{"id":178,"date":"2021-03-30T19:03:21","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T19:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/?page_id=178"},"modified":"2021-04-28T13:24:23","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T13:24:23","slug":"1963-67","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1963-67\/","title":{"rendered":"1963-67"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Eyeing the exit.<\/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>Sound Stage!<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1964)&nbsp;(recorded April 1963)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For their follow-up to&nbsp;<em>Andr\u00e9 Previn in Hollywood<\/em>, Previn and John Williams exchanged the orchestra for a big band and silk for steel. Their goal seems to have been to make an album where everything&nbsp;is as punchy as possible; even the supposed contrasts\u2014an easy-swinging \u201cWhen You Wish upon a Star,\u201d a ballad-tempo \u201cStella by Starlight\u201d\u2014reach brawny, brassy catharsis.&nbsp;There\u2019s inherent danger in every track showing such swashbuckling muscle, but somehow this album never palls, partially because the repertoire and style frequently are at fruitful odds, and partially because Previn, whether from inspiration, bravado, or&nbsp;restlessness&nbsp;(or, maybe, all three), is in an especially brash mood.<\/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=\"Someday My Prince Will Come\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IvpwBbB_PM4?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\u2019s improvised solos are fewer and shorter than usual, just enough to remind you that it\u2019s a jazz album, but they\u2019re sharp and pithy. In a big-band context, Williams\u2019 arranging style has a prowling, sinewy quality, and the hits hit hard. It\u2019s by far the jazziest of the three albums that Previn and Williams made together. In a way, it\u2019s an unrepeatable exercise\u2014another collection in this hell-for-leather style could only have brought diminishing returns\u2014but it\u2019s a sensational album.<\/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>Soft and Swinging: The Music of Jimmy McHugh<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1964)&nbsp;(recorded October 1963)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The title is the conceit: half an album of orchestral arrangements, Previn, Mitchell, and Capp slipping in and out of lush string passages like a nightclub group going off and on break, and half an album of just the trio. The \u201csoft\u201d tracks can get fairly swinging, though, and a lot of the \u201cswinging\u201d tracks are definitely on the soft side. And there\u2019s a few places where all the moods and modes jostle for position in a surreal way. Take Previn\u2019s arrangement of \u201cI Can\u2019t Give You Anything But Love.\u201d There\u2019s some polyrhythmic parallel figures in the strings (not unlike Williams\u2019 arrangement of \u201cThe Last Time I Saw Paris\u201d on&nbsp;<em>Andr\u00e9 Previn in Hollywood<\/em>), a flurry of 12\/8 blues licks from Previn, a thumping-swing go at the first phrase of the tune from the trio, a wash of strings under the second phrase, a typically wild Previn reharmonization of the turnaround back into the repeat of the first phrase, eight bars of hard-bop soloing, half a phrase from the orchestra in swelling, harp-glissando MGM mode, then the final half-phrase from the trio, with Previn rolling out Red-Garland-type block chords. And then there\u2019s a deceptive cadence, bumping the whole track up a step. And&nbsp;<em>then<\/em>&nbsp;the orchestra comes in with even more swooning. And so forth. The track finishes with an especially elliptical set of harmonies, followed by a tremolo string chord Previn might have lifted from Bernard Herrmann\u2019s pocket. It\u2019s positively dizzy.<\/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 - I can&#039;t give you anything but love\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wfb25xILMbo?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\">As for the second side, it\u2019s almost as if Previn wanted to sneak a \u201cproper\u201d jazz album onto the racks without anybody noticing. On \u201cLose Me Now\u201d and \u201cWhen My Sugar Walks Down the Street\u201d (the latter with Previn doing his best Basie impression) the trio sounds like they\u2019re trying to outdo the strings for mood, keeping everything at a plush simmer. But then there\u2019s a pointed take on \u201cDiga Diga Doo,\u201d and a slightly rowdy triple-time prance through \u201cIt\u2019s a Most Unusual Day,\u201d and a jittery, deconstructive take on \u201cExactly Like You.\u201d&nbsp;<\/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 His Quartet:&nbsp;<em><strong>My Fair Lady<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1964)&nbsp;(recorded April 1964)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>My Fair Lady&nbsp;<\/em>was something of a talisman for Previn. It had prompted his most successful jazz recording. That led to his scoring&nbsp;<em>Gigi<\/em>, which won him his first Academy Award\u2014and had generated another jazz album, as did Lerner and Loewe\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Camelot<\/em>.<em>&nbsp;<\/em>When Warner Brothers finally made their film version of&nbsp;<em>My Fair Lady,&nbsp;<\/em>Previn&nbsp;once again got the call, and won&nbsp;his&nbsp;fourth and&nbsp;final Academy Award. (He&nbsp;gave the longest of his acceptance speeches: <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/GS5AO391WWs\">51 words<\/a>.)&nbsp;The film must have seemed a good opportunity for another jazz interpretation of the score. And not just to Previn\u2014Manne&nbsp;teamed up with singers Irene Kral and Jack Sheldon and a John Williams-arranged big band for his own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=e5_fMOJym0k\">1964&nbsp;<em>My Fair Lady&nbsp;<\/em>album<\/a>, with the \u201cun-original cast,\u201d as the cover promised. (Manne\u2019s album is a grand&nbsp;time: Williams\u2019 arrangements are wildly intrepid, and hearing Henry Higgins\u2019 fussy disquisitions in Sheldon\u2019s lackadaisical drawl is priceless.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, revisiting past triumphs is a risky business, and both Previn and Manne\u2019s remakes failed to come close to displacing their earlier effort, in the marketplace or in the culture.&nbsp;How could they? The Previn-Vinnegar-Manne&nbsp;<em>My Fair Lady<\/em>&nbsp;was a phenomenon. As playwright (and future Previn collaborator) Tom Stoppard recalled, \u201cEveryone had [the 1956]&nbsp;<em>My Fair Lady<\/em>&nbsp;album, just as everyone had Sinatra\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Songs for Swinging Lovers<\/em>.\u201d The recording had so defined jazz versions of the score that,&nbsp;in 1960, the classically-trained Trinidadian ragtime star Winifred Atwell&nbsp;actually&nbsp;recorded a <a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/albums\/B075L5QHY5?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;musicTerritory=US&amp;trackAsin=B075L3J5DJ\">note-for-note transcription<\/a> of Previn,&nbsp;<em>et al.<\/em>\u2019s version of \u201cGet Me to the Church on Time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That might be why Previn\u2019s 1964&nbsp;<em>My Fair Lady<\/em>&nbsp;is&nbsp;so adamantly&nbsp;<em>different<\/em>. It\u2019s a quartet, not a trio, Mitchell and Capp joined by Herb Ellis. It pits five songs that were included on the earlier album against five that weren\u2019t.&nbsp;And Previn\u2019s settings are especially mercurial.&nbsp;He\u2019ll sometimes jump&nbsp;from stylistic pastiche to straight jazz on a phrase-by phrase basis: \u201cWithout You\u201d alternates a minor-mode funeral march with mid-tempo swing, \u201cI\u2019m an Ordinary Man\u201d an ominous tango with breakneck bop.&nbsp;There\u2019s a lot of metrical skylarking in the head arrangements: \u201cYou Did It\u201d hitches its 2\/4 melody to a 3\/8 accompaniment, \u201cOn the Street Where You Live\u201d is kettled into 5\/8, and \u201cWith a Little Bit of Luck\u201d crests each chorus with a brief shift from 4 into 3.&nbsp;And there\u2019s at least&nbsp;hints&nbsp;of pushing into new territory. \u201cWouldn\u2019t It Be Loverly\u201d starts out with Previn in comfortable, Red Garland-ish style, but, by way of a bluesy Ellis solo and one of Previn\u2019s steelier anthologies of hard-bop licks, ends up on the verge of rhythm-and-blues. \u201cGet Me to the Church on Time\u201d returns as a robust boogie,&nbsp;as close to rock-and-roll as Previn had ever got.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Get-Me-to-the-Church-on-Time.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption>Andr\u00e9 Previn Quartet: \u201cGet Me to the Church on Time\u201d (1964)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, when Previn appeared on&nbsp;<em>The Andy Williams Show<\/em>&nbsp;the following year, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JoO_BsYUg6Y\">brought a version of \u201cGet Me to the Church on Time\u201d<\/a> that was a lot closer to the 1956 album than the 1964. You can\u2019t argue with success.<\/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 Popular Previn: Andr\u00e9 Previn Plays Today\u2019s Big Hits<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Columbia, 1965)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marty Paich is the arranger on this album, which starts off strange and gets stranger in a very 1960s way. It\u2019s not the first time Previn has played a harpsichord on a recording, but it\u2019s the first time he\u2019s played it enough to get the instrument on the cover.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"521\" height=\"521\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/The-Popular-Previn-cover.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-179\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/The-Popular-Previn-cover.jpg 521w, https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/The-Popular-Previn-cover-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/The-Popular-Previn-cover-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 521px) 85vw, 521px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(I\u2019m pretty sure the harpsichord in that photo is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca\/en\/article\/s-sabathil-son-ltd-emc\">Sabathil<\/a>, which is itself pretty redolent of the 60s.)&nbsp;Previn\u2019s improvising, so dependent on touch and articulation, loses a lot when he tries it on the harpsichord, and, except for&nbsp;a&nbsp;flight&nbsp;on \u201cOne Note Samba,\u201d he turns back to the piano for his solos. But even&nbsp;those&nbsp;are pretty&nbsp;limited,&nbsp;tightly&nbsp;slotted&nbsp;into the general atmosphere, which slides between&nbsp;string-heavy&nbsp;bachelor-pad smooth, trying-a-little-too-hard sassiness, and&nbsp;anything-goes grab-bag notions. By the time an aggressively bubbly&nbsp;female chorus barges in on the Previns\u2019 \u201cKiss Me, Stupid,\u201d it feels both surprising and not.<\/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=\"Kiss Me, Stupid\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cVAOCnNDvf0?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\">Buried in this album is the makings of another, possibly more interesting one, a Previn-plays-bossa-nova collection. There\u2019s three Jobim&nbsp;compositions&nbsp;here, plus the Bonf\u00e1-Maria \u201cManh\u00e3 de Carnaval,\u201d and listening to Previn try and fit his style to those songs\u2019 inimitable nonchalance is one of the record\u2019s more interesting side plots. It\u2019s not&nbsp;so&nbsp;successful&nbsp;a marriage, but given,&nbsp;at this point,&nbsp;how&nbsp;infrequently&nbsp;Previn took his jazz out of a&nbsp;few&nbsp;comfort zones, there\u2019s a certain&nbsp;fascination&nbsp;in listening to him attempt the connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Previn\u2019s occasional interest in the harpsichord reached its peak around this time. The year before, he had made trenchant use of it in his appropriately lurid score to Paul Heinreid\u2019s immoderate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=B7dzHrUNhgo\">Bette-Davis-plays-twins horror film&nbsp;<em>Dead Ringer<\/em><\/a>.)<\/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 Plays Music of the Young Hollywood Composers&nbsp;<\/strong><\/em>(RCA Victor, 1965)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his liner notes to this album, his first upon returning to RCA Victor, Previn apologizes to the \u201cdozens\u201d of colleagues whose music did not fit the stated requirements of this album: the music had to be recent, and it couldn\u2019t be \u201ctoo symphonic in concept to fit into this particular niche.\u201d That Previn is thinking about his easy-listening albums&nbsp;<em>as<\/em>&nbsp;a niche product is a change, I think, from his earlier&nbsp;piano-and-orchestra&nbsp;albums, which seemed to be more devoted to making the most idiomatic use of the given instrumentation than trying to fit it into a market category.&nbsp;That said, the arrangements, shared between Previn and John Williams, and Previn\u2019s ear for quality material elevate this one above the average.&nbsp;One gets the feeling that Previn, with one foot out the door of the movie business, really wanted to make this album as both a parting gift&nbsp;to his friends&nbsp;and,&nbsp;maybe,&nbsp;as&nbsp;a justification&nbsp;to their bosses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The treatment of some of the more familiar music is less than apposite: the liberties taken with Henry Mancini\u2019s then-new&nbsp;<em>Pink Panther<\/em>&nbsp;theme are interesting but unnecessary, and Elmer Bernstein\u2019s guileless music from&nbsp;<em>To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em> does not translate&nbsp;well&nbsp;into the sophisticated ambiance at all.&nbsp;But there\u2019s some real gems. Johnny Mandel\u2019s music from&nbsp;<em>The Americanization of Emily<\/em>&nbsp;gets some crystalline Previn piano and a suave Dick Nash trombone solo. Previn\u2019s slinky solo in and around Michel Legrand\u2019s \u201cI Will Wait for You\u201d (from&nbsp;<em>The Umbrellas of Cherbourg<\/em>) is a fair distance from his jazz playing, but still effective. No fewer than four Previn originals turn up, though, to be fair, \u201cA Happy Song\u201d was cut from Robert Mulligan\u2019s underbelly-of-Hollywood melodrama&nbsp;<em>Inside Daisy Clover<\/em>, and that film\u2019s \u201cYou\u2019re Gonna Hear From Me\u201d (given a reading of equable luxury) would go on to be probably the Previns\u2019 most-recorded song. Williams gets to resurrect \u201cTuesday\u2019s Theme\u201d from&nbsp;<em>Bachelor Flat<\/em>\u2019s cutting-room floor, and his \u201cA Million Bucks\u201d (from the TV show&nbsp;<em>Checkmate<\/em>) is the album\u2019s jazziest highlight.<\/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 Million Bucks\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SQvLb72zL_M?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\">This was Williams and Previn\u2019s last pop collaboration, though they would continue to work together,&nbsp;most notably tag-teaming the music for the 1967 film version of<em>&nbsp;Valley of the Dolls<\/em>, Williams providing the score, the Previns providing songs.&nbsp;(And Dory Previn would continue to provide lyrics for some of Williams\u2019 songwriting efforts.) Outside of film, Previn conducted the&nbsp;Houston Symphony in the&nbsp;premieres,&nbsp;in 1965 and 1968,&nbsp;of Williams\u2019 \u201cEssay for Strings\u201d as well as his&nbsp;often-revised but never-recorded Symphony no. 1.&nbsp;(They would also be united by the ruthless vagaries of the film business: the Previns\u2019 songs for the 1969 musical version of&nbsp;<em>Goodbye Mr. Chips&nbsp;<\/em>were rejected by the studio and replaced with a score by Williams and lyricist Leslie Bricusse.)<\/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 Fortune Cookie<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(dir. Billy Wilder; United Artists, 1966)&nbsp;(recorded June, July 1966)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was&nbsp;Previn\u2019s last&nbsp;all-original film score&nbsp;(though he would do arrangements for a handful more). Billy Wilder\u2019s comedy, like so many of his films, swings from sweet to breathtakingly cynical, so Previn gets to run the gamut, too. Part of the brief is&nbsp;some&nbsp;aggressive&nbsp;oomph for the antagonists: \u201cThe Bad Guys,\u201d as it\u2019s called on the soundtrack album, is one of Previn\u2019s&nbsp;slinkiest&nbsp;jazz&nbsp;charts, all&nbsp;dry-powder, big-band&nbsp;swank and sneer,&nbsp;with Gerry Mulligan making stylish work of the strangely Prokofiev-like melody.<\/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=\"Andre Previn - The Fortune Cookie themes\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xQC6gSc6pi0?start=203&#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\">A&nbsp;redo of&nbsp;<em>Two For the Seesaw<\/em>\u2019s \u201cSecond Chance\u201d&nbsp;translates its swoon&nbsp;into a wash of&nbsp;fleecy&nbsp;saxophones (playing in the background of a barroom brawl).&nbsp;There\u2019s also&nbsp;a rendition of Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cWhat Is This Thing Called Love?\u201d sung by actress Judi West. In the film, it\u2019s&nbsp;played, and explained, as a record of an audition for a jazz group.&nbsp;Previn\u2019s arrangement is an intricate and lithe stretch of West Coast cool. As in&nbsp;<em>All in a Night\u2019s Work<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Two For the Seesaw<\/em>, Previn seizes on the excuse for a bit of diegetic, in-story jazz, and lavishes more attention and skill on it than it needs\u2014a sign, maybe, of where his enthusiasm lay.<\/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>Previn with Voices<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(RCA Victor, 1966)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previn wrote the liner notes for this album, too. They\u2019re breezy and pleasant, as usual, but, read between the lines, and he\u2019s starting to sound a little passive-aggressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote blockquotecustom is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>It is always fun to sit in the offices of Joe Reisman, the RCA Victor record producer, and discuss various ideas for forthcoming albums\u2026. We went through just such a session prior to the making of this album. I think I recall that the suggestions for the day included \u201cGreat Songs from Horrible Shows,\u201d and \u201cThe Andr\u00e9 Previn Trio Swings the Shirley Temple Song Book,\u201d and for weird reasons no one was enthusiastic\u2026.I had made enough arrangements for piano and string orchestra to fill my librarian with dread at the prospect of filing away even one more, and suddenly the idea of a piano album accompanied by just voices took shape.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The choral arrangements (augmented by string bass, the lightest of drums, and a harp) were by Wayne Robinson, a veteran who had worked alongside David Rose at NBC; Robinson and Reisman also teamed up on some television assignments in the 60s.&nbsp;In general, the slower the music gets on this album, the better; the choir is, partially by necessity and partially by arrangement, very rhythmically square, but when there\u2019s room for Previn navigate inside the beat, you can hear the possible virtues of the whole piano-and-choir idea.<\/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=\"Embraceable You ((From the Broadway Show &quot;Girl Crazy&quot;))\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bxLgAQIg1hI?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\">Two selections deserve particular mention. A chaste, mock-classical version of \u201cMichelle\u201d marks the only time Previn ever essayed a Beatles song. And&nbsp;this is&nbsp;also the first appearance of \u201cIt\u2019s Good to Have You Near Again,\u201d one of the Previns\u2019 most beguiling songs. The&nbsp;version&nbsp;here&nbsp;is a little bland. Luckily, another singer would soon record it.<\/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\">Leontyne Price and Andr\u00e9 Previn:&nbsp;<em><strong>Right as the Rain<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(RCA Victor, 1967) (recorded March-April 1967)<\/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=\"It&#039;s Good To Have You Near Again\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XNeK724SDwA?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\">Reviewing this record for&nbsp;<em>High Fidelity<\/em>, Morgan Ames erroneously attributed \u201cIt\u2019s Good to Have You Near Again\u201d to Rodgers and Hart. Previn couldn\u2019t have been more pleased to send the correction: \u201cWhat a marvelous case of mistaken identity!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For&nbsp;much&nbsp;of the title track, Price seems to signal an Eileen Farrell-ish approach, low in her range,&nbsp;a little stentorian, a little too rich for the context. But then she starts singing like, well, Leontyne Price, yards and yards of organza&nbsp;unspooling from the bolt, and this album turns sublime. The songs are familiar Previn favorites\u2014he\u2019s done \u201cNobody\u2019s Heart,\u201d \u201cA Sleepin\u2019 Bee,\u201d and \u201cThey Didn\u2019t Believe Me\u201d several times before.&nbsp;(There\u2019s&nbsp;even&nbsp;a momentary modulation-reharmonization in \u201cLove Walked In\u201d that\u2019s almost identical to the version on&nbsp;<em>Andr\u00e9 Previn Plays Gershwin<\/em>&nbsp;from back in 1955.)&nbsp;It all&nbsp;sounds fresh, though. Previn\u2019s imagination is in high gear.&nbsp;The orchestral selections include&nbsp;an intriguingly Britten-esque&nbsp;accompaniment&nbsp;for&nbsp;\u201cIt Never Entered My Mind\u201d and a&nbsp;pointedly&nbsp;(Richard)&nbsp;Straussian&nbsp;take on \u201cFalling In Love Again\u201d that feels like nothing so much as a couple of exceptionally bright students pulling faces&nbsp;behind&nbsp;the teacher\u2019s back.&nbsp;The jazz numbers, with Previn in a trio with Ray Brown and Shelly Manne, are more straightforward, but full of exquisite moments.&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=\"My Melancholy Baby\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HOZwgWt7KZQ?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\u2019s ability to mediate between the pop and jazz genres and a classical vocal sound will feature prominently in his later jazz revival.<\/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 Alone&nbsp;<\/strong><\/em>(RCA Victor, 1967)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Previn was quoted in Leonard Feather\u2019s liner notes:&nbsp;\u201cThe idea came about by a process of elimination.\u201d In more ways than one.&nbsp;<em>All Alone&nbsp;<\/em>closed out Previn\u2019s first quarter-century career as an active jazz musician.&nbsp;It also was recorded against a backdrop of thoroughgoing change. Previn had slowed his&nbsp;film work to a trickle. His attention was almost fully occupied by classical music: in 1967, he became music director of the Houston Symphony, and&nbsp;he was about to&nbsp;become principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. At the same time, his marriage to Dory Previn,&nbsp;the deepest personal and professional relationship of his life&nbsp;thus far,&nbsp;was cracking under the strains of his absences and wandering eye and her mental difficulties.&nbsp;(They would separate the following year.)&nbsp;The former factors may account for Previn\u2019s return to the solo-piano format,&nbsp;which he found more undemanding than most;&nbsp;Previn, at this point, probably could roll out of bed and record an&nbsp;album\u2019s worth of release-ready&nbsp;piano instrumentals&nbsp;before his morning coffee.&nbsp;But I wonder if it was the latter stress that explains this album\u2019s unremitting, unsettled melancholy. The song list is all wistful standards, with nary an up-tempo showpiece to be found. Previn\u2019s usual tricks are all here\u2014the polytonalities, the sideways modulations, the transposition of upper harmonics into the meat of the voice-leading. (The <em>ad aspera per astra <\/em>arpeggios hung onto \u201cEverything Happens to Me,\u201d for instance, can be traced to the introduction to \u201cI Can&#8217;t Get Started\u201d on Previn&#8217;s 1958 Vernon Duke album, and from there back to Previn\u2019s bottle-rocket break on that 1955 \u201cSlow Boat to China\u201d recording.) But now the whole apparatus seems to be in service of bringing out every bit of ache the material will surrender.<\/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=\"Everything Happens to Me\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QzQxJkQyV0Y?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\">This is barely jazz, but it\u2019s not really easy-listening, either, and if it\u2019s mood music, the mood is pretty rueful. It\u2019s a weirdly appropriate farewell to this phase of his career; you can almost hear Previn look around an empty room, close the piano lid, and turn out the lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/interlude-on-authenticity\/\">\u2190&nbsp;<em>Previous: Interlude: On Authenticity<\/em><\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/interlude-on-improvisation-musical-and-otherwise\/\"><em>Next: Interlude: On Improvisation<\/em>&nbsp;\u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eyeing the exit. Sound Stage!&nbsp;(Columbia, 1964)&nbsp;(recorded April 1963) For their follow-up to&nbsp;Andr\u00e9 Previn in Hollywood, Previn and John Williams exchanged the orchestra for a big band and silk for steel. Their goal seems to have been to make an album where everything&nbsp;is as punchy as possible; even the supposed contrasts\u2014an easy-swinging \u201cWhen You Wish upon &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1963-67\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;1963-67&#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-178","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/178","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=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/178\/revisions\/571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}