Jerome
Kern
The
First 100 Years
Louise Gold featured as a Muppet Performer, The Welk
Music Group, album produced 1985
Catalogue numbers: WM3003,
WM3004, WM3005, DR 27, WM3006
This album was actually produced to encourage Radio
Disc Jockeys to play more Jerome Kern songs.
Cast
Credited:
Julie
Andrews
Fred
Astaire
Nick
Ceroli
Maurice
Chevalier
Joyce
Collins
Ray
Conniff
Bing
Crosby
Eddie
“Lockjaw”
Angelo
DiPippo
Percy
Faith
The Percy
Faith Orchestra
Four
Freshmen
Dave
Frishberg
Eydie
Gorme
Bill
Henderson
Lynne
Jackson
Michael
Jackson
Jack
Jones
Stan
Kenton
Cleo
Laine
Steve
Lawrence
The
Lettermen
Dave
Mackay
Henry
Mancini
Johnny
Mathis
Wendy
Matthews
Carmen
McRae
The
Muppets
Gary
Nesteruk
Anita
O’Day
Mike
Palter
Art
Pepper
Oscar
Peterson
The
Platters
George
Shearing
Andy
Simpkins
Frank
Sinatra
“Putter”
Smith
Barbara
Streisand
Art Van
Damme
Sarah
Vaughan
Andy
Williams
Joe
Williams
Nancy
Wilson
Groups
The
Lettermen - Tony Butala, Bob, Engemann, and, Jim Pike
The Muppets
- Louise Gold, Jim Henson, and, Jerry Nelson
The Platters
- David Lynch, Herb Reed, Paul Robi, Zola Taylor,
and, Tony Williams
Four
Freshmen - Don Barbour, Ross Barbour, Ken Errair, and, Bob
Flanigan
Production Team
Producer
- The Welk Music Group
All Songs
Published by - T. B Harms Company
Compiled and
Produced - Dean Kay and Sharon Higgins
Lyricists - Buddy
DeSylva, Dorothy Fields, Ira Gershwin, Arthur Hamilton,
Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Jimmy McHugh, Johnny
Mercer, Herbert Reynolds, Leo Robin, P G Wodehouse,
Track Listing
Jerome Kern And The Legends Of Pop Volume
1 WM3003
Side 1
1. The Song Is You (from Music
In The Air) - Frank Sinatra
2. Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man
(from Showboat) -
3. They Didn’t Believe Me
(from The Girl From
4. Make Believe
(from Showboat) - Barbara Streisand
5. Long Ago And Far Away
(from Cover Girl) - Henry Mancini
6. Who (from Sunny)
- The Muppets (Louise Gold with Jerry Nelson, introduced
by Jim Henson)
7. I Won’t Dance
(from Roberta) - Wendy Matthews
Side 2
8. Pick Yourself Up
(from Swing Time) - Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire
9. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
(from Roberta) - The Platters (David Lynch, Herb
Reed, Paul Robi, Zola Taylor, and, Tony Williams)
10. All The Things You Are
(from Very Warm For May) - Johnny Mathis
11. She Didn’t Say Yes
(from The Cat And The Fiddle) - Maurice Chevalier
12. Can I Forget You
(from High Wide And Handsome) - Andy Williams
13. Lovely To Look At
(from Roberta) - Ray Conniff
14. Yesterdays
(from Roberta) - Carmen Mcrae
Jerome Kern And The Legends Of Pop Volume
II WM3004
Side 1
1. All The Things You Are
(from Very Warm For May) - Michael Jackson
2. Bill (from Showboat)
- Cleo Laine
3. Why Was I Born
(from Sweet Adeline) - Wendy Matthews
4. The Way You Look Tonight (from
Swing Time) - The Lettermen (Tony Butala, Bob,
Engemann, and, Jim Pike)
5. A Fine Romance
(from Swing Time) - Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme
6. I’m Old Fashioned
(from You Were Never Lovelier) - Julie Andrews
7. The Last Time I Saw
Side 2
8. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
(from Roberta) - Steve Lawrence
9. Dearly Beloved
(from You Were Never Lovelier) - Nancy Wilson
10. Look For The Silver Lining
(from Sally) - Andy Williams
11. I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star
(from Music In The Air) - Percy Faith & His Orchestra
12. In Love In Vain
(from Centennial Summer) -
13. Ol’
Jerome Kern And The Giants Of Jazz WM3005
Side 1
1. Ol’ Man river (from
Showboat) - Joe Williams
2. Dearly Beloved
(from You Were Never Lovelier) - Art Van Damme
3. The Folks Who Live On The Hill
(from High, Wide And Handsome) - Carmen McRae
4.Long Ago And Far Away
(from Cover Girl) - Art Pepper
5. Lovely To Look At
(from Roberta) - Oscar Peterson
6. They Didn’t Believe Me
(from The Girl From
Side 2
7. Bill (from Showboat)
- Oscar Peterson
8.Pick Yourself Up
(from Swing Time) - Anita O’Day
9. I’m Old Fashioned
(from You Were Never Lovelier) - George Shearing
10. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (from
Roberta) - Eddie “Lockjaw”
11. The Touch Of Your Hand
(from Roberta) - Sarah Vaughan
12. The Song Is You
(from Music In The Air) -
Jerome Kern: Sing Me
Side 1
1. Sing Me A Kern Song
(by Arthur Hamilton) - Lynne Jackson (piano/vocal) and Mike
Palter (vocal)
2. Sure Thing (from Cover
Girl) - Dave Frishberg (piano/vocal), “Putter” Smith
(bass), and, Nick Ceroli (drums)
3. Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man
(from Showboat) - Lynne Jackson (vocal), Gary Nesteruck
(piano), Mike Palter (bass), and, Nick Ceroli (drums)
4. A Fine Romance
(from Swing Time) - Dave Frishberg (piano/vocal), “Putter”
Smith (bass), and, Nick Ceroli (drums)
5. The Folks Who Live On The Hill
(from High, Wide And Handsome) - Dave Mackay
(piano/vocal), and, Andy Simpkins (bass)
Side 2
6. I Won’t Dance
(from Roberta) - Joyce Collins (piano/vocal), Andy
Simpkins (bass), and, Nick Ceroli (drums)
7. Long Ago And Far Away
(from Cover Girl) - Mike Palter (vocal), and, Lynne
Jackson (piano)
8. Make Believe
(from Showboat) - Bill Henderson (vocal), Gary
Nesteruck (piano), Mike Palter (bass), and, Nick Ceroli
(drums)
9. A Kern Medley:
I’m Old Fashioned
(from You Were Never Lovelier) / The Way You Look Tonight (from Swing Time) / I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star
(from Music In The Air) / Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (from Roberta) / The Last Time I Saw Paris (from Lady
Be Good [film]) / Look For The Silver Lining
(from Sally) / Pick Yourself Up
(from Swing Time) - Lynne Jackson (vocal/piano), Mike
Palter (vocal/bass), and, Nick Ceroli (drums)
10. Poor Pierrot
(from The Cat And The Fiddle) - Dave Mackay (piano/vocal),
and, Andy Simpkins (bass)
Jerome Kern 1985: Kernfusion
All track conductor and arranger - Angelo DiPippo
Side 1.
1. The Song Is You (from
Music In The Air)
2. Yesterdays (from Roberta)
3. Look For The Silver Lining
(from Sally)
4. The Way You Look Tonight
(from Swing Time)
5. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
(from Roberta)
Side 2
6. All The Things You Are
(from Very Warm For May)
7. The Last Time I Saw
8. Ol’
9. The Folks Who Live On The Hill
(from High, Wide And Handsome)
10. The Song Is You
(from Music In The Air)
Julie Andrews, Cleo Laine
appeared in The Royal Variety
Performance (1977).
Jack Jones appeared in The Royal Variety Performance
(1982).
Cleo Laine appeared in A Time To Start Living, where she got to
sing Why Was I Born, the Side By
Side By Sondheim 25th Anniversary Gala, and, Side By Side By Sondheim 30th Anniversary
Gala.
The Muppets are represented on this
album by Jim Henson, Jerry
The Muppets
representatives, Jim Henson, Jerry Nelson, and, Louise Gold also all puppeteered on
the film The Great Muppet Caper, and TV special The Muppets Go To The Movies. They featured on the documentary Of Muppets And Men. They appeared with their fellow Muppeteers on The Royal Variety Performance
(1977), and in “a burlesque show with
some of the Muppet-company”. Their performance of Who?
features on: The Muppet Show 2 (the album on
which it originated), For What It’s Worth,
Jim Henson Presents Silly Songs,
and, Muppet Hits 1. They also sang on: The Muppet Show Music Hall, The Muppet Show Music Album, The Great Muppet Caper (Soundtrack
album), John
Denver & The Muppets A Christmas Together, John Denver &
The Muppets Merry Christmas 45RPM, Favorite Songs From Jim
Henson’s Muppets, Muppet Music Sampler,
Muppet Hits 2, Muppet
Music Mix, Elmo’s Lowdown Hoedown,
Christmas For Kids, John Denver
Christmas, and, Music Mayhem & More.
In addition, Louise Gold and Jerry Nelson
have also puppeteered on The Muppet
Christmas Carol, The Secret Life
Of Toys, and, Muppet Treasure Island; and are credited
as singing together on: The
Muppet Christmas Carol (Soundtrack album), they also both feature on Born To Add, and are credited on The Count’s Countdown, and, A Green And Red Christmas; and they
performed together at Jim Henson’s
Memorial Service, and on Sesame Street.
Jim Henson and Louise Gold
puppeteered on The Dark Crystal, for which Jerry
Jim Henson puppeteered on Labyrinth, and, Tale Of The
Bunny Picnic.
Jerry Nelson did voice-work
on the UK Co-Production of Fraggle Rock (as well
as puppeteering on the main show).
Review
by Emma Shane, 27
January 2005
This
is a very strange compilation of often quite strange versions of Jerome Kern
songs. Legends Of Pop Volume I seems to contain about the most
normal sounding versions of these classic songs in the entire set. The album
was apparently compiled with the aim of encouraging DJ’s to play more Kern songs
on the radio, which may explain why the album contains such a wide range of
rather unlikely artistes. That said it is interesting to discover how widely
performed Kern’s songs are, for example I was totally unaware that Smoke
Gets In Your Eyes had been a big hit for The Platters in the
late 1950s. By and large I’m not too keen on the very pop-oriented takes on
some of these classic music theatre songs, in particular Michael Jackson’s
version of All The Things You Are, which is not only
unrecognisable, it manages to sound absolutely nothing like the late 1930’s
song that it actually is. In fact some of these variations were so bizarre,
that they put me in mind of the moment in the little musical Two’s A
Crowd when the Diva complained about the Jazz Singer’s version of Make
Believe, by telling him “If you’re going to sing it, sing it properly” . However,
that said, some of the variations are innovative, and worth hearing. So
considering each of the five LP’s in turn:
Legends Of Pop Volume I - This is
possibly my favourite of the bunch, purely for three numbers. Lena Horne’s
Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man is a poignant reminder of how ironic it
was that the law didn’t permit her to play Julie LeVerne on film, and how good
she would have been in the role. I particularly enjoyed Bing Crosby and Fred
Astaire’s riotous version of Pick Yourself Up, and of course
the version of Who billed as being sung by The Muppets,
although in fact most of it is sung by British musical theatre actress Louise
Gold. I wonder how many DJ’s who’ve played this track actually realised
that. I also quite enjoyed Jack Jones’s They Didn’t
Legends Of Pop Volume II - This
gets off to a bad start with Michael Jackson’s incompressible version of
All The Things You Are. But improves dramatically with the second
track Cleo Laine’s Bill, which while not to my taste is nevertheless
performed very effectively. The album also ends very nicely with Frank
Sinatra’s
Giants Of Jazz - this is
one of the more enjoyable Lp’s in the collection. While the style of the
numbers are not to my taste, at least the performers seem to appreciate the
material they are singing, and perform it with a good deal of professionalism.
That said there are moments on it where the songs don’t seem to fit the
singers, for example Oscar Peterson’s Bill, and, Sarah
Vaughan’s The Touch Of Your Hand. And often I just couldn’t
help wishing they’d sing the songs properly.
Sing Me A Kern Song - There
was absolutely nothing actually wrong with the performances on this album, all
the songs were done pretty properly. I just felt they were actually a bit
boring and uninspiring. But perhaps its hard to do the songs properly and put
individual feeling into them. There were several occasions when I just kept
thinking “yes that’s alright, but its not....” Can’t Help Lovin Dat Man
and Make Believe just weren’t as impressive as either the 1951
film of Showboat (Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel,
and, Annette Warren). While I’ve hardly ever heard a version of Smoke
Gets In Your Eyes that could, quite compare with the film of Lovely
To Look At (Kathryn Grayson), and I’ve never heard a version of Long
Ago And Far Away that is anywhere near as impressive as The Hot
Shoe Shuffle (British Cast album) (Louise Plowright). In
summation, pleasant background, but that’s about it.
Kernfusion - I actually rather enjoyed this, which
surprised me somewhat. Its very very jazz oriented. But its purely
instrumental. Musically I think that while conductor arranger &
accordionist Angelo DiPippo’s arrangements are quite bizarre, they are
not without feeling for the music. In some ways DiPippo’s concoctions reminded
me a bit of Jason Carr’s work as an arranger. Very individual, and yet
is actually works. The arrangements may be weird, but there is a vibrancy. One
might have to work quite hard to recognise the original songs, but they still
sound like tunes from the era in which they were written. A nice interesting
album to play in the background.
So overall a very mixed bunch. I rather wished the
collection had included more of the traditional Music Theatre performances of
Kern’s songs, if not the early Broadway casts, then how about
Links about Jerome
Kern - The First 100 Years
