New Home for Michael Feinstein's Great American Songbook Collection

News from Indiana: The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel has unveiled plans for the Palladium concert hall's grand opening week. A ribbon cutting and free concert is set for January 22. 2011.

Governor Mitch Daniels has designated January 22-30 Palladium Week. The Palladium will also be home to Michael Feinstein's Great American Songbook Collection, acting as a museum and education center by day and a concert venue by night.

The Center for the Performing Arts has finalized plans for the Palladium's January 22-30 grand opening week presented by St.Vincent Health. The celebration will begin with a ceremonial ribbon cutting scheduled for Saturday, January 22, 2011 at 11 a.m.

The community is anxious to experience this state-of-the-art hall in person. We have made sure opening weekend is packed with a lively mix of musical events open to everyone, said Steven B. Libman, President/CEO of the Center for the Performing Arts. The Palladium is a one-of-a-kind concert hall. Opening week presents an amazing opportunity to join us as we unveil this magnificent arts venue.

Immediately following the January 22 ribbon cutting, Carmel Brass will present a free concert. Next, Community Day presented by Vectren continues with back-to-back musical performances on the Palladium stage as part of Take Center Stage. A free open house continues the weekend's celebration lineup on January 23.

Additionally, Governor Mitch Daniels has designated the week of January 22-30, 2011 as Palladium Week. The proclamation honors the Center for the Performing Arts and its positive contributions to the State of Indiana.

The gala dinner and concert is Saturday, January 29, 2011. The gala features artistic director Michael Feinstein with jazz artist Chris Botti, vocalists Neil Sedaka, Dionne Warwick and Cheyenne Jackson. The gala will be produced by Hollywood producer Gordon Hunt and will include performances by the Carmel Symphony Orchestra.

On Sunday afternoon, January 30, the Palladium's first Bose McKinney & Evans Classics Series concert debuts featuring a roster of world-class artists: Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mir Quartet and cellist Lynn Harrell. Tickets are available at the Palladium box office, One Center Green, by phone at 317-843-3800 or online at www.TheCenterForThePerformingArts.org.

The Center for the Performing Arts includes the Palladium concert hall, the Tarkington proscenium theater and the 200-seat Studio Theater.

To buy Michael's music visit THE MEMORY LANE SHOP

Continue reading on Examiner.com: News of Michael Feinstein's Great American Songbook Collection - National Swing and Big Band | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/swing-and-big-band-in-national/news-of-michael-feinstein-s-great-american-songbook-collection#ixzz1AwrfNYNC

Rosemary Clooney one of the iconic singing stars of the 20th Century

Rosemary Clooney is one of the iconic singing stars of the 20th century. Rosie shines right up there with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland. Her early success at Columbia Records, under the direction of A&R chief Mitch Miller, however was with songs such as "Come On A My House" and "Mambo Italiano."

Sadly, many in my lecture audiences mention these very commercial pop recordings when I start to discuss Rosemary. She was so much more. My favorite comment: "Rosemary Clooney, an American musical treasure and one of the best friends a song ever had."

Many, forget that over her almost six decades of performing she did it all; vocalist with sister, Betty in Tony Pastor's band, Columbia recording star, movie star ("White Christmas" with her good friend, Bing Crosby), later in her career, jazz star for Concord Records, AND, what she was most proud of, mother of five (including my friend Monsita).

Listen to Rosemary Clooney sing the very beautiful "Tenderly." Many have recorded this now American Songbook standard, but Rosemary's version, to me, is so superior to the others.

Margaret Whiting who had hit with Moonlight in Vermont has died

Big Band Era singer Margaret Whiting has died at age 86 at the Lillian Booth Actors’ Home in Englewood, N.J.

Her musical talent may have been inherited; her father Richard Whiting, was a famous composer of popular songs. In her childhood her singing ability was already noticed, and at the age of only seven years she sang for Johnny Mercer, for whom her father worked. In 1942, Mercer started Capitol Records with two partners, and signed her as one of their earliest recording artists.

Her first recordings were as featured singer with various orchestras:
*"That Old Black Magic", with Freddie Slack And His Orchestra (1942)
*"Moonlight In Vermont", with Billy Butterfield's Orchestra (1943)
*"It Might As Well Be Spring", with Paul Weston And His Orchestra (1943)
In 1945 she began to record under her own name, making such recordings as:
*"All Through The Day" (1945, becoming a bestseller in the spring of 1946)
*"In Love In Vain" (1945):(these two from the movie "Centennial Summer")
*"Guilty" (1946)
*"Oh, But I Do" (1946)
*"A Tree In The Meadow" (a number 1 hit in the summer of 1948)
*"Slipping Around", a duet with country music star Jimmy Wakely (a number 1 hit in 1949)
*"Baby, It's Cold Outside" (1949)
*"Blind Date", a novelty record with Bob Hope (1950)
*"Faraway Places (With Strange Sounding Names)"

One of her biggest hits was "Moonlight In Vermont." The top paper in Vermont is the Burlington Free-Press. Here is a portion of their story about Whiting and the impact of the song on the state;
"The singer who popularized the tune “Moonlight in Vermont” and in the process helped craft the image of the state as a rustic haven illuminated by a silvery glow is dead.

Whiting was a young Hollywood singer who had never been to Vermont when she first recorded “Moonlight” in the midst of World War II. The bittersweet ballad was broadcast on Armed Forces Radio and brought images of a quietly beautiful Vermont to people around the globe.

The song contributed to the Vermont brand, starting with the impact it had on World War II soldiers, said Harry Orth of Shelburne, professor emeritus at the University of Vermont and co-author of the Vermont Encyclopedia.

The song is beautiful yet reflective, said Orth, who wrote the entry about “Moonlight in Vermont” in the Vermont Encyclopedia.

“It’s a very contemplative song,” he said. “You could really see some soldier leaning back in a bunk or in a foxhole and just wishing he could be in such a wonderful place.”
The song was written by Karl Seussdorf and John Blackburn. Neither one was a Vermonter — which might explain why sycamore trees appear in the “Moonlight” lyrics but make so few appearances in the Vermont woods." Source: The Burlington Free-Press

Visit THE MEMORY LANE SHOP to buy Margaret's music.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: Margaret Whiting who had hit with Moonlight in Vermont has died - National Swing and Big Band | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/swing-and-big-band-in-national/margaret-whiting-who-had-hit-with-moonlight-vermont-has-died#ixzz1Avlmx7bU

Jane Ira Bloom new album "Wingwalker"

Announcing the release of
JANE IRA BLOOM Wingwalker
on Outline Records  (OTL140)
appearing live at   Cornelia Street Café
Sun,  Jan 23   8:30 pm

"A powerful group of fearless jazz explorers...who share a commitment to beauty & adventure  
                                                   - Bob Blumenthal

Jane Ira Bloom   soprano sax & live electronics
Dawn Clement   piano
Mark Helias   bass
Bobby Previte  drums




CORNELIA STREET CAFE
29 Cornelia St.   Greenwich Village, NY
tel # 212 989-9319   http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com Admission: $10 cover

Whether adventuring into interior or outer space in her music, award winning soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom continues to navigate her unique musical path with creative abandon. Wingwalker, her 14th album as leader and fourth album on the Outline label reunites Bloom with long-time bandmates Dawn Clement on piano, bassist Mark Helias, and drummer Bobby Previte.  After two years since Bloom’s last release “Mental Weather,” she brought the band together in June 2010 to record new compositions written during time made possible by a Guggenheim Fellowship. Wingwalker was recorded in Avatar Studio B in New York City with renowned audio engineer Jim Anderson. The album features eleven Bloom originals and a solo sax rendition of Lerner & Lowe’s classic “I Could Have Danced All Night.”  From the groove inspired “Life on Cloud 8” to the spare simplicity of “Adjusting to Midnight,” Jane has journeyed further into jazz dimensions without a safety net. The CD also features an extra mp3 downloadable version of the music condensed into a 5 minute 49 second event.

“There’s something different about the way the music revealed itself to the band in this recording.  We didn’t have a lot of preconceptions and that allowed a certain freedom to open up and move the music in unexpected ways.  All we had to do was to let it happen.” - JI Bloom

Jane Ira Bloom is a pioneer in the use of live electronics and movement in jazz as well as “arguably the soprano’s most distinctive and major voice… beautiful, exciting, and adventurous” - Erie Times-News. She’s the winner of the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Award and the prestigious Guggenheim fellowship. She’s the first NASA commissioned musician and has an asteroid named in her honor. Her music is always lyrical and provocative.

“Bloom is a soulful, futuristic romantic at heart”  - Michael G. Nastos/ All Music Guide

ROD STEWART'S THE BEST OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK

On the heels of the Grammy nomination for Rod Stewart’s FLY ME TO THE MOON…THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK, VOLUME V for “Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album,” which has sold over one million albums worldwide already, and just in time for Valentine’s Day, Rod Stewart is set to release THE BEST OF…THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK available in stores February 1^st, 2011 (J Records).


THE BEST OF…THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK presents the highlights from five albums, recorded across eight years, which have become nothing less than a musical and cultural phenomenon. In addition, this new “Songbook” collection features one, newly recorded, never before released track “You’ll Never Know,” produced by one of Rod’s longtime collaborators Richard Perry, along with brand new mixes of “Someone To Watch Over Me” and “Bye Bye Blackbird.”

Long celebrated for his expressive, distinctively raspy voice, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Living Legend Rod Stewart is widely regarded as having one of the most interpretive voices in music. THE BEST OF…THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK celebrates the unprecedented success of the 5 volume series, which is the biggest-selling ongoing series of new music recordings in history with over 18 million copies sold worldwide.

Rod infuses his incomparable vocal style into iconic standards written by Rodgers and Hart, George and Ira Gershwin, and many other great composers and lyricists, including “Someone To Watch Over Me,” “The Way You Look Tonight,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” “What A Wonderful World” featuring Stevie Wonder, and many, many more.

Clive Davis, Chief Creative Officer, Sony Music Entertainment and a producer of Rod’s Songbook series reflects: ”In a transient, ephemeral business, it is so gratifying to have the dual opportunity to show how long a career can last, and how these songs have a life into a new century.”

Every one of Stewart’s 7 albums since signing with J Records has entered Top 4 on the chart, including all five volumes of The Great American Songbook series - It Had To Be You…The Great American Songbook (2002) entered at #4, As Time Goes By…Volume II (2003) at #2, his Grammy-Award-winning Stardust…Volume III (2004) at #1, Thanks for the Memory…Volume IV (2005) at #2, and Fly Me To the Moon… (2010) at #4. Fly Me To The Moon…Volume V, his latest Grammy-nominated “Songbook” released in October is Rod Stewart’s 38^th charting album and 15^th Top 10 album. Besides, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney and Jay-Z, no other musical artist has enjoyed 7 Top 5 albums since 2002.

Having just wrapped a sold-out first ever concert run in Las Vegas in November and a sold-out European tour this past summer, Rod is planning a US tour in Spring 2011. More details to be announced soon. In a career spanning five decades, with an estimated 250 million album and single sales, Rod Stewart is indisputably one of the most successful performers of all time.

To follow find a final track listing:

THE BEST OF…THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK

01. Long Ago And Far Away
02. Someone To Watch Over Me
03. They Can’t Take Away From Me
04. Beyond The Sea
05. You’ll Never Know
06. Time After Time
07. I Can’t Get Started
08. The Way You Look Tonight
09. Bye Bye Blackbird
10. These Foolish Things
11. But Not For Me
12. What A Wonderful World featuring Stevie Wonder
13. My Foolish Heart
14. I’ll Be Seeing You
www.rodstewart.com

TO BUY VISIT THE MEMORY LANE SHOP