How Do You Keep the Music Playing?

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
It's not just Susannah McCorkle's smoky sensuality that grabs a listener. It's her wit and literacy, her jazz sensibilities and constant inventiveness in interpreting America's great popular songs. All those strengths stood out on this 1985 LP, issued here on CD for the first time. She created flawless tension and atmosphere on "While the City Sleeps" from the musical Golden Boy. By slowing "There's No Business Like Show Business" to a more contemplative tempo, she gained the space to plumb the underlying--and seldom explored--melancholy of Irving Berlin's lyrics. Similarly, she confers a level of majesty and humanity on Jim Webb's country-pop standard "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" that Glen Campbell's 1967 hit version can't match. Defining a song on both its terms and her own is one of her consistent strengths, be it "Where or When" or Dave Frishberg's sarcastic, satirical "Blizzard of Lies." "Outra Vez" reveals the mastery of Brazilian song she later explored in greater depth. Indeed, the entire album reveals McCorkle's talents fully formed, a harbinger of the excellence that followed. --Rich Kienzle

Tracks:

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
Summer of 42
Never Say Never Again
How Do You Keep The Music Playing
The Thomas Crown Affair
What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?
Les Trois Mousquetaires
Wuthering Heights
Brian's Song
Dingo
Yentl
Le Messager - Variations 1-2-3-4-5-7

Customer Reviews:

A Beautiful Re-Creation of Over-Exposed Legrand Material.......2006-02-10

Michel Legrand is one the biggest artists of music entertainment, a sensitive composer and arranger.

Here you'll find a correct selection of Legrand's material with unnecessarily new arrangements though with an impeccable performance.

Many of the songs in the repertoire are still available in CDs you can find here @Amazon and the best Legrand is the original Legrand.

This album stands only for those who doesn't care about original takes and wishes just for a selection of the best Legrand.

"one of the greatest film composers of the 20th Century ~ Michel Legrand".......2005-10-26

Silva Screen has released a collection that will set you on your ear "The Essential Michel Legrand Film Music Collection"...Legrand's score sets the tone and mood you experience a sense of power and freedom, so exhilarating...Legrand's genius in composition and orchestration, puts the listener smack dab in the middle of each film he scores as it serves up a generous helping of heaven for all "film-score-buff" collectors

Michel Legrand was born in Paris on February 24th, 1932...attended the Paris Conservatory Progressing...worked in various jazz bands, later a staff arranger and composer...an orchestrator in the '50s...scored films in the early '60s with "THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG" (1964)..."THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR" (1968)..."THE GO-BETWEEN" (1970)..."SUMMER OF '42" (1971)..."THE THREE MUSKETEERS" (1973)...and three Oscars from the Academy Awards for "THE WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND" for best music and original song in 1969 , "SUMMER OF '42" for best original song and original dramatic score in 1972... "YENTL for best music and original song score in 1984...then in 2003 nominated for Broadway's Tony Awards for Best Original Music Score for the Musical "Amour", there's no letting up for this hard working composer.

The Flemish Radio Orchestra featuring conductor composer Michel Legrand on piano and harpsichord, Philippe Chayeb on bass, Thierry Chauvet on drums and Bruno Caviglia on guitar...all in all did a magnificent job in bringing the music of a composer who wrote for a multitude of films, receiving recognition from the industry and fans which is long over-due ~ his work is in constant demand.

This collection contains an overlay of each cue in Legrand's distinctive style of legendary scoring ~ the man who made this possible, a tremendous asset to every project he undertakes is Reynold da Silva [executive producer of the album] ~ symphonic suites with full orchestra fullfilling the "film-score-buffs" cravings for more of the same, just the way we like 'em!

Total Time: 77:55 ~ Silva America 1185 ~ (10/04/2005)

Average customer rating:

Michel Legrand
Sunlight on his fingertips
all the stars you've got
Maestro Legrand , at last !
For Jazz piano purest... Only!

Michel Legrand by Michel Legrand

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

Smooth Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Musical Theater | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Michel Plays Legrand
The Essential Michel Legrand Film Music Collection
I Love Paris
Summer of 42
Legrand Jazz

ASIN: B00005YW0W
Release Date: 2002-04-16

Tracks:

I Will Wait For You
The Windmills Of Your Mind
The Summer Knows
How Do You Keep The Music Playing?
Watch What Happens
What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?
His Eyes, Her Eyes
The Hands Of Time
Ordinary Man
Summer Me, Winter Me
You Must Believe In Spring
Once Upon A Summertime
L'Amour Fantome
Yentl Medley: Papa Can You Hear Me/The Way He Makes Me Feel/A Piece Of Sky

Amazon.com

If the American pop culture profile of French composer-jazz pianist Michel Legrand doesn't seem what it once was, don't be misled: his European indie film scores continue six decades on, now numbering nearly 200. But Legrand's most beloved work remains the lovely, evocative themes he created in the '60s and '70s, including "I Will Wait for You" from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Thomas Crown Affair's "Windmills of Your Mind," the theme from Summer of '42, and his work on Barbra Streisand's Yentl. This collection marks Legrand's first solo piano recordings, presenting those and other film score highlights in spontaneously improvised performances that offer a glimpse of Legrand's musical soul. If, as in "Windmills," his enthusiasm gets the best of him and he occasionally lapses into flights of melodramatic pianistic self-parody, there are more than enough sublime moments here to compensate, especially on lesser-known songs like Best Friends' "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?," "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" from The Happy Ending, and Brian's Song's "Hands of Time." --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

Michel Legrand.......2007-03-12

This is a great CD! Sound is awesome. I highly recommend it.

Sunlight on his fingertips.......2005-08-10

Sunlight on his fingertips

The very bright talent of Michele Legrand you can feel especially when Maestro is playing piano himself.

I heard some orchestra performance of Legrand before, that was good, but I was still thinking about him just like about pop music composer.

Now I think different - he is Genius!

all the stars you've got.......2005-01-29

Bill Evans once said that technique in jazz "is the ability to translate your ideas into sound through your instrument." If that's the case, Legrand possesses technique in spades.

Before commenting on this rewarding disc, a few words about Legrand himself:

Is there a better songwriter or a more versatile all-around musican alive today? I think you have to go back to people like Gershwin and Billy Strayhorn to find a rough parallel to Legrand's multifaceted, genre-crossing genius. A pupil of Nadia Boulanger (who studied with Faure and taught many important American composers, including Aaron Copland and Philip Glass), Legrand is an heir of the great French tradition of music--but one who has chosen to express himself through popular songs, film scores, and jazz. He possesses that rare combination of an absolutely rigorous theoretical knowledge of music and an intuitive, spontaneous instinct for both melody and improvisation. He combines exquisite refinement with a popular touch, a need to communicate directly with all who love music. To me, his work represents the most perfect expression of such typically French traits as lightness, insouciance, wit, melodic charm, and direct emotional expression since Poulenc.

Here you'll find many of Legrand's signature songs--"I Will Wait for You," "The Windmills of Your Mind," "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?," "The Hands of Time," "You Must Believe in Spring," etc.--reharmonized and enriched in stunningly beautiful solo recreations. Those unfamiliar with Legrand's pianistic abilities will probably be surprised by what they hear, for he's no part-time piano tickler. He can easily hold his own in the company of the best modern jazz pianists. He has a wonderfully refined touch that is incapable of making a harsh sound and a profusive sense of fantasy that keeps you constantly guessing as to where the music will go next. Yet you always feel satisfied when you find out, because Legrand possesses a composer's comprehension of harmony and form. And his own style is in no way compromised by an occasional nod here and there toward Bill Evans, Erroll Garner, Rachmaninoff, and so on. (Please: disregard the Amazon reviewer's remark about "flights of melodramatic pianistic self-parody." It's called a stride chorus, and it's just one example of Legrand's surprising way of recasting these songs--and of his encyclopedic command of jazz styles.)

This disc represents the essence of Legrand. It really should have been recorded a long time ago, but the fact that it has captured his undiminished abilities as he enters his twilight years lends it an added poignance--a sense of "just in time!"--that makes it all the sweeter. If you're already a Legrand fan, it should be a self-recommending treasure, and if you're a fan of great piano playing or of sophisticated jazz treatments of great songs, odds are you'll find this a very rewarding disc indeed. For me, the highlight is this version of "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" in which every note seems inevitable--not at all an easy thing to make happen in an improvisation.

Miles Davis once said of a Duke Ellington recording, "Give that one all the stars you've got." That's the way I feel about this disc, and I thought that phrase "all the stars you've got" was appropriate because it almost sounds like the title of a Legrand song.

Maestro Legrand , at last !.......2004-10-10

Legrand has recorded at last one of his more intimate renditions to himself with his most remarkable themes along his brilliant career .
From a summer of 42 , The windmills of your mind (The Thomas crown afair) , what are you doing the rest of your life or the romantic Umbrellas of Cherbourg ; all those unforgettable themes are played in this album for piano solo in the real intimacy between him and the listener .
Legrand is the golden master of soundtracks in France and one of the top in the world . He owns that inner vision to catch the spirit of every movie he accompains . He composes music as he was a real director movie . The psychological concerns , the romantic efluvies and the precise and lyrical atmosphere , with that touch of class, artistic elegance and sublime eloquency .
Think also in the important recordings with Miles Davis . That issue will give you the size of that artist and anothe point to remark . In 1954 , Legrand made a golden jewel : I lvoe Paris (See my review) that has become through the years in the most famous and the best album of instrumental music ever recorded .
What other background do you need to acquire this gem ?

For Jazz piano purest... Only!.......2002-09-07

I love the music of Michele Legrand! It is a rich mixture of
graceful tones and notes, that create memories of a certain
time and place in each of our own lives.
When accompaned with great orchestration Its wonderful. When done in a jazz piano style, its not as good. Not to take anyting away from the talents of Mr Legrand as a pianist. Its just that like hearing a lusher, grander version of his music. So if you like jazz piano music, and Michele Legrand.
Then this is the cd for you!

Average customer rating:

Susannah McCorkle, "How Do You Keep The Music Playing"
The first Susannah album I bought
The music will play on
Sweet and charming

How Do You Keep the Music Playing?
Susannah McCorkle
Manufacturer: Jazz Alliance
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Traditional Jazz General | Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music

Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Dream
The Songs of Johnny Mercer
I'll Take Romance
No More Blues
Easy to Love: The Songs of Cole Porter

ASIN: B00004NRW8
Release Date: 2000-02-22

Tracks:

While The City Sleeps
How Do You Keep The Music Playing?
A Fine Romance
There's No Business Like Show Business
Blizzard Of Lies
By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Where Or When
Ain't Safe To Go Nowhere
Cheek To Cheek
Poor Butterfly
Slap That Bass
Outra Vez

Amazon.com

It's not just Susannah McCorkle's smoky sensuality that grabs a listener. It's her wit and literacy, her jazz sensibilities and constant inventiveness in interpreting America's great popular songs. All those strengths stood out on this 1985 LP, issued here on CD for the first time. She created flawless tension and atmosphere on "While the City Sleeps" from the musical Golden Boy. By slowing "There's No Business Like Show Business" to a more contemplative tempo, she gained the space to plumb the underlying--and seldom explored--melancholy of Irving Berlin's lyrics. Similarly, she confers a level of majesty and humanity on Jim Webb's country-pop standard "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" that Glen Campbell's 1967 hit version can't match. Defining a song on both its terms and her own is one of her consistent strengths, be it "Where or When" or Dave Frishberg's sarcastic, satirical "Blizzard of Lies." "Outra Vez" reveals the mastery of Brazilian song she later explored in greater depth. Indeed, the entire album reveals McCorkle's talents fully formed, a harbinger of the excellence that followed. --Rich Kienzle

Customer Reviews:

Susannah McCorkle, "How Do You Keep The Music Playing".......2006-02-24

Exquisite Jazz Voacalization! That is for starters. She is so reminisicent of the great female vocalist of late 1950s and early 1960s. Her phrasing leaves nothing to be desired and the instrumentalist backing her singing are very adept and easy on the ear. Put all this together on a Bose or any other fine sound system and you are in for a wonderful musical experience. Best dollars spent in a long long time and I know as I am 74 years of age.

The first Susannah album I bought.......2003-04-08

I bought this originally because I wanted her cover of Glen Campbell's hit By the time I get to Phoenix, which is quite different to the original. I enjoy both versions in their different ways. Two Irving Berlin classics, There's no business like show business and Cheek to cheek, are also given new interpretations by Susannah.

There are other classic songs from the Great American Songbook here too. They don't all get re-interpreted - Susannah's version of A fine romance is more or less standard, but maybe she realised that there was no way to improve on the original arrangement.

It took a while for this album to grow on me, because Susannah has a style all her own, but I eventually realised just how talented she was and bought all her original albums. Susannah is not the kind of singer to sell in huge quantities, but she carved her own niche and her music has given me enormous pleasure.

The music will play on.......2001-10-02

Due to her tragic death, Susannah's music was stilled but has not stopped. Through her CDs, she manages to keep the music playing for us.

Susannah's interpretations of songs continue to impress me. The highlight on this one is "There's No Business Like Show Business". But it is a far cry from the Ethel Merman version. Whereas that one was a celebration and joy of show business, Susannah's version is a sad, depressing rendition which shows the pain and heartbreak of show business, such as which she might have experienced.

Susannah also shows her ability to give a new read to "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", and gives it a more winsome spin than does Glenn Campbell. The title track "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" is a question that we might have asked Susannah. Perhaps she is talking directly to us. The CD also has the usual effort from Dave Frishberg, "Blizzard of Lies". "Ain't Safe to Go Nowhere" is a something we are all thinking today and Susannah's smokey lyric almost sees into the future.

Of course, Susannah was a whiz at handling all types of material and she proved it on this CD. Even though she is no longer with us, the wonderful music keeps playing.

Sweet and charming.......2001-08-04

Susannah made this CD in 1985, when her voice was sweet and charming, before the sadness crept in. She's been gone now for almost three months, and in that time I hadn't played this recording. It's really hard to "rate" the performance of someone who eventually took her own life, but this really IS a pretty, almost delicate album. "Ain't Safe To Go Nowhere" is my favorite cut, Susannah's vocal good-natured without a touch of sarcasm. This CD also includes "Outra Vez", an Antonio Carlos Jobim song sung as only Susannah could, and George Gershwin's "Slap That Bass". I'm giving this CD 5-stars for Susannah's sincerity and because, she cannot be duplicated.

Average customer rating:

A timeless romantic music CD.
Johnny Sings Like No One Else
Johnny Keeps The Music Playing
Musician of the Highest Order
All I Hoped It Would Be

How Do You Keep the Music Playing
Johnny Mathis
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Classic | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music

Traditional Pop | Oldies | Pop | Styles | Music

Classic Vocalists | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

Traditional Vocal Pop | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Broadway & Vocalists | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Musicals | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Hollywood Musicals
Because You Loved Me: Songs of Diane Warren
Faithfully/Johnny's Mood
Better Together: The Duet Album
This Heart of Mine

ASIN: B0000028VQ
Release Date: 1993-05-04

Tracks:

How Do You Keep The Music Playing? (Introduction)
The Summer Knows
Something New In My Life
What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?
The Way She Makes Me Feel
I Was Born In Love With You
On My Way To You
After The Rain
The Windmills Of Your Mind
Summer Me, Winter Me
How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

Customer Reviews:

A timeless romantic music CD........2006-11-05

It's shameful that this near-perfect set of classic standards as sung by one of the all-time greatest and finest male vocalists did not get the recognition it so naturally deserved. By itself, Mathis' nothing-short-of-mesmerizing version of "The Summer Knows" should have been a major hit but...it wasn't. This is music that's guaranteed to set the mood and tone for a romantic candlelight dinner or just for reminiscing and remembering an old love from days gone by, Timeless.

Johnny Sings Like No One Else.......2006-07-30

Here is another wonderful album by the greatest singer since Nat King Cole. Legrand, the Bergmans, and Mathis have collaborated on an album of beautiful songs--half of which I had never heard before. I was pleasantly surprised. The songs are dreamy, mellow, sung in Johnny's incomparable style. Of course, he is the master balladeer, whose enunciation and phrasing are always perfect. Even if someone else has recorded a song, Johnny always sings it his way. The orchestration and arrangements of each song are perfect and unique. Johnny creates a mood of intimacy and sensuality as if he is just singing to you alone. I have always heard the song, How Do You Keep The Music Playing, with an orchestra accompaniment. It was uniquely different and beautiful to hear it with just piano accompaniment. This album should be in the collection of anyone who is a Mathis fan.

Johnny Keeps The Music Playing.......2005-11-23

I have never been disapointed in anything this man has done. Like I have said before, if you do not have this then you are missing out on another great CD. He begins and ends with the song "How Do You Keep The Music Playing" Just beautiful music!

Musician of the Highest Order.......2001-01-10

Johnny Mathis has been a family tradition all of my life. I grew up in a home that played his music, and we went to his concerts from the time of my childhood through today. His music was something that was shared in my family, because we had an appreciation of great musical song stylists, and there are no others who can exceed in the quality of their emotion, phraseology, and presentation the way that Johnny can!

This CD has some of his finest songs, including "How Can You Keep the Music Playing", which we had the pleasure of hearing in concert even before he recorded it. Michel LeGrand and Marilyn and Alan Bergman know how to create wonderful music, and Johnny's interpretation brings out the best of their songs. You will thoroughly enjoy this recording!

All I Hoped It Would Be.......2000-01-16

I purchased this CD with the intent of acquiring a collection of movie themes written by Michel LeGrand that were not abstract jazz (which is apparently the composers prefered style). I grew up with Johnny - my mother adored him and when I saw he had a current collection of LeGrand themes I thought "what the heck, I'll try it". I was very impressed that Johnny was still able to "do it for me" after all these years. If you like Johnny Mathis you will enjoy this CD a great deal. In addition to Johnny's voice the arrangements are gorgeous. I can't tell you how many CD's I've purchased trying to find a recording of LeGrand music that was straight forward - elegant - and recognizable.