This is a short piece which reflects on my favorite “stuff.” It would probably change if I did it again, so don’t attach a lot of finality to my thoughts. It’s meant to give grandchildren and their children a window into the family’s past. I’m sure my own kids have already heard me talk about all this stuff.
I didn’t pay much attention to my family history until I was about 70. By then most of it was lost; and most of what was left was oral. But my mother and Dad make a couple of cassette tapes in the late 1970s which were great to listen to. So I thought I’d pass this along as a kind of snapshot of who old man Alan was.
As I write this and review it, I’ll probably edit/update a lot of stuff. Especially with music; there’s so much of it, and so much unremembered that I wish I could mention.
Here goes:
Favorite Music (of all music)
- The early Italian Masters: Monteverdi, Palestrina, and others. Their extraordinary sense of liberation and freedom to express is unequaled. And the music is simply beautiful.
- The “other” masters: Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven (!), Verdi, and others. Some call Mozart the best of the bunch, which is probably true in some ways. And Bach is considered in some quarters as the “greatest composer of all time.” For me, Beethoven stands above all others. His music goes beyond music to another place with defies definition: beyond humankind and human perception. Aside from its beauty and power, it simply transports the listener to that other place.
- Later masters: Schumann, Brahms, Stravinsky, Ralph Vaughan-Williams, Wagner, Mahler (!), Copland, DeBussy . . . .
- The great choral works: The Bach B minor Mass, the Te Deum of Berlioz, the Messiah — Handel, The Brahms Requiem, the great Russian church music, and a few “moderns,” such as Randall Thompson’s “The Peaceable Kingdom.”
Favorite Compositions
- Symphonies: Beethoven 3, 5, and 9; Schubert C Major; Vaughan-Williams London Symphony; Mozart 39 and 41; Haydn 101; Brahms 2 and 4; Schumann 4; Franck D minor; Mahler 2 . . . .
- Tone poems, etc.: R. Strauss Don Juan, Zarathustra, Death and Transfiguration; DeBussy — solo piano works, Ravel, Resphigi . . . .
- Small ensemble/solo works: many trios, quartets, sextets, etc. by the masters; Beethoven’s cello/piano works; Haydn quartets; Beethoven “middle” string quartets; Bach solo violin works; Chopin piano pieces (perfect!!); Vivaldi concertos/other works
- Large works/concertos: Piano concertos: Beethoven 4. Violin concertos: Brahms, Beethoven.
- Opera. Opera is very special to me. I’m partial to Verdi and Puccini, although there are others. Favorite operas: Barber of Seville, Tosca, Rigoletto, Traviata, Cavalleria Rusticano, Marriage of Figaro
Finally: These are but a few favorites; believe me, there are many, many more that I could include, but you get the picture.
Favorite big band/jazz greats – ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s
Too many to list, but here are a few:
- BeBop/Jazz of the ‘50’s: Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillispie; Modern Jazz Quartet, Shorty Rogers, Paul Desmond, etc.
- Big Bands: favorites are Stan Kenton, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Woody Herman. There are others: Gene Krupa, Jimmy Dorsey, Les Brown. And more.
- Favorite artists: Artie Shaw, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, Jack Teagarden, Louis Armstrong, Stan Getz, Gene Krupa, Conti Condoli, Milt Bernhart, Freddie Slack, Art Pepper, Bill Harris, Nat Cole, Erroll Garner, Bill Evans (!), Art Tatum, John Coltrane, Illinois Jacquet, Vito Musso, Phil Wood, Frank Rossalino, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Shorty Rogers, and very specially, Randy Brooks. It’s no accident that this list is loaded with tenor sax players. Of course, there are at least a hundred more I could mention.
- Super singers of the era: (my favorites): Billy Eckstein, Dick Haymes, June Christy, Fran Warren, Sarah Vaughan, Frankie Lane, Frank Sinatra, Nat Cole, Jo Stafford, Ella Fitzgerald (!), and later guys like Bobby Darrin, Jimmy Buffett
- “Pop” vocal groups: First, the Four Freshmen. Then: Mills Brothers (they could very well be first), Andrews Sisters, King Sisters, Four Aces, Hi-Lo’s, Ink Spots
All-Time Favorite Recordings
- Randy Brooks, “Tenderly” (way out front!)
- Stan Kenton: Artistry Jumps
- Stan Kenton: Peanut Vendor
- Gene Krupa: Boogie Blues
- Artie Shaw: Frenesi
- Artie Shaw: Sunrise Serenade
- Nat Cole: Route 66
- Jo Stafford: You Belong to Me
- Artie Shaw: Begin the Beguine
- Count Basie: April In Paris
- Woody Herman: Four Brothers
- Stan Kenton: Laura
- Dick Haymes: Slow Boat to China
- Stan Kenton: Intermission Riff
- Glenn Miller: String of Pearls
- Tex Beneke: St. Louis Blues March
- Ida Lupino: Again (from the Movie “Roadhouse”)
- Four Freshmen: It’s a Blue World
- Four Freshmen: There Will Never Be Another You
- Four Freshmen: Give Me the Simple Life
- Buddy Cole: Linda
- Claude Thornhill: I Want a Sunday Kind of Love (1947)
Favorite Country Music, including Bluegrass, Western Swing, and early country
Hard to pick favorites here, but I’m partial to early country songs and artists:
- Jimmie Rodgers, Carter Family, Vernon Dalhart, Riley Puckett, Charlie Poole, Bill and Charlie Monroe, Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff, and many, many more.
- Bluegrass favorites: Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Monroe of the mid-forties
- Western Swing: great stuff; Bob Wills, Spade Cooley, Tex Williams, Hank Thompson are among my favorite artists.
Favorite Theatre Music
Broadway shows that I worked in as music director: Oklahoma — my very favorite; South Pacific, The King and I, Annie Get Your Gun, and Carousel were my picks.
Favorite Pop Composers
Just to name a few: Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington
Favorite Latin Music
Love it. From the formal dance forms — tango, rumba, etc. to Caribbean, it’s good. Brazilian jazz is terrific.
Not So Much
Music that’s anything but favorite: each to his/her own taste. I don’t like or enjoy
- Elvis — pleeeease . . .
- Rock ‘n roll
- Rap
- Heavy metal
- Guy Lombardo
- Elevator music (syrupy violins, synthesizer, etc.)
- Hip hop
- Polka
- Tenor bands (Shep Fields, Blue Baron, etc awful stuff.)
- Oriental/East Indian music
- Twelve tone
- Music that is terribly dissonant (There’s a lot of that around in 20th Century music, by guys like Schoenberg, etc.)
Favorite Movies
I’m attached to older movies, too. Classic movies of the 30s and 40s, especially.
I won’t name but a few favorites: Casablanca, Midway, Star Wars 1 — yeah, that too — Red River, Roadhouse (Widmark and Lupino), Music for Millions, Johnny Belinda, Key Largo, Indiana Jones stuff, The Ring Trilogy (Amazing!), The American President, Dune, Once Upon A Time In The West
Movie stars: Charles Laughton, Humphrey Bogart (!!!), John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Cary Grant, Sean Connery, Harrison Ford, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Ida Lupino, Jane Wyman, Claudette Colbert, Carole Lombard, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Susan Hayward, Lauren Bacall
Favorite Books
No surprises here: Patrick O’Brien’s series of naval adventures with Captain Jack Aubrey. Hands down the favorites. Then some more real favorites: Tolkien’s Hobbit books; all of them, along with Silmarilian, and others. Followed by the Dune series of five great science fiction novels by Frank Herbert. Also: the Bourne books by Robert Ludlum. And, of course, the wonderful books by Louis l’Amour, which tell the same tale over and over again, with beautiful descriptions of the western landscape. Yeah, I know, they’re simple, but that’s what makes them special.
Other favorite books: The Iliad, Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, all of A.B. Guthrie Jr’s Western trilogy: The Big Sky, The Way West, Fair Fair Land. All of Robert Ruark, and most important, all of William Faulkner. Seems I drift toward books in series, huh.
I read about 100 books a year, so there are a lot of authors that are really good, but not mentioned here — maybe later.