The Art of the Song
Encyclopedia
The Art of the Song is an album by American jazz
bassist
Charlie Haden
and Charlie Haden's Quartet West, released in 1999. It reached number ten on the Billboard
Top Jazz Albums chart.
Quartet West was formed in 1986. Their repertoire consisted mainly of music from the 1930s and 1940s, often music associated with films of that period.
Guest vocalists Bill Henderson
and Shirley Horn
each perform four songs.
states "The Art Of The Song is an evocative collection of sombre ballads, immaculately performed..." while Richard S. Ginell of Allmusic writes "Frankly, this sounds like the work of a weary musician."
Guest musicians
Orchestra
Production notes
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
and Charlie Haden's Quartet West, released in 1999. It reached number ten on the Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
Top Jazz Albums chart.
Quartet West was formed in 1986. Their repertoire consisted mainly of music from the 1930s and 1940s, often music associated with films of that period.
Guest vocalists Bill Henderson
Bill Henderson (actor)
William Randall "Bill" Henderson is an American jazz vocalist and actor in television and film.Henderson was born in Chicago, Illinois. Henderson's acting credits have been numerous. Beginning in the mid-1970s, and continuing to this day, he has frequently appeared on television in supporting,...
and Shirley Horn
Shirley Horn
Shirley Valerie Horn was an American jazz singer and pianist.-Biography:Encouraged by her grandmother, who was an amateur organist, Horn began piano lessons at the age of four. At twelve, Horn studied piano and composition at Howard University and later majored from there in classical music...
each perform four songs.
Reception
John Sharpe in All About JazzAll About Jazz
All About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...
states "The Art Of The Song is an evocative collection of sombre ballads, immaculately performed..." while Richard S. Ginell of Allmusic writes "Frankly, this sounds like the work of a weary musician."
Track listing
- "Lonely Town" (Leonard BernsteinLeonard BernsteinLeonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, Betty ComdenBetty ComdenBetty Comden was one-half of the musical-comedy duo Comden and Green, who provided lyrics, libretti, and screenplays to some of the most beloved and successful Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century...
, Adolph GreenAdolph GreenAdolph Green was an American lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved movie musicals, particularly as part of Arthur Freed's production unit at MGM, during the genre's heyday...
) – 5:30 - "Why Did I Choose You" (Michael Leonard, Herbert Martin) – 7:23
- "Moment Musical Opus 16 No3 in B Minor" (Sergei RachmaninoffSergei RachmaninoffSergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
) – 5:36 - "In Love in Vain" (Jerome KernJerome KernJerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
, Leo Rubin) – 5:05 - "Ruth's Waltz" (Charlie Haden, Arthur Hamilton) – 4:14
- "Scenes from a Silver Screen" (Alan BroadbentAlan BroadbentAlan Broadbent, MNZM , is a jazz pianist, arranger and composer best known for his work with artists such as Woody Herman, Diane Schuur, Chet Baker, Irene Kral, Sheila Jordan, Charlie Haden, Warne Marsh, Bud Shank, and many others.Broadbent studied piano and music theory in his own country, but in...
) – 6:24 - "I'm Gonna Laugh You Right out of My Life" (Cy ColemanCy ColemanCy Coleman was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.-Life and career:He was born Seymour Kaufman on June 14, 1929, in New York City to Eastern European Jewish parents, and was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Ida was an apartment landlady and his father was a brickmason...
, Joseph A. McCarthyJoseph McCarthy (lyricist)Joseph McCarthy was an American lyricist whose most famous songs include You Made Me Love You, and I'm Always Chasing Rainbows, based upon the haunting melody from the middle section of Chopin's "Fantasie Impromptu".McCarthy, who was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, was a frequent collaborator...
) – 6:15 - "You My Love" (Jimmy Van Heusen, Mack GordonMack GordonMack Gordon was an American composer and lyricist of songs for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know"...
) – 4:24 - "Prelude en La Mineur" (Maurice RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
) – 5:14 - "The Folks Who Live On the HillThe Folks Who Live On the Hill"The Folks Who Live on the Hill" is a 1937 popular song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.It was introduced by Irene Dunne in the 1937 film High, Wide, and Handsome. It has become particularly associated with Peggy Lee, who sang it on her 1957 album The Man I Love. Lee's...
" (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein IIOscar Hammerstein IIOscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
) – 6:56 - "Easy on the Heart" (Haden, Hamilton) – 4:54
- "Theme for Charlie" (Jeri SouthernJeri SouthernGenevieve Lillian Hering, known by her stage name Jeri Southern, was an American jazz pianist and singer.-Biography:...
) – 4:07 - "Wayfaring StrangerThe Wayfaring Stranger (song)"The Wayfaring Stranger" , Roud 3339, is a well-known American spiritual/folk song likely originating in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. It became one of Burl Ives's signature songs, included on his 1944 album The Wayfaring Stranger...
" (Traditional) – 4:23
Personnel
Charlie Haden Quartet West- Charlie HadenCharlie HadenCharles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
– bass, local vocal on "Wayfaring Stranger" - Alan BroadbentAlan BroadbentAlan Broadbent, MNZM , is a jazz pianist, arranger and composer best known for his work with artists such as Woody Herman, Diane Schuur, Chet Baker, Irene Kral, Sheila Jordan, Charlie Haden, Warne Marsh, Bud Shank, and many others.Broadbent studied piano and music theory in his own country, but in...
– piano, arranger, conductor, orchestration - Larance MarableLarance MarableLarance Marable is a West Coast jazz hard bop drummer born in Los Angeles, California, probably best known today for his work with Charlie Haden in his Quartet West. However, Marable also had a strong career first as a bop musician in the 1950s working with the likes of Dexter Gordon and Charlie...
– drums - Ernie WattsErnie WattsErnest James "Ernie" Watts is an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician. He plays saxophone and flute. He might be best known for his work with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and his Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist...
– tenor saxophone
Guest musicians
- Murray Adler – violin, conductor, concert master, orchestra contractor
- Bill HendersonBill Henderson (actor)William Randall "Bill" Henderson is an American jazz vocalist and actor in television and film.Henderson was born in Chicago, Illinois. Henderson's acting credits have been numerous. Beginning in the mid-1970s, and continuing to this day, he has frequently appeared on television in supporting,...
– vocals on "Why Did I Choose You", "Ruth's Waltz", "You My Love", "Easy on the Heart" - Shirley HornShirley HornShirley Valerie Horn was an American jazz singer and pianist.-Biography:Encouraged by her grandmother, who was an amateur organist, Horn began piano lessons at the age of four. At twelve, Horn studied piano and composition at Howard University and later majored from there in classical music...
– vocals on "Lonely Town", "In Love in Vain", "I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life", "The Folks Who Live on the Hill"
Orchestra
- Ezra Kliger – violin
- Gina Kronstadt – violin
- Don Palmer – violin
- Robert Peterson – violin
- Kathleen Robinson – violin
- Robert Sanov – violin
- Harry Shirinian – violin
- Paul Shure – violin
- Rachel Sokolow – violin
- Marcy Vaj – violin
- Francine Walsh – violin
- Tibor Zelig – violin
- Charlie BisharatCharlie BisharatCharlie Bisharat is a Grammy-winning violinistwho has extensively toured and/or recorded with numerous artists. He was a member of Shadowfax who won a Grammy in 1988 for Best New Age Performance for Folksongs for a Nuclear Village...
– violin - Robert Brosseau – violin
- Bobby Bruce – violin
- Israel Baker – violin
- Russ Cantor – violin
- Suzanna Giordono – viola
- Steve Gordon – viola
- Paolo Gozzetti – viola
- Mimi Granat – viola
- Carol Mukagawa – viola
- Earl Madison – cello
- Ray Kelley – cello
- Suzie Katayama – cello
- Jerry Kessler – cello
- Larry Corbett – cello
- Adrian Rosen – bass
Production notes
- Charlie HadenCharlie HadenCharles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
– producer - Ruth Cameron – producer
- Daniel Richard – executive Producer
- Jean-Philippe Allard – executive Producer
- Orrin KeepnewsOrrin KeepnewsOrrin Keepnews is an American writer and jazz record producer. In June 2010, he received a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts.- Career :...
– liner notes - Jay Newland – engineer, mastering, mixing, mixing engineer
- Dann Michael Thompson – engineer, mixing
- Glen Kolotkin – mastering
- Maureen Murphy – release coordinator
- John Newcott – release coordinator
- Carol Friedman – photography, Cover Photo
- Patrice Beausejour – art direction
- Greg Allen – photography