2003 she was given an honorary Ph.D. (Fine Arts) from the University of Victoria.
In 2004, she was inducted into “Canada’s Walk of Fame.”
In 2005, she was made an Officer of the “Order of Canada.”
In 2008, “Nanaimo Harbourfront Plaza” was renamed “Diana Krall Plaza.”
She is an honorary board member of the “Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.”
Krall has been selected a Steinway & Sons Artist and performs exclusively with Steinway pianos in recording sessions, concerts, and public appearances.
Here is one of her quotes that I think sums up Diana Krall’s down to earth approach to the music industry and its demands.
“I’ve played a lot of piano bars, I sound like Humphrey Bogart, but you don’t begin at the Royal Albert Hall. You have to work very hard to be a jazz musician and you’ve got to do some things you might not want to, as in any job. I was sent to Europe and I was like a human jukebox, playing six hours a night.”
In 2009 Diana Krall entered into a collaboration with the incredible vocalistBarbra Streisand and it was expected that combining their two very individual talents would produce a very different sound for Barbra Streisand. The albumLove Is The Answerwas released in the September. It was co-produced with Diana Krall’s long term musical collaborator Tommy LiPuma and featured Johnny Mandel’s arrangements of the tracks selected from the Great American Songbook.
Johnny Mandel had been in the business for several decades and had begun to play professionally in the early 40s. He had played trumpet and then trombone with the most popular bands of the day including Buddy Rich and Jimmy Dorsey. He went on to play and arrange for the top artists in the business including Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and also Barbra Streisand.
Whilst there is no doubt about the polished performances and finish to the album, some critics felt that it was not quite as much a departure from previous Streisand albums as expected; especially with the input from Diana Krall and Tommy LiPuma. It is perhaps understandable that with two very seasoned musicians and performers such as Barbra Streisand and Johnny Mandel that they would stay within their comfort zone.
However, Barbra Streisand has millions of fans around the world and the album became her ninth Number 1 album on the Billboard 200 and this made her the only artist to have a number one album in the United States in five different decades. The album was certified gold in November giving Barbra Streisand 51 Gold records.
Here is a track from the album If You Go Away by Jacques Brel and Rod McKuen. Uploaded by babsfan2
In 2011 Diana Krall took a break and was in Sri Lanka for a time, returning in September 2012 to accompany Paul McCartney at Capitol for his live performance of his album ‘Kisses on the Bottom, aired live on the Internet. Also on September 13th Diana performed Fly Me to the Moon at Neil Armstrong’s memorial service in Washington D.C. Here is the song which was written by Bart Howard and a fitting tribute to a great pioneer of space.
A new album Glad Rag Doll was also released in October 2012, produced with T Bone Burnett, and featured a much older set of songs; pre-dating most of the Jazz Standards, having been written between the two World Wars. These included the title track Glad Rag Doll written by Milton Ager, Dan Dougherty and Jack Yellen, When the Curtain Comes Down by Carl Hoefle, Al Lewis and Al Sherman and I’m a Little Mixed Up by Betty James and Edward Johnson.
This departure from the Jazz Standards was Diana Krall at her most individual and also most comfortable; with her signature vocals bringing back the blues and vaudeville of the era perfectly. This was not an album for sweeping orchestral arrangements and it was stripped back to the basics of the original jazz and blues infused of course with the Krall magic. As you listen you can imagine yourself in a smoky bar watching a couple of musicians combining voice and instrument to create an intimate atmosphere. Diana also brought her husband Elvis Costello on board for this album providing ukulele, mandolin and guitar with backing vocals on the title track Glad Rag Doll. Diana said this of their work together on the album;
‘Some people might be wary of collaborating with their spouses, but I was thrilled to be working with Elvis.’ ‘The fact that he’s my husband didn’t really enter into it. There’s no power struggle in our marriage. Once we were in the recording booth, he’d give me a wink and a smile, and we had fun. Our lives get busy at home with the children, so it was lovely to have something else to share.’
Wallflower,her 12th studio album was released in February 2015 by Verve records. The album is a return to the more well-known songs in recent music history, but all of course treated to the Diana Krall interpretation. Apart from the title track Wallflower written by Bob Dylan, other composers featured were artists who had inspired Diana Krall during her career such as Elton John, Gilbert O’Sullivan and Paul McCartney who had given Diana a song after their collaboration on his album Kisses on the Bottom in 2012. If I Take You Home Tonight was left off that album and Diana had this to say about the song.
“It was so great of Paul McCartney to give me that song.There’s always a few songs that don’t make an album. Not because they aren’t great. It just happens. So, I asked him if I could have it, and he just said sure.”
As another departure Diana Krall invited fellow Canadian David Foster to join her on the album. David is CEO of Verve records but also a 16-time Grammy Winner. As a composer, arranger, musician, songwriter and record producer he has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry. These included Alice Cooper, Celine Dion, Michael Buble, Josh Groban, Madonnaand Rod Stewart. David Foster did the arrangements forWallflowerand also provided most of the piano parts which left Diana free to focus on her vocal performances.
Here is If I Take You Home Tonight written byPaul McCartney uploaded by nehoda69
This Dream of You is the fifteenth studio album by Canadian singer Diana Krall, released on September 25, 2020, by Verve Records. The album spawned two singles released in August 2020.
The album is named after Krall’s rendition of the Bob Dylan song from his album Together Through Life(2009). The release is a collection of Krall’s scores of studio recordings that she performed with her longtime producer Tommy LiPumabefore his death in 2017. The dozen tracks was selected from over 30 recordings that the pair had laid down. The album was finished in May 2020 and produced by Krall herself. The “Autumn in New York” video was created to raise awareness for New York Cares, the largest volunteer organization in New York City founded in 1987. Diana Krall
Diana Krall has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, Billboard magazine named her the second greatest jazz artist of the decade (2000–2009), establishing her as one of the best-selling artists of her time.
Krall is the only jazz singer to have had eight albums debuting at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums.[2] To date, she has won three Grammy Awards and eight Juno Awards. She has also earned nine gold, three platinum, and seven multi-platinum albums.
I will leave you with a last quote from Diana Krall about her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut and whilst she may not have taken to this route to the stars she has certainly achieved that ambition through her music.
“I built rockets and became good friends with astronauts. I played for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 13 at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum [in Washington DC]. I met Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and I went on the bus to Orlando with a lot of space people and watched the last launch at Cape Canaveral. It was one of the most awesome things in my life. I love to ride horses though I’m not very good, but I love to ride Western-style, down the beach. Two of the few things in life outside music that make me feel freest are skiing and swimming in the cold. I went skiing recently in Dubai. That’s how hardcore I am.”
I hope that you have enjoyed this series on this incredible and very beautiful musician. If you have not listened to Diana Krall before then I hope that it has introduced her unique voice and musical gifts to your attention.
William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.
His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.
While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.
Welcome to the 2023 series of the music column where I am joined as always by Jazz singer and composer William Price King. We hope you will join us every Tuesday for some of the chart hits of the big band era from the 1930s through to the 1950s.
Some of the earlier videos are not of the best quality however where possible we have sourced remastered copies to share with you. Considering some are almost 100 years old, it is remarkable that they exist at all. A testament to the love of the music of that era. Along with our selections each week we will also be showcasing one of the dance crazes from the 1920s onwards and as with the music videos some are not of the highest quality and in some cases I have substituted more modern versions.
Here is my next selection from the Big Band chart in the 1940s from Artie Shaw
Artie Shaw “Frenesi” (1940)
“Frenesi” was composed for the marimba (a percussion instrument) by Alberto Dominguez Borrás, a renowned Mexican musician and composer, but was later adapted for jazz by Leonard Whitcup. Artie Shaw recorded his version of “Frenesi” in March1940, and by the end of the year it had reached the #1 spot on the Billboard Pop chart where it remained for 13 weeks. In 1982, Shaw’s version of “Frenesi” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Craig Smith
Here is my next selection from the 1940s from Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Hawkins “Body and Soul” (1940)
“Body and Soul” is a popular song and jazz standard written in 1930 with music by Johnny Green and lyrics by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour and Frank Eyton. It was also used as the musical theme and underscoring in the American film noir boxing drama Body and Soul.
One of the most famous and influential takes was recorded by Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra on October 11, 1939, at their only recording session for Bluebird, a subsidiary of RCA Victor. The recording is unusual in that the song’s melody is only hinted at in the recording; Hawkins’ two-choruses of improvisation over the tune’s chord progression constitute almost the entire take. Because of this, as well as the imaginative use of harmony and break from traditional swing cliches, the recording is recognised as part of the “early tremors of bebop”. In 2004, the Library of Congress entered it into the National Recording Registry. Classic Mood Experience
The jive is a dance style that originated in the United States from African Americans in the early 1930s. The name of the dance comes from the name of a form of African-American vernacular slang, popularized in the 1930s by the publication of a dictionary by Cab Calloway, the famous jazz bandleader and singer. In competition ballroom dancing, the jive is often grouped with the Latin-inspired ballroom dances, though its roots are based on swing dancing and not Latin dancing.
To the players of swing music in the 1930s and 1940s, “jive” was an expression denoting glib or foolish talk.
American soldiers brought Lindy Hop/jitterbug to Europe around 1940, where this dance swiftly found a following among the young. In the United States, “swing” became the most common word for the dance, and the term “jive” was adopted in the UK. Variations in technique led to styles such as boogie-woogie and swing boogie, with “jive” gradually emerging as the generic term in the UK.
Your Hosts for The Big Band Era
William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.
His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.
While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.
Sally Cronin is an author, blogger and broadcasterwho enjoyed four years as part of the team on Onda Cero International’s English speaking morning show in Marbella and then for two years as a presenter on Expressfm the local radio station in Portsmouth. She co-presented two ‘Drive Time’ shows a week with Adrian Knight, hosted the live Thursday Afternoon Show and The Sunday Morning Show guests including musicians and authors. Following this she became Station Director for a local internet television station for two years, producing and presenting the daily news segment, outside broadcasts and co-presenting the Adrian and Sally chat show live on Friday evenings.
She and her husband David have now returned to Ireland where they live on the Wexford Coast where she blogs and continues to write books.
Welcome to the round up of posts you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.
I hope you have all had a good week and have enjoyed some of the sunnier weather we have. While David began to dismantle the kitchen to speed up the process of the installation of the new one this week, I sat in the garden and caught up with reading, music and sunshine… It certainly makes a difference. One of the neighbour’s cats came and kept me company all afternoon sitting in the shade of my chair and occasional commenting on the birds and the state of the world.
Here are some ‘before’ photos of the kitchen and hopefully next week you will get the ‘after’ ones! All these units are being taken out and so it will take a two or three days to get the job done…Our office is in the diner part of the kitchen so we will be covering everything with sheets and decamping into the dining room. I will be offline during the day but will be checking in first thing and in the evening.
A wonderful surprise on Friday to find myself featured on author Stevie Turner’s blog along with the lovely review by Robbie Cheadle for Variety is the Spice of Life.. I hope you will head over to enjoy. Stevie Turner – Friday Showcase Sally Cronin
As always my thanks to my friends who contribute to the blog…
William Price King joined me this week for the Big Band Era with Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra and the Texas Tommy. On Friday William continued the series featuring Diana Krall. You can also find William – Blog– IMPROVISATION– William Price King on Tumblr
Debby Gies is taking a short break but will be back next Monday with her series Spiritual Awareness.. Debby was here during the week with her terrific funnies for our laughter spot. On her own blog you will find her book review for the latest release by Carol Balawyder, a reblog of her post on Timing and a wonderful post on the art in Puerto Vallarta. Head over to …D.G. Kaye
Carol Taylor washere on Wednesday with her A-Z of food and the letter ‘W’. Carol is on a short blogging break but you can catch up with her Monday Musingswhere she shares her thoughts on the coronation, the sad death of Jock Zonfrillo of Australian Master Chef and the anniversary of 1879 George Selden filed for the 1st patent for a gasoline-driven automobile…Carol Taylor’s Monday Musings
Toni Pike will be here on Wednesday with her series on Personal Powerand in this week, Becoming your own best friend… a very important relationship.
Thank you very much for your visits, comments and shares to social media, as always it is appreciated ♥
It is nine years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. We continue in 2023 with series sharing the lives and music of some of the great names in music over the last century
Welcome to the series about musical legends from the last 100 years and now we explore the life and music of Jazz singer Diana Krall
Music Legends – Jazz – Diana Krall – Part Two – The 1990s
Diana Krall’s first album, Stepping Out, was a wonderful showcase for her stripped back and natural singing voice. The tracks were back to the roots examples of her ability to combine jazz with a lighter element and a touch of humour. Many of the tracks have become classic Krall such as I’m Just a Lucky So & So and This Can’t Be Love. She also brings her own magic to On the Sunny Side of the Street and Body and Soul.
On the Sunny Side of the Street was originally written in the 1930s, allegedly by one of Diana Krall’s early influences Fats Waller, although it is thought he sold the rights to Jimmy McHugh with lyrics added by Dorothy Fields. The jazz standard has been covered by many of the top jazz artists over the decades including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Tommy Dorsey. It was also widely recorded by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Nat King Cole. I am sure they would all approve of Diana Krall’s version uploaded by RTL – Toujours avec vous
Her second album in 1995, Only Trust Your Heart, produced by Tommy LiPuma was for the American GRP record label. Diana brought her rich alto vocals to the trio ensemble which included Ray Brown or Christian McBride on Acoustic Bass, Lewis Nash on drums and Stanley Turrentine on tenor saxophone.
Tracks included some of the best loved jazz standards such as I’ve Got The World on a String and The Folks Who Live On The Hill. Here is the title track of the album written by Benny Carter and Sammy Cahn written in 1964. Uploaded by gallegomenendezg
As a traditionalist at heart, it was understandable that Diana Krall would pay homage to Nat King Cole, which she did with her next album for the GRP label, All For You in December 1996. Produced by Tommy LiPuma the line-up apart from Diana on vocals included Benny Green on Piano for If I had You, Paul Keller on Bass, Steve Kroon on percussion for Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Russell Malone with guitar. It is tough to pick a track from this album as they are all very evocative of that special time in music history when the Nat King Cole Trio were at the height of their popularity. Despite being a tribute to the trio, the album is very much Diana Krall with fresh and vibrant arrangements of the old classics.
Whilst 1996 ended on a high note with her latest album, 1997 started very well indeed as well with a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Performance.
Diana was in the studio again with another album Love Scenesreleased in August 1997. The album reached number one in the Top Jazz Albums and went platinum in the US with a million sales. This time the trio for the whole album consisted of Diana on piano with Russell Malone on guitar and Christian McBride on acoustic bass. The tracks included All Or Nothing At All written by Arthur Altman with lyrics by Jack Lawrence. A hit for Frank Sinatra in the war years; since then for Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn and more recently Jack Jones. Here is this classic given the Krall treatment uploaded by The Pleasure of Jazz
The last Diana Krall album of the 90s was When I Look In Your Eyesin June 1999 and it was nominated for a Grammy for Album of the Year. This was a record in itself as that most prestigious of awards had not been given to a Jazz album for 25 years. Whilst not taking that award home it did win two Grammys for Best Jazz vocal and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. It reached number 9 on Billboard’s Top Jazz albums of the decade and went platinum in both Canada and the US.
This album featured two other producers in addition to Tommy LiPuma; David Foster and Johnny Mandel. A new group of musicians featured on the various tracks including Larry Bunker on Vibraphone, Pete Christlieb on saxophone and Lewis Nash on drums.
Diana Krall ended the 90s having become the brightest and most successful jazz artist by stripping the music back to its core roots and infusing it with her own special magic.
To end this week’s post here is a track from When I Look In Your Eyes the well-loved Cole Porter number, I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Diana Krall
William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.
His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.
While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.
Welcome to the round up of posts you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.
I hope you have had a good week. We have enjoyed some sunshine but also some high winds which meant our blossom was short lived…
I am watching the Coronation in bursts on YouTube over the next couple of days. We don’t have television and only watch downloaded shows and films from Netflix or other streaming sites. I get my news from the various international papers I follow on a regular basis and to be honest I find that means I manage how much bad news I am exposed to on a daily basis.
Anyway back to the Coronation and currently the BBC coverage I am watching has racked up 4.4 million views since yesterday. I would imagine that would be mainly international by those who don’t have access to UK TV. If you would like to watch the short highlights you can find them here Coronation Highlights the full length 7hrs 30 min BBC Coverage is Here.
Personally I am all for a monarchy as I feel it is a permanent and consistent reminder of our heritage and history which our revolving governments cannot provide. I know there are critics and certainly some members are not as contributory to the role as they might be and take advantage of their position. But, seeing the outpouring of support and joy at the processions and the events taking place, it is a much needed celebration after Covid and the loss of Her Majesty the Queen.
On the home front I have been working though probably a thousand or more photographs, cataloguing and filing so I know what we have. Some of the photos go back over 100 years and also includes a photo of one of my great-grandmothers on my mother’s side. Wonderful to revisit the family photos taken on our times overseas with my father but also our own travels in the last 43 years. Definitely a walk down memory lane and some possible inspirations for short stories in the future.
As always my thanks to my friends who contribute to the blog…
William Price King joined me this week for the Big Band Era with Benny Goodman, Larry Clinton and the Hokey Cokey… On Friday William shared the first part of the series featuring Diana Krall. You can also find William – Blog– IMPROVISATION– William Price King on Tumblr
Debby Gies was here on Monday with a post in the Spiritual Awareness series and this time an exploration of Timing of the arrival of peole in our lives or events. Debby also found some great funnies to share with you. On her own post you will find her book review for the poignant collection Grief Songs by Elizabeth Gauffreau, and a reminder of her post on Automatic Writing and her recent guest post on Intuition. Head over to …D.G. Kaye
Carol Taylorwill behere on Wednesday with her A-Z of food and the letter ‘W’. On her own blog Monday MusingsCarol shares what I consider to be an amazing breakthrough mobile 3D dissolvable vaccine patches, a poignant ceremony to honour the unknown dead in Thailand, in The Green Kitchena sobering look at the statistics for cancer, and the impact that has on Carol’s own family, fueling her passion about cooking from scratch and sustainability. Also food waste and how to make tasty chips using potato peelings in an air fryer. Also a wonderful recipe for Spicy red curry, Pork, Rice and Coconut Balls using up your cold cooked rice and an interesting use of egg shells and bananas to help your garden grow. In Thursday Thoughts the fascinating story of Lady Dai… a mummy who is in excellent condition despite her age and who might have been embalmed with a combination of ingredients that clearly have magical properties. Head over to check on all of the posts CarolCooks2 weekly roundup…30th April-6th May 2023
Delighted to welcome Toni Pike to the team on Wednesday and then every two weeks with her series on Personal Power and in her first post, Self Valuation… something we are not necessarily very good at…
..Thank you very much for your visits, comments and shares to social media, as always it is appreciated ♥
Author Toni Pike joins us with a series on Personal Power and how we can be in control of our lives with regard to relationships and our own well-being.
It is nine years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. We continue in 2023 with series sharing the lives and music of some of the great names in music over the last century
Welcome to the series about musical legends from the last 100 years and now we explore the life and music of Jazz singer Diana Krall
Music Legends – Jazz – Diana Krall – Part One
Diana Krallis a music powerhouse who has developed a wonderfully unique performance style that has contributed to the sale of over 15 million records worldwide.
In the previous series on the iconic jazz artists of the last century there has often been a common link between them. A very early start to their music careers and parents who have supported and influenced their choice of style; Diana Krall shares those elements. In the first part of her story I am going to take a look at the musicians who influenced her love of music and her developing career.
When asked who her role models were in the music industry Diana Krall has said that Nat King Cole was an inspiration and also the singers that her father introduced her to such as Fats Waller. Later artists include Sting and Elton John as well as the American jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal.
First a look at Diana’s early years.
She was born in 1964 in British Columbia and introduced to music by her parents. There was a piano in the house which her father, an accountant, played in his spare time and her mother sang in a community choir. Diana was exposed to different styles of music in her early years from country & western, rock ‘n’ roll and jazz which she was introduced to by her grandparents. Entertainment was home based and at the age of four, Diana began her classical piano lessons.
She joined her school band and played jazz with her bass teacher Bryan Stovell and by the age of 15 Diana was performing locally in bars and restaurants. At age 17 she received a Vancouver Jazz Festival scholarship which took her to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. On her return to British Columbia she became friends with two musicians who encouraged her to expand her horizons.
Jeff Hamilton is a jazz drummer from Indiana and is best known for his work with Lional Hampton, Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown as well as being co-director of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and leader of his own trio. Here is Jeff Hamilton with Larry Fuller and Lynn Seaton in 1997 courtesy of DRUMMERWORLD VIDEOS
The other friend who influenced a move to Los Angeles was renowned bassist Ray Brownwho in his long career had worked with the best, including Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald. At the time that he met and befriended Diana Krall in the 80s, Ray had been in the music business for nearly forty years and brought a huge amount of performance and industry knowledge to the relationship. Here is Ray Brown with Jeff Hamilton and Gene Harris playing Lady Be Good uploaded by Palanzana.
Diana received a grant from the Canadian Arts Councils which enabled her to move to Los Angeles where she was lucky enough to study with another veteran of the music business; pianist Jimmy Rowles. Jimmy had worked with the top artists of the 40s, 50s and 60s including Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Tony Bennett, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee and became Ella Fitzgerald’s accompanist in the 80s. Here is Ella Fitzgerald in Vienna 1981 with Old Macdonald’s Farm.
It was Jimmy Rowles who encouraged Diana to focus on her vocals and in the mid- 80s she returned to Toronto to continue her studies with Canadian pianist-bassist Don Thompson. Don had been a fixture on the Toronto Jazz scene since the late 60s and played with the Rob McConnell’s Boss Brass. In the early 80s Don toured with George Shearing appearing at virtually every jass festival in the United States and performances in the UK and in Brazil.
In 1990 Diana moved to New York but played mostly in Boston with a trio consisting of herself, bassist Whit Brown and drummer Klaus Suonsaari. This was followed in 1993 with her debut album recorded with Jeff Hamilton, bassist John Clayton with input from Ray Brown. Stepping Out caught the attention of producer Tommy LiPumawho had already worked with some of the best musicians and singers in the business including Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, Natalie Cole and Anita Baker.
Here is Diana Krall with 42nd Street from the album Stepping Out.
William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.
His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.
While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.
Welcome to the round up of posts you might have missed this week on Smorgasbord.
I hope the week going well for you and more settled weather. A couple of lovely days here but still some northerly winds making if feel almost autumnal. Still the garden seems to be thriving and judging by the courting going on between the various species of birds visiting the seed cafe and spa, there will be some fledgelings coming along soon.
I was out and about on Tuesday as the guest of the ever gracious author Marcia Meara. I shared a fairy story, based on my own rocky road to romance with frogs masquerading as princes and unexpected encounters…
As always my thanks to my friends who contribute to the blog…
William Price King joined me this week for the Big Band Era with Judy Garland, Victor Young, Cab Galloway and the Shimmy. On Friday William shared the nexgt part of the series featuring Natalie Cole. You can also find William – Blog– IMPROVISATION– William Price King on Tumblr
Debby Gies will be here on Monday with a post in the Spiritual Awareness series and this time an exploration of Timing of the arrival of peole in our lives or events. Debby also found some great funnies to share with you. On her own post you will find a wrap up of her trip to Puerto Vallarta and also a recap of the lovely reviews she received during her time away for her latest book Fifteen First Things. …D.G. Kaye
Carol Taylorwashere on Wednesday with her A-Z of food and the letter ‘V’. On her own blog in Monday Musings Carol explores food waste and also the husbandry and methods involved in getting animals into supermarkets and then onto our plates. In Thursday Thoughts some sneaky ways fast food restaurants get you to spend more money, the planting of trees and prehistoric music making, including a wonderful example of gum leaf blowing by an Aboriginal elder… head over to read all about it Carol Taylor’s Thursday Thoughts.
Malcolm Allen was also here this week with another post reflecting his great sense of humour and his monthly visits are always very welcome.
Joining the team on Wednesday is author Toni Pike with the start of her series on Personal Power and in her first post, Self Valuation… something we are not necessarily very good at… Delighted to welcome Toni to the team.
..Thank you very much for your visits, comments and shares to social media, as always it is appreciated ♥
It is nine years since William Price King joined Smorgasbord to share music across the genres. We continue in 2023 with series sharing the lives and music of some of the great names in music over the last century
Welcome to the series about musical legends from the last 100 years and now we explore the life and music of Jazz singer Natalie Cole, daughter of the legendary Nat King Cole.
Music Legends – Jazz – Natalie Cole – The Finale
The rest of the 90s continued to bring impressive recordings and chart success which included two further albums with the Elektra label; Snowfall on the Sahara and The Magic of Christmas released in 1999 recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Natalie Cole’s first album of the new millennium was the compilationGreatest Hits Vol. 1. The tracks included her hits from her twenty-five year career such as Pink Cadillac, Miss You Like Crazy and the duet with Nat King Cole,Unforgettable. Here is This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) from the album in a live performance from 1975 uploaded by
jondbee56
In 2001 Natalie starred as herself in Livin’ For Love: The Natalie Cole Story which was the NBC adaptation of her autobiography, Angel on my Shoulder. She received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special for this deeply moving role in the story of her career and private struggles with addiction. You can the autobiographies by Natalie Cole: Amazon
Following this Natalie switched recording labels to Verve Records and released two albums. Ask A Woman who Knows, in 2002, celebrated her jazz roots and included guest vocalist Diana Krall. The album received four Grammy nominations and achieved Silver status and No 1. in the jazz charts.. As with her autobiography the chosen tracks charted her experiences in life and love as well as milestones in her career with songs previously recorded by Nina Simone, Barbra Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatraand Nat King Cole. She reunited with Tommy LiPumafor the album and this added extra magic to the recordings. Here is Natalie Cole and Diana Krall with Better than Anything – a tribute to shopping! Uploaded by TransatlanticMoments
In 2006 Verve released Natalie’s 20th album; Leavin’ featuring pop, rock and R&B standards originally recorded by the top artists in the genres including Daydreaming by Aretha Franklin, The Man with the Child in his Eyes by Kate Bush and If I Ever Lose my Faith in You by Sting. The album also included two original songs 5 Minutes Away written with Dallas Austin and Don’t Say Goodnight (It’s Time for Love) with an Ernie Isley and Chris Jasper collaboration.
Seventeen years after Unforgettable… With Love, Natalie released Still Unforgettable which featured not only her father’s most memorable songs but also of other artists such as Frank Sinatra, Lena Horneand Sammy Davis Jr. Tracks included The Best Is Yet To Come, Somethings Gotta Give and Walking My Baby Back Home NatalieColeMusic
The album reached No 19 in the US chart and No 1 in the jazz chart and Natalie won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 51st Grammy Awards.
Natalie’s acting career had flourished in the early part of the decade with appearances on popular television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Touched by an Angel andLaw in Order; Special Victims Unit.
2008 was also a pivotal year in Natalie’s personal life as she announced that she had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C, resulting from her years of intravenous drug abuse; something that she had been very open about publicly. She warned others that they might also be a ticking time bomb as the infection can lie dormant for many years.
Following a months of treatment for the disease, Natalie experienced kidney failure and was put on dialysis. She appeared on Larry King Live appealing for a kidney donor and in a twist of fate the show was being watched by a nurse who had treated Natalie in hospital. Tragically, two months later the nurse’s niece died unexpectedly of a stroke and being an organ donor and a match for Natalie, she was offered her kidney.
The donor and her family were from El Salvador and this inspired Natalie to become closer to the culture.
“I wouldn’t put it past the possibility that there is a spirit of Latino inside of me, because of this family,” says Natalie. “Ever since then, my passion for Spanish and everything Latin, all of a sudden became more intense. I couldn’t even figure it out myself.”
Following this life saving gift and her recovery, Natalie continued to tour and record but her health issues continued. She became a spokesperson for the University Kidney Research Organisation which worked to eradicating kidney disease and in 2010 she wrote her second book; Love Brought Me Back.
Whilst it was difficult to schedule tours with the challenge of her health issues, Natalie was able to appear in a number of feature films and made for television movies including the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely an the lead inLily in Winter. She also guested on Macy Gray’salbum Big singing Finally Make Me Happy, and in 2010 she performed with Andrea Bocelli in a concert at the Kodak Theatre for his album My Christmas. Here they are with The Christmas SongAndrea Bocelli
In June 2013, Natalie released her first studio album in five years for Verve/Universal. Natalie Cole En Espanolwas a compilation of Latin standards lavishly orchestrated by Rudy Perez, Billboard’s Latin Music Producer of the Decade. Nat King Cole had found the Latin American Songbook a wonderful and successful avenue to explore and as well as covering some of his classics, Natalie also included some of the best from the Songbook. She had never sung in Spanish before and she had this to say about the album.
This album is not so much a tribute to my father as it is to Latin music,” she says. “My whole thing was, if I’m going to do this as a first-timer, a non-Spanish-speaking American, I need to pay tribute to the music. I need to honor it because I’m not entitled to just sing it any kind of way. I have a duty to make it real, to pick authentic, beautiful, traditional Latin songs. And that’s what we went for.”
Rudy Perez initially brought in a language coach to ensure an authentic sound to the vocals but they soon discovered that Natalie was a natural and she needed no further assistance.
Rudy commented: “I found out she has an incredible ability to sing in Spanish phonetically, as you can hear on the album,” says Perez. “I couldn’t believe it, she was so good…She could roll her “r’s”, just unbelievable.”
From the original 120 songs that Rudy Perez and Natalie considered they decided on twelve tracks. Some were songs that her father had recorded such as Noche de Ronda, Latin standards such as Besame Mucho featuring Andrea Bocelli and Maria Grever’s Cuando Vuelva A Tu Lado (What a Difference A Day Makes).
The album was nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards and here is the stunning father/daughter duet “Acércate Mas”.
Sadly following further health complications Natalie Cole died of congestive heart failure on New Year’s Eve 2015. Tributes poured in from around the world including these from President Obama and stars of the music industry.
“You don’t maintain a 40-plus-year career by accident,” said songwriter David Foster. “It’s just a short list of real singers who could prevail against the changing tide of public taste. Natalie transcended this simple genre classification whether it was R&B, sassy in her early hits, or her later work interpreting the jazz standards.”
“Natalie had one extra pressure that she was faced with every day of her life,” said singer Lionel Richie.“She was a little girl who wanted to be a superstar in a family that already had a superstar. That’s what make her prize of winning so unforgettable.”
Tony Bennett added on Instagram: “I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Natalie Cole, as I have cherished the long friendship I had with her, her father Nat, and the family over the years. Natalie was an exceptional jazz singer and it was an honor to have recorded and performed with her on several occasions. She was a lovely and generous person who will be greatly missed.”
As you will have realised from the last three posts, Natalie Cole left behind a legacy of music that not only celebrated the work of her father but her own extraordinary talent. Thankfully with the wonders of modern technology we can still listen and enjoy that talent for our own lifetimes which is a precious gift.
William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.
His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.
While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.
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