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Stardust Melodies, by Will Friedwald
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In Stardust Melodies, Will Friedwald takes each of these legendary songs apart and puts it together again, with a staggering wealth of detail and unprecedented understanding.
Each chapter gives us an extended history of one song—the circumstances under which it was written and first performed—and then explores its musical and lyric content. Drawing on his vast knowledge of records and the careers of performing artists, Friedwald tells us who was responsible for making these songs famous and discusses in depth the performers who have left their unique marks on them. He writes about variations in performance style, about both classic and obscure versions of the songs, about brilliantly original interpretations and ghastly travesties. And then there’s the completely unexpected, like Stan Freberg’s politically correct “Elderly Man River.”
This is a book for all lovers of American song to explore, argue with, and savor.
- Sales Rank: #1020142 in Books
- Published on: 2002-04-23
- Released on: 2002-04-23
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.52" h x 1.29" w x 6.46" l, 1.60 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 416 pages
From Publishers Weekly
"The American Popular Song is like a car full of clowns at the circus: from the outside it looks small and unassuming, yet you can't believe how much is contained inside," notes Friedwald in his introduction and, indeed, Tin Pan Alley and its environs have produced masterpieces that survive well beyond their time and context. While every reader will have their own list what better dinner conversation game? this dozen (chosen in conjunction with Friedwald's editor, Bob Gottlieb) should contain at least half of everyone's choices. But this is not a trivia book, and the joy of these short essays ruminative, but also filled with fascinating historical and social details - is in their intelligence and their always evident love of the music itself. Friedwald (Sinatra!; The Good Life, with Tony Bennett) can surprise, as when he lists similarities between Kurt Weill and No‰l Coward (in his discussion of "Mack the Knife") or unearths the connections between Show Boat (which features "Old Man River") and British humorist P.G. Wodehouse. But he is at his best elucidating how a particular song works its magic. His history of Johnny Green's 1930 classic "Body and Soul" introduced by Gertrude Lawrence, made famous by the notorious Libby Holman and become a jazz standard when performed by Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker and Oscar Peterson is incisive, with illuminating details (he describes Tony Bennett's hand motions while singing). Friedwald performs similar feats with the other songs, including "As Time Goes By" (in which he praises Tiny Tim's late 1960s rendition), "The Saint Louis Blues," "I Got Rhythm" and "My Funny Valentine." In the end, the book is an important contribution not only to American musicology but also to the literature on popular culture.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The author of Jazz Singing gives an account of jazz songs, including "Summertime" and "Mack the Knife."
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Inside Flap
In Stardust Melodies, Will Friedwald takes each of these legendary songs apart and puts it together again, with a staggering wealth of detail and unprecedented understanding.
Each chapter gives us an extended history of one song—the circumstances under which it was written and first performed—and then explores its musical and lyric content. Drawing on his vast knowledge of records and the careers of performing artists, Friedwald tells us who was responsible for making these songs famous and discusses in depth the performers who have left their unique marks on them. He writes about variations in performance style, about both classic and obscure versions of the songs, about brilliantly original interpretations and ghastly travesties. And then there's the completely unexpected, like Stan Freberg's politically correct "Elderly Man River."
This is a book for all lovers of American song to explore, argue with, and savor.
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
More Fine Work From Friedwald
By Scrappy Lambert
If you're an aficionado of the Great American Songbook, this is a must-buy. If you've read Friedwald's "The Song is You," you should already have this fine follow-up.
"Stardust Melodies" covers the origins and musical structure of some well-chosen standards. On the latter score, don't be intimidated if you don't read music; the analyses cover only a few pages and, frankly, it would be educational to read them while listening to the songs themselves.
Major recordings of the songs are then analyzed in the knowledgeable but witty and accessible style that endears Friedwald to his readers, and no one who has read any of his previous books will be disappointed. Perfect? No: the lack of discographies is a particularly glaring lapse, as noted by several reviewers. And, as others have also noted, Friedwald does have a blind spot when it comes to many more contemporary artists, but at least he wears his prejudices on his sleeve - he bluntly states, for instance, that he refuses to even listen to Johnnie Ray's recording of "As Time Goes By" (which happens to be excellent and, for Ray, quite restrained - WF might even like it!). This doesn't help his overall credibility with some readers, but for others Will's dislikes are part of the fun in reading him.
And that's the bottom line: this is a fun and informative book, not dry, stuffy or academic, reflecting the depth, variety and vitality of American pop. As the man said, Who could ask for anything more?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Insightful, but not for all readers
By Jon Warshawsky
Stardust Melodies may be a godsend for musicologists, composers and musicians, but if you are a casual fan of jazz or swing this book may be overload. While Friedwald's other works, such as his biography of Sinatra's musical career, are accessible to a wide audience, the author's considerable expertise results in Stardust Melodies being very analytical and for many readers it may amount to a lot of trivia. That said -- I devoured the book and think it is superb in both concept and nearly as good in execution. Sure, everyone has a different list of songs, but I can't argue with Friedwald's selections.
What's missing? By all means, include a CD sampler of some of the older, obscure versions of the songs. While it would obviously be out of the question to reproduce the Sinatra and Fitzgerald tracks (for example), I'm sure that half of a surviving aircheck from Bing Crosby in the 1930s would be no problem and I would bet that almost none of the readers have heard it. Reading about music is sometimes difficult.
However, the historical information (for example, about the evolving lyrics of Ol' Man River, or the obscure origins of Mack the Knife) is treasurable and compensates for the frustration noted above. Opinion is inevitable in a work such as this, but Friedwald's is an educated opinion, and it adds flavor to the text.
Recommended, but not for casual listeners. You really must own at least a basic library of jazz standards before Stardust Melodies will be much of a revelation.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Hits and Misses
By Giuseppe C.
Will Friedwald probably deserves a medal for taking on this project, a 400-page analysis and performance history of twelve oft-recorded American lullabyes. Even some of us who swear by the Great American Songbook might opt for "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" if the alternative is listening to several hundred different versions of "Stardust" (as lovely as it is). Granted, a song biography has more going for it than, say, a performance history of Shakespeare's most popular plays, but still it's not exactly a compelling page turner.
Friedwald writes with hipness, esprit and engaging good humor, and he delivers provocative opinions, fascinating information, and a wealth of trivia. But the price of admission may be judged a bit excessive by some readers, mainly because the book contains no index, lists, or even discographies that would insure its value as a reference tool.
Every reader will no doubt find much to quibble about with a book such as this (admittedly no small part of its appeal). Frankly, I'm surprised the author makes no mention of the 1947 Lionel Hampton All-Star Concert recording of "Stardust" (with extraordinary solos by Charlie Shavers and Slam Stewart along with Hamp's introduction of the "Pretty Baby" motif, which Friedwald attributes to a later recording). And although a Paul Desmond version is mentioned, the Brubeck Quartet performance on the indispensable "Jazz at Oberlin" album (which evokes without stating the melody) is not. Finally, I'm surprised the author appears to accept "C" (as does Zinsser in his book) as the current standard key for the song. Any real musician I've known has balked at lowering the tune down half a step from the traditional Db, and for good reason: such a simplification drastically alters the character and feel of the piece, making stardust little more than prosaic morning dust.
No doubt no reader will be completely satisfied with the song selections--including this one. How can you possibly leave out as durable, beautiful, ingenious a tune as "All the Things You Are," especially given its many permutations? Which is simply to say that some of us would have preferred shorter chapters, more songs, and an index.
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