Great American Songbook

One could make a reasonable case for choice of repertoire as one of the most difficult decisions facing jazz vocalists of the new century. The first option for most is the standard catalog-the so-called Great American Songbook that has been part of the soundtrack of American life for more than half a century, embracing the music of, among others, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, Irving Berlin and the Gershwins.

Mary Cleere Haran, a singer, actress and writer whose performances and recordings brought new perspectives to classic American popular songs, died Saturday in Deerfield Beach, Fla. She was 58. The Broward County coroner's office confirmed that she died of injuries suffered two days earlier when she was struck by a car while riding a bicycle. From the time she made her debut in New York's cabaret scene at the Ballroom in 1988, Haran quickly established herself as one of the sophisticated musical genre's most uniquely appealing stars.

Connoisseurs of that repository known as the Great American Songbook often point to Frank Loesser as one of its most versatile contributors. First lyricist, then both composer and lyricist, Loesser wrote more than 700 songs, working at various points in his life for Tin Pan Alley, Hollywood and Broadway. His songs are always around -- anytime you hear someone banging out "Heart and Soul" on the keyboard, you have Loesser to thank for the words he set to Hoagy Carmichael's music.

You got the feeling Wednesday night that Natalie Cole couldn't have been happier to be pulling in to the Hollywood Bowl nearly two months late for her gig. "I never thought I'd be standing here healthy, whole and 100% again," the 59-year-old singer told the cheering crowd. Cole had been slated to perform July 15 but was forced to reschedule following a kidney transplant in May. Her recovery -- guest gospel singer Kurt Carr called her "a walking miracle" when his 10-member choir joined her near the show's end -- made for a warmly emotional backdrop to a performance dominated by music drawn from the Great American Songbook.

It may sound like a dream sequence out of "Night Court," but it's true: Bob Dylan really did show up one day late last year on the doorstep of another musical legend--Mel Torme. The reason for this meeting of musicians from two distinctly different worlds? Dylan was there to discuss his purchase of the film rights to Torme's latest book, "Traps, the Drum Wonder," a biography of the jazz singer and arranger's longtime friend, Buddy Rich.

"Radio Deluxe With John Pizzarelli," the cabaret-like show that pays tribute to the Great American Songbook, is returning to KKJZ-FM (88.1). The syndicated series, in which jazz musician Pizzarelli and his wife, singer Jessica Molaskey, play host to guests such as Tony Bennett, Diana Krall and Peter Cincotti, was dropped from the KKJZ lineup last fall "because we wanted to offer more locally programmed, straight-ahead jazz on Saturdays and we did...

If you think Mel Torme's appearance with Maureen McGovern entitled "The Great American Songbook" is just another trip down Tin Pan Alley, think again. "We didn't want to do just another wonderful nostalgia show," the singer, arranger and author said last week in a phone interview from his home in Beverly Hills. "That would really bore me." Instead, says the 66-year-old vocalist, the program will embrace the entire spectrum, past to near-present, of the American pop tune.

Willie Nelson's famous face is tanned and weathered. White whiskers increasingly dominate his two-day stubble, and streaks of gray color the waist-length braid trailing down his back. The country music legend is sitting on a bench seat inside a tour bus parked behind the bullpen at Diamond Stadium in Lake Elsinore, waiting to take the stage at this, one stop on a summer tour of minor-league baseball parks with Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp. He displays a youthful vitality that many younger men would envy.

Everybody loves the Great American Songbook. How could they not? All those marvelous lyrics, simmering with inner rhymes and double-entendres, all the soaring melodies, rich harmonies and pulsing rhythms. Few performers understand the full extent of that treasure musical trove as well as the husband-wife team of singer Karen Benjamin and pianist Alan Chapman.

Willie Nelson's famous face is tanned and weathered. White whiskers increasingly dominate his two-day stubble, and streaks of gray color the waist-length braid trailing down his back. The country music legend is sitting on a bench seat inside a tour bus parked behind the bullpen at Diamond Stadium in Lake Elsinore, waiting to take the stage at this, one stop on a summer tour of minor-league baseball parks with Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp. He displays a youthful vitality that many younger men would envy.

Producers of a new stage musical set to the original vocals of Frank Sinatra said "Come Fly With Me" will run from Sept. 23 through Oct. 11 at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta and then will tour nationally next year. Directed by Tony-winning choreographer Twyla Tharp, "Come Fly With Me" will feature original recorded masters of Sinatra's voice accompanied by a 17-piece onstage band. The music will comprise Sinatra staples and songs from the Great American Songbook, among them "Let's Fall in Love," "Witchcraft," "Summer Wind," "Body and Soul," "That's Life," "Nice 'n' Easy" and, of course, "My Way."

NEW YORK -- Put down that martini and whip out your notebook: Cabaret singer Andrea Marcovicci has just taken the stage and there might be a pop quiz on the Great American Songbook. "How many of you here know where the song 'As Time Goes By' originally comes from?" she'll ask an unwary audience, as hands shoot up. "Wrong! It's not from 'Casablanca.' It's from 'Everybody's Welcome,' a 1931 Broadway show you've never heard of!" And how about the plot thread linking virtually every movie that Fred Astaire made?

The choice of "American Jazz Songbook" as the title for Wednesday's concert at the Hollywood Bowl with John Pizzarelli, Kurt Elling, Bill Henderson, Annie Ross and Tierney Sutton was right on target. That extraordinary collection of material written by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart et al and known as the Great American Songbook has always had an intimate relationship with jazz.

Everybody loves the Great American Songbook. How could they not? All those marvelous lyrics, simmering with inner rhymes and double-entendres, all the soaring melodies, rich harmonies and pulsing rhythms. Few performers understand the full extent of that treasure musical trove as well as the husband-wife team of singer Karen Benjamin and pianist Alan Chapman.

Connoisseurs of that repository known as the Great American Songbook often point to Frank Loesser as one of its most versatile contributors. First lyricist, then both composer and lyricist, Loesser wrote more than 700 songs, working at various points in his life for Tin Pan Alley, Hollywood and Broadway. His songs are always around -- anytime you hear someone banging out "Heart and Soul" on the keyboard, you have Loesser to thank for the words he set to Hoagy Carmichael's music.

The choice of "American Jazz Songbook" as the title for Wednesday's concert at the Hollywood Bowl with John Pizzarelli, Kurt Elling, Bill Henderson, Annie Ross and Tierney Sutton was right on target. That extraordinary collection of material written by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart et al and known as the Great American Songbook has always had an intimate relationship with jazz.

Congratulations must be pouring into record executive Clive Davis' office after two of "his" albums entered the Top 5 of the national sales chart Wednesday: Santana's "Shaman" and Rod Stewart's "It Had to Be You ... The Great American Songbook." As head of Arista Records in 1999, Davis helped Carlos Santana orchestrate the smash album "Supernatural." Davis has since moved on to form J Records, but he still worked as co-producer on the new album, which entered the chart at No.