...to break out the Christmas jazz CDs! This is the time of year when we pull out the CDs from storage that are geared for the holidays. Our favorites include:Blue Yule - Sometimes the blues and Christmas go together like grits and eggs. Lightnin' Hopkins and Sonny Boy Williamson (singing about "Santy Claw") are some of the folks who provide a look at a non-Hallmark view of Christmas.A Concord ...
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It's been so long since the movie of the same name that many people forget that Bing Crosby was not the only shining star of White Christmas, the 1954 Paramount confection which also starred Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen, and this vivacious babe right here: Rosemary Clooney.The song Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep) was nominated for an Oscar for best song. It's not a Christmas song, but because...
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It seems appropriate to listen to this performance, the last song ever sung by Rosemary Clooney. Originally the property of Kate Smith, "God Bless America" belongs to everyone. One important detail of this performance is that Clooney sings the seldom heard opening verse. Very few people know that there even is a verse. Kate Smith, I don't think, ever sang this verse. Yet Irving Berlin wrote thi...
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Every year at Christmas, television and cable stations bring out two movies associated with “White Christmas”: “Holiday Inn” and “White Christmas” both starring Bing Crosby. Irving Berlin wrote this song expressly for the 1941 film “Holiday Inn” which took full advantage of the huge Irving Berlin catalog of songs to illustrate different holidays throughout the year. Bing’s record
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There was never a funnier person than Rosemary Clooney. She could match wits with any person at anytime. She really loved to talk to her audiences on a person to person basis. And of course, she talks about her nephew George.
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Master lyricist Ira Gershwin and his composer brother George Gershwin wrote "They Can't Take This Away From Me" for the 1937 musical film "Shall We Dance" starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The combined efforts of John Oddo and Matt Catingub give this beautiful song an appropriately nostalgic feel with a very eloquent performance from Rosemary Clooney, the very definition of the word of e...
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"OF' Man River" was the show stopping song of Oscar Hammerstein 2nd (lyrics) and Jerome Kern's (music) career, coming at the very beginning of their trail blazing musical operetta "Show Boat" in 1927. Here Clooney sings an up tempo, swinging version that fairly moves along at a fast pace much as her mentor Bing Crosby would do numerous times. Matt Catingub plays a frantically inspired performan...
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The famous song writing team of Thomas Adair and Matt Dennis wrote “Everything Happens To Me” in 1941 and it was quickly picked up by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and Frank Sinatra. Rosemary Clooney sings this song with a touch of wry good humor in this small combo performance. The backing musicians acquit themselves with full honors and as for Rosie–well, she turns in a first rate rendition t
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Tony Bennett certainly knew his songs when he recorded "Just In Time," written by the two great lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green with music by Julie Styne for the 1956 stage musical "Bells Are Ringing" starring Judy Holliday who also appeared in the film version. Clooney sings this swinging version with elan and style which are matched by the crisp ensemble playing obtained by Matt Catin...
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The magical song writing team of lyricist E. Y. Harburg and composer Harold Arlen wrote "Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe" for the 1942 film "Cabin In The Sky" starring two greats, Ethel Waters and Lena Horne. This has an even more full bodied ensemble writing than the previous number. Clooney fairly caresses the music and lyrics, properly cushioned and accompanied by Matt Catingub. And listen t...
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A. J. Neiburg wrote the lyrics and Doc Dougherty and Ellis Reynolds composed the music for "I'm Confessin' I Love You" in 1930. This longtime favorite gets a slow tempo rendition by Rosemary Clooney who sings the lyrics and music with great authority and elegant phrasing. Like the rest of the songs at this concert, the original charts by John Oddo are updated by Matt Catingub who leads the musicia
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Drummer Joe Cocuzzo and pianist Vincent Falcone (Frank Sinatra's pianist and music director) co-wrote "The Singer" in the 1980's for Sinatra to record and sing. Clooney sings this with just piano accompaniment and dedicates this song to an Italian singer-Frank Sinatra. It's a very moving tribute to one of the greatest vocalist of all who influenced hundreds of artists for generations to come.
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Many have criticized this song mightily in recent years without ever having listened to the words. When Irving Berlin wrote both the words and music to this anthem in 1938, he never meant it to be played or sung in an overblown way but recognized a great soul when Kate Smith sang this song because she did so with love, responding to the happy connotations of this song and not as a divisive way ...
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A great favorite of singers the world over is "You Go To My Head," written to words by Haven Gillespie and music composed by J. Fred Coots in 1938. It's a quieter mood Matt Catingub writes for Rosemary Clooney. It perfectly matches Clooney's mellow vocal elegance. The instrumental break is just to marvelous for words which causes Clooney to sing wordlessly with the strings. This chart is a defi...
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This special occasion, the last concert of Rosemary Clooney's career, came about from the Honolulu Symphony "Pops" wanting to snare a recording contract. Thanks to the cooperation between management and musicians and local 677 of the AFM, the Honolulu musicians were allowed to record their concerts.This was not Rosemary Clooney's first trip to the islands. She had traveled to Hawaii in the earl...
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