In memoriam: Clark Terry

Late Saturday evening, word came out that Clark Terry - great jazz musician and educator - passed away. His wife Gwen, who has been keeping the jazz world informed of CT's health for quite a while now, posted a note on Facebook, and word - and tributes - disseminated rapidly.

I wrote about CT last month, after I finished his memoirs. I don't have much more to add to it, other than this is a devastating loss to the jazz and education communities. One we knew was coming, to be sure, but still a loss.

““After that surgery in ‘91, I understood why it was imperative that I should encourage my students. When I was teaching them what I knew as far as playing the music was concerned, it was really about establishing relationships. Of course, it was extremely important to me that they would perpetuate jazz far and wide, but it was mostly about spending time together and listening to what their dreams were. To me, jazz was love. And like the old saying goes, ‘It’s better to give than to receive.’ It worked out well for them and it felt great to me, thinking that I could contribute something to make their dreams come true.””

— Clark Terry, “Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry” p240 (2011)

I never met CT, but his spirit was infectious. I can think of no better way to remember him than by listening to two of his most high-spirited recordings: "Brotherhood of Man," with the Oscar Peterson Trio, and, of course, "Mumbles," from the same album.

Rest in Peace, CT. You brought the world great joy and innumerable knowledge. You live on in your countless recordings and the thousands of people you taught and played with, and who continue to spread the gospel of jazz.

New Bacharach arrangement

I recently wrote an arrangement of Burt Bacharach & Hal David's "A House Is Not A Home," to be performed by Steven Cuevas at Broadway Barkada's annual So This Is Love Valentine's Day concert. I can't remember exactly how we decided that he should sing this song or that I should arrange it; I think it was one of those things where we were talking about it enough that it just became assumed that I would write this song for him.

As is my usual m.o., I procrastinated a lot and didn't finish the song until 2 days before the performance. (In my defense, it was a difficult song for me to get my head and ears around, so it took longer than usual. And I was being lazy.) Between the lateness of this song and all of the other work that Steven was doing as the music director/pianist/arranger for that evening's concert, we decided that I should play piano for him. (Thus marking - can you believe it - the first time I played piano publicly in New York City.)

Below is an excerpt of Steven & I performing the song last week, at the Cutting Room in NYC. We are planning on making a new recording in the very near future, which I will also post here.

I've long felt that this is one of the weirdest - but also prettiest and most heartfelt - of Bacharach's popular songs. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do something different from the other versions out there: Dionne Warwick, Barbra Streisand, Glee ... My arrangement ended up being influenced by Lawrence Hobgood's arrangement on Kurt Elling's 1619 Broadway album. My version, though, should be treated more like a lied and less as an opportunity for improvisation or riffing. I usually allow for some liberties in my pop arrangements. That's the style, and the singer and rhythm section should have that flexibility. Here, though, I want things performed as they are. I took care to get the exact rhythms and pitches (and yes - I know they differ from the original melody.) As I mentioned above, the song was tricky for me to figure out. The phrasing is uneven - more than usual as far as Bacharach is concerned - and the melody is odd. The harmonic structure itself isn't that different or difficult, but I wanted to make sure the chord's extensions and substitutions throughout were just right.

The arrangement is available to download. It gets a little high towards the end, after the key change. If you want, I would gladly transpose the song for you. As always, I would enjoy hearing from you if you perform this at some point.

January 2015 in review

Books read (5):

• Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky
• The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
• A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka by Lev Golinkin
• Clark: The Autobiography of Clark Terry by Clark Terry with Gwen Terry
• The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances by The Oatmeal (Matthew Inman)

Live performances (6):

• Penultimate performance of Here Lies Love (1/3/15)
• Closing performance of Once (1/4/15)
• Ghost Quartet at the McKittrick (1/5/15)
• Stephen Hough (Dvorak Concerto) and the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall (1/15/15)
• The Last Ship (1/22/15)
• Performances at KCACTF Region 1, incl. Godspell and Maltby Award prelims and finals (1/27-1/31/15)

Movies (7):

• The Neighbors (1/1/15)
• The Imitation Game (1/9/15)
• Boyhood (1/12/15)
• Pride (1/14/15)
• Gone Girl (1/16/15)
• Whiplash (1/17/15)
• Birdman (1/23/15)

Other miscellany:

• Copy work/engraving/music preparation for reading of new musical I Am, I Will, I Do
• Started & finished season one of Mozart in the Jungle
• Started getting into Empire on Fox
• Much needed updates to website

Sondheim's "Loving You" for a cappella choir

I was asked to arrange "Loving You" in early 2014, for inclusion at the First Annual Sondheimas celebration on March 22d. David Levy was organizing a birthday celebration for Stephen Sondheim to be held at Broadway’s supper club, 54 Below. Without much thought, I said yes. I mean - David is a good friend, I’d have the opportunity for an arrangement of mine to be performed at 54 Below, and the timing worked out perfectly that I would be able to attend on my spring break visit.

And then I promptly forgot about it.

Until around the middle of February, that is, when David checked in on my progress. I smiled, said it was coming along, and then I started working on this arrangement. "Loving You" is such a simple song that I knew immediately my arrangement wouldn’t be flashy. It was not my intent to add much that wasn’t already written by Sondheim; I wanted it to be almost understated, to let the words and their meaning, the harmonies, the melody, be at the forefront.

I toyed with the idea of including a cello and a piano part, but I liked the sound and intimacy of a small a cappella choir instead. Part of me wants to write a cello part, but I haven’t had the drive. I like the sound of this as it is.

Sometime during this process I asked David how he was planning on ending the Sondheimas celebration. I was wondering if he was going to use “Sunday,” which is cliché but also a great ending. His reply: “No! We’re ending with your arrangement!” That meant, of course, I’d have to sit through the entire presentation on edge, waiting to hear a fine choir assembled for this occasion sing my arrangement.

Later in the spring, I asked my quite large class of musical theatre students if they would be willing to learn and perform this at our cabaret that we always do at the end of the semester. They did a great job with it, and we barely had any rehearsal time! It was exciting to hear the song again, and to be able to conduct it this time.

I’ve uploaded the PDF to my Arrangements page. It’s available there as a free download. I would enjoy hearing from you if you perform the piece. It needs, at minimum, 8 singers (2 per part), but as you can see in the video above, a larger choir is possible. The piano part is included to help during rehearsals; it can be utilized during a performance if necessary, but I prefer it sung a cappella. And watch out for that key change! It can be a little tricky.

Thank you to David, Jose, Steven, and several others as listed on the PDF for their support and help with this arrangement.

December Reading List

The holidays, the last month of Grinch tour, and two full days at Disneyland wore me out in December, and I didn't get as much reading done or as much writing done. So, without any type of review or write-up, here are the books I read last month:

• A Contract with God by Will Eisner
• Spokane Shorties by various authors
• Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
• A Cricket in Times Square by George Selden