{"id":172,"date":"2021-03-30T18:37:22","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T18:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/?page_id=172"},"modified":"2021-07-11T22:51:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-11T22:51:40","slug":"1961-62","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1961-62\/","title":{"rendered":"1961-62"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Dexterity and declarations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>All in a Night\u2019s Work<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(dir. Joseph Anthony; Paramount, 1961) (recorded early 1961?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previn\u2019s score for&nbsp;this&nbsp;Dean Martin-Shirley MacClaine&nbsp;screwball farce is mostly light and orchestral. But he exercises his jazz skills for a couple of scenes, both&nbsp;on his own&nbsp;(a bit of cocktail piano)&nbsp;and in some small-group charm, with Capp, Mitchell, Barney Kessel&nbsp;on guitar, and Bernie Mattinson on vibes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Andr\u00e9 Previn - Martinique no.1\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jMadwHxlAQg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>A Touch of Elegance: The Music of Duke Ellington<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1961)&nbsp;(recorded March 1961)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1961, the idea of recording an entire album of Ellington compositions (if you weren\u2019t Duke Ellington, that is) was not as common as one might think. Monk had done it; Johnny Guarnieri had done it; Shirley Scott had done it. Previn had done it, albeit in piecemeal fashion, in the form of the Sunset sides that Monarch later compiled into an album. And, while, Ellington had been given the occasional mood-music treatment\u2014Les Baxter and Morton Gould had recorded Ellington songs\u2014this was, as far as I can tell, the first full&nbsp;LP&nbsp;of&nbsp;piano-and-strings-style&nbsp;Ellingtonia.&nbsp;Previn revered Ellington\u2019s music, esteem reflected in the attentive production of this record. The selection of songs is a connoisseur\u2019s mix of familiar paragons and deep-cut rarities. The string charts are assiduously polished. For rhythm, Previn made sure to recruit Mitchell and Capp this time around. He even got a premiere (of sorts) from the master: \u201cLe Sucrier Velours,\u201d a&nbsp;silky Ellington-Strayhorn original that had been part of the suite Ellington privately recorded as a gift for Queen Elizabeth II. (Previn\u2019s recording was the&nbsp;song\u2019s&nbsp;first and, for a&nbsp;number of years, only commercial release.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For all that, what one thinks of this album\u00a0vis-\u00e0-vis jazz\u00a0probably depends on how easily one can put Ellington\u2019s originals temporarily\u00a0out of one\u2019s mind.\u00a0Compared with those versions, Previn\u2019s strings sound decorous and gracious, but without the point and texture of Ellington\u2019s more\u00a0subtle\u00a0rhythmic sense and often-unexpected orchestrations.\u00a0One of Previn\u2019s most well-known appreciations of Ellington is revealing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote blockquotecustom is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Stan Kenton can stand in front of a thousand fiddles and a thousand brass and make a dramatic gesture, and every studio arranger can nod his head and say, \u201cOh, yes, that\u2019s done like this.\u201d But Duke merely lifts his finger, three horns make a sound, and I don\u2019t know what it is.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previn\u2019s extravagant compliment&nbsp;is also&nbsp;an admission of his own relative distance from the&nbsp;folkloric&nbsp;source of jazz, a distance study and expertise could only go so far in shrinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time,\u00a0though,\u00a0this has got to be one of the classiest and most musically rewarding easy-listening albums ever made.\u00a0It\u2019s a perfect example of Previn\u2019s singular niche in the mood-music sphere: too smooth and sweet to be jazz, but, compared with most other mood-music albums, on another level altogether in terms of jazz feel and savvy. And the source material proves amenable to Previn\u2019s treatment.\u00a0If Previn\u2019s Fats Waller album put the focus on that music\u2019s inherent\u00a0ingenuity, this one is dedicated to showcasing just how,\u00a0indeed,\u00a0uncannily\u00a0<em>elegant<\/em>\u00a0Ellington\u2019s compositions are. The arrangements are\u00a0like analytical appreciations\u2014of how well the call-and-response balances\u00a0in \u201cPortrait of Bert Williams\u201d;\u00a0how the soft-shoe voice-leading of \u201cWhat Am I Here For?\u201d does so much with so little; how the motivic basis of \u201cPrelude to a Kiss\u201d opens and closes like a flower.\u00a0The title song, a Previn original, is an apt homage,\u00a0the\u00a0disjunct antecedent phrases\u00a0setting\u00a0up\u00a0the tightly-wound consequents in a plausibly Ellingtonian way.\u00a0And, behind the gauze, Previn, Mitchell, and Capp still\u00a0can bring\u00a0some\u00a0heat. After its archly straight, classicized opening, Previn settles into \u201cIt Don\u2019t Mean a Thing\u201d with some of the most\u00a0sparkling\u00a0playing he ever put on record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"It Don&#039;t Mean A Thing - Andr\u00e9 Previn\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SUP60R85gVc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>The Faraway Part of Town<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1962)&nbsp;(recorded&nbsp;June 1961)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previn\u2019s next piano-and-orchestra album for Columbia is a&nbsp;comparatively&nbsp;miscellaneous collection. Even when it\u2019s thematically consistent, it feels sundry. To play a stylized blues over woozy, parallel tall chords in the strings is something of a Previn go-to; to do it on back-to-back tracks, as he does here (in&nbsp;\u201cTravlin\u2019 Light\u201d and \u201cGone with the Wind\u201d) is capricious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Travelin&#039; Light\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/74zgLBCTFIc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But this also a&nbsp;much more subdued album than Previn\u2019s last two strings-and-piano outings, both in terms of mood and adventurousness. The jazz and easy-listening modes that, on previous records, Previn did his best to integrate are here kept far more separate.&nbsp;Introductions and interludes are in the&nbsp;ruminative, transmuted&nbsp;style of his solo piano albums, but&nbsp;the tracks&nbsp;invariably settle into conventional paragraphs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The title song\u2014introduced by Judy Garland, making an incongruous cameo, in&nbsp;<em>Pepe<\/em>, a stateside vehicle for the Mexican comedy star Cantinflas\u2014was the first Langdon-Previn (as they continued to be credited) number to receive an Academy Award nomination. In fact,&nbsp;most of&nbsp;the second side of this album is a miniature&nbsp;(and,&nbsp;ironically, wordless)&nbsp;Dory&nbsp;Langdon showcase, with \u201cThe Faraway Part of Town\u201d alongside another Previn-Langdon song,&nbsp;\u201cMeet Me Halfway,\u201d as well as songs she wrote with&nbsp;Bronislaw Kaper and Leonard Feather. It\u2019s a hint, perhaps, of how much Previn was now reserving his pop and jazz energies for composing and songwriting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Doris Day and Andr\u00e9 Previn:&nbsp;<em><strong>Duet<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1962) (recorded&nbsp;November-December&nbsp;1961)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Man, could Doris Day sing.&nbsp;After starting out with Les Brown\u2019s big band, she had gone into movies, honing her voice into a pure pop instrument while crafting an image of pure (but&nbsp;Rock-Hudson-bewitching) femininity. At the time of this album, she was the biggest female box-office draw in the country. While the presence of Previn, Mitchell, and Capp hints that this is meant to be a jazz album, Day\u2019s singing is in even less of a jazz vein than usual. There\u2019s no improvisation; there\u2019s no scat-singing; even the passing flourishes you\u2019d expect from almost any pop singer&nbsp;(or from Day in her big-band years)&nbsp;are&nbsp;virtually&nbsp;absent.&nbsp;On every song here, Day sings a partial or full reprise of the tune, and the tune and the words are exactly the same, exactly as written\u2014and yet very different. If&nbsp;you\u2019ve&nbsp;ever wondered just how much juice can be squeezed from an unaltered melody and lyric, Doris Day is your woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the surface, this might seem like a&nbsp;spiritual&nbsp;sequel to&nbsp;<em>Dinah Sings, Previn Plays<\/em>.&nbsp;It turns out to be something different: a singer and a pianist\/arranger indulging their mutual love of the craft and effect of classic songwriting on an almost granular level.&nbsp;(The back cover\u2014which features another appearance of the sweater\u2014claims that Day and Previn had never met before this album, which I find far-fetched, but this is the first time they worked together.)&nbsp;Most of the tracks are on the slow side, giving time and space&nbsp;for Day&nbsp;to shade vowels and linger over consonants,&nbsp;and&nbsp;for Previn to adjust his touch and placement and harmony with exquisite&nbsp;precision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Doris Day &amp; Andr\u00e9 Previn  &quot;Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear to Tread)&quot;\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JQWwLSodzPs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(There\u2019s an alternate take of \u201cFools Rush In\u201d which is just a hair faster, to its detriment. Day is a singer for whom \u201cslow enough\u201d is an important consideration.)&nbsp;Mitchell and Capp join in on five of the eleven tracks, but only two of them could be called up-tempo\u2014including \u201cControl Yourself,\u201d one of three Previn-Langdon originals. (In keeping with the overall popular-song-maven atmosphere, the three songs&nbsp;seem to&nbsp;channel&nbsp;some of Day\u2019s favorite writers: \u201cDaydreaming\u201d hints at Johnny Mercer, \u201cControl Yourself\u201d has a real Jimmy Van Heusen-Sammy Cahn feel, and \u201cYes,\u201d which would go on to be one of the Previns\u2019 bigger hits, triangulates the Gershwins and Rodgers and Hart.) This,&nbsp;then,&nbsp;is an album where Previn\u2019s jazz experience lends distinctive depth and color to pop stylings.&nbsp;It\u2019s first-rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Andr\u00e9 Previn and J. J. Johnson:&nbsp;<em><strong>Play Kurt Weill\u2019s Mack the Knife and Bilbao-Song<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1962) (recorded&nbsp;December 1961)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Singers would almost always bring out Previn\u2019s best as a tasteful, smooth accompanist, but a\u00a0simpatico\u00a0collaborator\u00a0also could spark Previn\u2019s sharper\u00a0instincts.\u00a0On the face of it, Previn and trombonist J. J. Johnson might seem only distantly related. Johnson was a main practitioner of bebop and cool jazz while Previn was still regarding those styles from the outside in. Previn had made a habit of surrounding himself with familiar West Coast comrades; Johnson\u2019s collaborations ranged wide. Even their respective compositional ambitions diverged:\u00a0at the time, Johnson was experimenting with Third Stream ideas,\u00a0a notion\u00a0Previn always\u00a0warily regarded. But they absolutely clicked on this session. In his review of the album, Nat Hentoff called Johnson \u201can ironist,\u201d which gets at why the pairing feels so natural and fertile.\u00a0Both Previn and Johnson combine respect for the source material with a flair for yanking the material apart in a way that amplifies its quirks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their version of the overture to\u00a0<em>Die Dreigroschenoper<\/em>, for instance, starts out as a straight-up transcription before dropping into a loping, angular swing that is both a long way from the original and completely faithful to its ambiance. \u201cSeer\u00e4uber-Jenny\u201d alternates stentorian pronouncement with a rickety, Kenton-esque fast swing, letting Johnson encompass both the trombone\u2019s bombast and his own fleet virtuosity.\u00a0The\u00a0songs,\u00a0already pointy\u2014all from Weill\u2019s Brechtian period rather than his Broadway musicals\u2014seem\u00a0tailor-made for Previn and Johnson to poke with\u00a0more and novel\u00a0needles. Mitchell and Capp are fully in the brazen spirit. Even \u201cMack the Knife,\u201d already over-familiar, gets a fresh,\u00a0fitting\u00a0bitonal makeover. (At various times, Previn attributed the idea to either spur-of-the-moment planning or in-performance spontaneity.) Previn and Johnson proceed to goad each other to ever-edgier improvisational heights.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"MORITAT (MACK THE KNIFE) (from &quot;The Threepenny Opera&quot;)\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v7nCoXL3UY0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That an album this&nbsp;terrific&nbsp;has, over the years, been so hard to find and listen to is a&nbsp;market-based&nbsp;crime about which, one suspects, Weill and Brecht could have written a pretty good song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>The Light Fantastic: A Tribute to Fred Astaire<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1962)&nbsp;(recorded May 1962)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A trio album offering further evidence,&nbsp;possibly, that Previn had been listening to more Bill Evans. And maybe reading Bill Evans\u2014specifically, his famous liner notes for Miles Davis\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Kind of Blue<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote blockquotecustom is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist is forced to be spontaneous. He must paint on a thin stretched parchment with a special brush and black water paint in such a way that an unnatural or interrupted stroke will destroy the line or break through the parchment. Erasures or changes are impossible. These artists must practice a particular discipline, that of allowing the idea to express itself in communication with their hands in such a direct way that deliberation cannot interfere. <\/p><p>The resulting pictures lack the complex composition and textures of ordinary painting, but it is said that those who see well find something captured that escapes explanation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not that Previn sounds that much, if at all, like Evans\u2014his playing is still very recognizably his. But Previn\u2019s solos on this album breathe;&nbsp;the&nbsp;space and sound work together. And the feel of Previn riding a wave of melodic invention\u2014rewriting, rather than just decorating, the source material as he goes\u2014is strong.&nbsp;Of course, that could just be the inspiration of the album\u2019s subject. Astaire\u2019s art was dedicated to the illusion of ease: he never wanted you to see how hard he was working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The set list is the usual Previn mix of standards (mostly Gershwin and Berlin), rarities (Berlin\u2019s \u201cI Used to Be Color Blind,\u201d&nbsp;or&nbsp;Astaire\u2019s own \u201cNot My Girl,\u201d the latter given a particularly&nbsp;rollicking&nbsp;treatment reminiscent of Astaire\u2019s&nbsp;idiosyncratic&nbsp;piano playing and drumming), and a Previn original (\u201cLight Fantastic\u201d).&nbsp;At first blush,&nbsp;this seems like a lighter, more pop-oriented effort than, say,&nbsp;<em>Like Previn!<\/em>&nbsp;That\u2019s what I thought, anyway, and then I listened to it again. Previn is digging deep, even as his touch and phrasing suggest otherwise. Even his favorite gambit of wild re-harmonization (via an elegantly menacing rewrite of \u201cPuttin\u2019 on the Ritz\u201d) plays as a casual witticism. His improvisations take&nbsp;much less for granted than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A Foggy Day\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ro_Idmq5byk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mitchell and Capp are making it sound easy, too. (Capp\u2019s fills, always simple but never rote, are revealed here as one of the trio\u2019s secret weapons, especially in comparison with the more prosaic anonymous drumming on some of Previn\u2019s piano-and-orchestra albums.)&nbsp;Maybe this album was, in part, a lightly-tossed gauntlet.&nbsp;Previn\u2019s perception&nbsp;was that&nbsp;jazz style&nbsp;was moving toward&nbsp;more intentional displays of&nbsp;<em>work,<\/em>&nbsp;at the expense, he thought, of musical substance. But, again, nothing about this record sounds even that effortful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Addendum:&nbsp;Here\u2019s&nbsp;a&nbsp;live sample&nbsp;of the Previn-Mitchell-Capp trio around this time, performing Previn\u2019s<em>&nbsp;West Side Story<\/em> arrangement of \u201cAmerica\u201d<em>&nbsp;<\/em>at the November 1962&nbsp;National Pageant of the Arts,&nbsp;a gala to raise money and attention for what would become the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Andre Previn performs &quot;America&quot; from West Side Story (1962) | The Kennedy Center\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BB4-AOGNYTI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Two for the Seesaw&nbsp;<\/strong><\/em>(dir. Robert Wise; United Artists, 1962) (recorded summer 1962)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Robert Wise\u2019s film version of William Gibson\u2019s play emphasizes the urban-romantic orchestral aspect of Previn\u2019s score&nbsp;(with studio legend Uan Rasey, on trumpet, anticipating his work on Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Chinatown&nbsp;<\/em>score), while the jazz elements&nbsp;mostly function as in-story background music\u2014and they stay&nbsp;well in the&nbsp;background. On the soundtrack album, though, Previn\u2019s jazz tracks come to the fore.&nbsp;Previn, (probably) Mitchell, and Capp play&nbsp;\u201cSalty Sophie,\u201d a&nbsp;minor blues with a nervous straight-eighths refrain,&nbsp;while a pair of big-band tracks, \u201cEveryone\u2019s Got a Radio\u201d and \u201cTwo for the Twist,\u201d show Previn\u2019s mellow and&nbsp;bold sides, respectively. The trio accompanies Jackie Cain on the theme song, \u201cSecond Chance\u201d (lyrics by Dory Previn)\u2014again, a performance barely there in the actual movie, but compelling enough&nbsp;to&nbsp;garner the Previns an Oscar nomination for best song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Second Chance (From &#039;Two for the Seesaw&#039;)\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SAkK2d4O0DM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jackie and Roy Kral:&nbsp;<em><strong>Like Sing: Songs by Dory and Andre Previn<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1963)&nbsp;(recorded July 1962)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jackie Cain and Roy Kral had made a name for themselves in the 50s, when their tightly-arranged, impeccably tailored pop-jazz vocal duets exemplified finger-snapping, cocktail party cool. For the next twenty years or so, they kept busy, turning up in seemingly every jazz and pop-music context there was\u2014standards, bossa nova, easy-listening covers of the top 40, even, come the 1970s, a hint of psychedelia. And yet, they were always just\u2026 Jackie and Roy, doing their thing as various accompaniment styles came and went. (Their agent, the legendary Joe Glaser, <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=rG6PDQAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA695\">complained to them<\/a> that \u201cthe jazz guys think you\u2019re cabaret and the cabarets think you\u2019re jazz.\u201d)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So this album\u2014the first consisting solely of songs by the Previns\u2014feels not only very much of a certain time, but, like all Jackie and Roy albums from that period, of a time somehow slightly displaced. The style is very bop-like, but so frictionless as to slip out of the groove of history. The numbers in which Dory Previn indulges her fascination with hip slang and topical reference as a lyrical resource are dated in such a specific, all-consuming, and idiosyncratic way that they almost seem oblique to any actual era. Listening to this album is both constantly entertaining and a little disorienting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jackie &amp; Roy, Dory &amp; Andre Previn - Like Sing\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JwW7jtOB4U8?start=1052&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previn doesn\u2019t perform\u2014the arrangements and piano are all Roy Kral\u2014but the album makes plain how his songwriting at the time ran on parallel tracks. There\u2019s the lush ballads conspicuously in the style of classic, standard American song, and there\u2019s the faster numbers that heavily draw on bop- and hard-bop styles\u2014riffs, essentially, translated into song. Those two strains were always strong in his jazz playing; in his songs, they\u2019re distinct identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jackie and Roy had an impressively long career. They continued to perform \u201cThe Runaround\u201d\u2014a song the Previns wrote for them, which they introduced on&nbsp;<em>Like Sing\u2014<\/em>in their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=X11t7WZrJ24\">live sets<\/a> for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Andr\u00e9 Previn in Hollywood<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1963)&nbsp;(recorded August 1962)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1962, Previn essentially was working five jobs\u2014movie work, songwriting, jazz playing, classical conducting, and fashioning jazzy mood-music albums\u2014so it\u2019s not surprising that he would start turning the duties on the last over to someone else. His first ringer was a friend: John Williams. Up until this point, Williams\u2019 career had looked not unlike Previn\u2019s. Williams had also been juggling studio work, arranging and composing for films and TV, and jazz piano, playing in some of Dave Pell\u2019s groups, accompanying singer Johnny Desmond, trying his hand at Kenton-like big-band albums, and occasionally recording as a leader (usually credited as John Towner or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oo9xUsLvKwc\">John Towner Williams<\/a>, to distinguish him from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YQzUGWqoVsE&amp;t=1417s\">the other John Williams<\/a>, also a very good pianist, who opted for a much lower-profile career).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This collection of movie music ranges from melodramatic themes to straight-up pop songs (Previn\u2019s song from&nbsp;<em>Two for the Seesaw&nbsp;<\/em>gets a prompt showcase, but, a little surprisingly, it\u2019s the only Previn original here), but the treatment is, on the whole, as far into easy-listening as Previn has yet ventured.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Laura\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5rd37GHwWB8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s still a little bit of jazz here: \u201cThe Last Time I Saw Paris\u201d frames Previn\u2019s hard-bop style with some luxury-sport string harmonies, and Previn takes a chorus on \u201cIt Might As Well Be Spring,\u201d but the rest of this album barely even feints in the direction of jazz, which means that it is an excellent opportunity to hear what two extremely accomplished musicians can do with the mood-music style. Even at this date, the orchestrations are recognizably Williams\u2019\u2014no matter how much you love the French horn, you will never love the French horn as much, or as well, as John Williams\u2014and show a somewhat more contrapuntal bent than Previn\u2019s, with a lovely sense of space: all the lines have plenty of elbow room to move and breathe. Previn puts on a classical-romantic touch for most of the tracks, and the control and judgement is impressive. (Also: is that some&nbsp;<em>Rosenkavalier<\/em>&nbsp;at the end of \u201cI\u2019m a Dreamer, Aren\u2019t We All\u201d? Yes. Yes it is\u2014and it\u2019s a motivic name-drop Previn will exercise several more times over the years.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even the Grammys were starting to draw borders on Previn\u2019s musical map. Back in 1959, Previn had picked up a jazz nomination for \u201cLike Young,\u201d but, for the 1963 awards,&nbsp;<em>Andr\u00e9 Previn in Hollywood<\/em>&nbsp;was nominated in a new category: \u201cBest Performance By an Orchestra or Instrumentalist with Orchestra\u2014Primarily Not Jazz or for Dancing,\u201d which is a very long-winded way of saying that jazz and easy-listening were now, as far as the industry was concerned, two different things. At least they recognized it. I\u2019ve listened to an awful lot of mood-music albums in my time, and, believe me, it\u2019s almost never this good. Still, if it\u2019s a jazzier affect you\u2019re after, Williams and Previn&#8217;s next collaboration will have you covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Aside: Since moving to Columbia, Previn\u2019s records had been produced by Irving Townsend, who also worked with Duke Ellington and Miles Davis, but this album, along with Previn\u2019s final four 1963-65 Columbia releases, were produced by Ed Kleban, who would later win a Pulitzer Prize as the lyricist of <em>A Chorus Line<\/em>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eileen Farrell and Andr\u00e9 Previn:&nbsp;<em><strong>Together With Love<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1962)&nbsp;(recorded autumn 1962?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This album came about through the efforts of Schuyler Chapin, then vice president of classical music at Columbia, later general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, even later New York City\u2019s Commissioner for Cultural Affairs. It is Previn\u2019s first go at a pop album sung by an operatic star, a category which would become something of a minor Previn specialty. But Farrell had serious pop-singing skills and experience, heard on her own radio show in the 1940s and a series of Columbia albums arranged by Luther Henderson. (Her work on the opera stage was, in many ways, a second career; she had only made her Met debut in 1960.)&nbsp;Her pop voice was distinctive: pitched a good half-octave below her classical dramatic soprano range, with firm, measured diction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the accompaniments are orchestral, but Previn\u2019s piano takes the spotlight on Bart Howard\u2019s \u201cBe My All\u201d (just Farrell and Previn, in a somewhat lieder-like atmosphere), and two Harold Arlen torch songs with piano&nbsp;and (unidentified)&nbsp;bass and drums: \u201cI Wonder What Became of Me\u201d and \u201cThe Morning After\u201d (a new song, with lyrics by Dory&nbsp;Langdon),&nbsp;both with Previn in his wheelhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Morning After (Remastered)\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xbvuPlW29sI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Sittin&#8217; on a Rainbow: The Music of Harold Arlen<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1963)&nbsp;(recorded late 1962?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Morning After\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-L5XnIK6fro?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that\u2019s&nbsp;<em>very<\/em>&nbsp;different, Previn recasting \u201cThe Morning After\u201d&nbsp;as a second cousin of the Andante from&nbsp;<em>Rhapsody in Blue<\/em>, it seems.&nbsp;To be fair, this piano-and-orchestra collection of Arlen\u2019s&nbsp;songs&nbsp;is not all as determinedly&nbsp;respectable&nbsp;as that.&nbsp;Previn does some up-tempo showing-off on \u201cTwo Ladies in De Shade of De Banana Tree,\u201d and drops a solo into \u201cI Got a Right to Sing the Blues\u201d that wouldn\u2019t be out of place on the Astaire tribute. But, given how many times he has recorded some of these tunes, this album makes plain just how Previn has been&nbsp;adjusting&nbsp;his style for easy-listening purposes.&nbsp;(As if to symbolize the shift, Previn has donned a new sweater for the cover photo.)&nbsp;Again, it\u2019s still a step ahead of most similar albums&nbsp;(for example, Wynton Kelly\u2019s nearly-contemporaneous&nbsp;<em>Comin\u2019 in the Back Door<\/em>&nbsp;sounds noticeably closer to the mean of instrumental pop), but still a noticeable change from his trio and, especially, solo albums. Compare, for instance, the \u201cStormy Weather\u201d on his solo album with&nbsp;what he does&nbsp;here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Stormy Weather\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jT_F9tb7f2M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s kind of the same playbook.&nbsp;The harmonies still have some twists and turns. But the chords now stack up in a more \u201cproper\u201d fashion than the earlier, quasi-Stravinskian, minor-third-below-major-third-above version, and Previn\u2019s playing is more restrained as well.&nbsp;The negotiations are&nbsp;fascinating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Andr\u00e9 Previn \/ Herb Ellis \/ Shelly Manne \/ Ray Brown:&nbsp;<em><strong>4 To Go!<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1963) (recorded December 1962)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previn manages two reunions on this album, his own with Shelly Manne, and, with Brown and Ellis, two-thirds of Oscar Peterson\u2019s most well-known trio. It\u2019s no retread of Peterson\u2019s style, though. The arrangements and originals (one each from the four players) are more complex and&nbsp;even off-center, and&nbsp;the general vibe&nbsp;occasionally&nbsp;veers in a pop direction, except that it\u2019s pop turned inside-out by consummate jazz adepts.&nbsp;And it\u2019s one of Previn\u2019s most rewarding jazz efforts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Previn, Ellis, Brown, Manne - No Moon At All\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/egEL6Fchmx4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo Moon at All\u201d sets the tone: ambitious both musically and technically, all realized with a kind of preternatural clarity that gives the whole thing a sheen of casual proficiency. Other tracks&nbsp;verge on the rambunctious\u2014\u201cOh, What a Beautiful Morning\u201d starts off in a prankish manner reminiscent of some of the Broadway-show albums but builds to a cheerful hard-bop apotheosis, while Previn\u2019s own&nbsp;blues-based&nbsp;\u201cDon\u2019t Sing Along\u201d has moments that play like a&nbsp;broken-mirror satire of rock-and-roll.&nbsp;Manne\u2019s \u201cIntersection,\u201d on the other hand, has its foot in the door to some modal, Miles-Davis-John-Coltrane abstraction. Everyone\u2019s there to show each other\u2014and us\u2014what they can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>4&nbsp;To Go!<\/em>&nbsp;was Previn\u2019s first recording in this kind of quartet setting since 1955\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Let\u2019s Get Away From It All<\/em>. If the earlier album was, in some ways, Previn\u2019s last in his early style, this one might be heard as a kind of thesis statement: what Previn, after just about 20 years as a professional musician, had come to treasure and value in jazz. Proficiency and taste were important to Previn, as were polish and craft. He cultivated\u2014on the basis of a deep yet practical engagement with popular song\u2014a know-the-rules-to-break-the-rules approach to harmony, which he exercised most adventurously in jazz settings. He&nbsp;believed&nbsp;a jazz performance should provide pleasure, even if the material was melancholy; violence and anger were foreign to Previn\u2019s jazz. And, possibly most importantly,&nbsp;he cherished rapport: if the musicians were technically and temperamentally sympathetic, then that spark and sympathetic counterpoint would suffuse the performance.&nbsp;<em>4&nbsp;To Go!<\/em>&nbsp;is Previn defining and epitomizing his idea of mainstream jazz. It\u2019s the last album of its kind he would make for the next twenty-five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1960-2\/\">\u2190 <em>Previous: 1960<\/em><\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/interlude-on-authenticity\/\"><em>Next: Interlude: On Authenticity <\/em>\u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dexterity and declarations. All in a Night\u2019s Work&nbsp;(dir. Joseph Anthony; Paramount, 1961) (recorded early 1961?) Previn\u2019s score for&nbsp;this&nbsp;Dean Martin-Shirley MacClaine&nbsp;screwball farce is mostly light and orchestral. But he exercises his jazz skills for a couple of scenes, both&nbsp;on his own&nbsp;(a bit of cocktail piano)&nbsp;and in some small-group charm, with Capp, Mitchell, Barney Kessel&nbsp;on guitar, and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1961-62\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;1961-62&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-172","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":578,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/172\/revisions\/578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}