Peter Anderson, Will Anderson, Hilary Gardner: The Andersons Play Harold Arlen

  • Post author:
  • Reading time:3 mins read

Peter Anderson, Will Anderson and Hilary Gardner

The Andersons Play Harold Arlen

59E59, NYC, August 10, 2017

Reviewed by Ron Forman for Cabaret Scenes

Hilary Gardner

The second of the four-part Summit Songbook series created by the saxophone playing Anderson Twins, Peter and Will, was dedicated to the songs of Harold Arlen. On the evening that I attended, Hilary Gardner (pictured) filled in most admirably for Molly Ryan.
https://diwa.gimpa.edu.gh/wp-content/languages/new/professional-essay-writing-service.html

In addition to their work on saxophone, the Andersons dazzle with their ability to perform equally well on clarinet and flute. The show featured interesting, informative, and very amusing biographical information and anecdotes about Arlen. Videos including Frank Sinatra singing “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)” (Johnny Mercer) and a hilarious clip of Groucho Marx singing “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady” (E.

Y. Harburg) added to the fun. George Gershwin called Arlen “the most original of all us,” and the set list certainly displayed Arlen’s unique style of composing.
https://diwa.gimpa.edu.gh/wp-content/languages/new/best-essay-service.html

Arlen grew up in an African-American neighborhood in Buffalo which gave him an emotional kinship with jazz.
https://diwa.gimpa.edu.gh/wp-content/languages/new/writing-services.html

Of all the composers of the Great American Songbook, Arlen’s music lends itself best to jazz interpretations. Ethel Waters described him as “The Negroist white man I had met.

buy ivermectin online ivermectin no prescription

” That affinity for jazz was shown by the two opening numbers—“As Long As I Live” (Ted Koehler) and “Come Rain or Come Shine” (Johnny Mercer)—performed with each member of the band taking solo turns. Gardner’s great sound and feeling for the blues worked wonderfully on “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues” (Earl Carroll’s Vanities) and a particularly effective “Stormy Weather,” which Arlen wrote with Koehler for The Cotton Club Parade of 1933. Peter Anderson took a solo turn on saxophone, alone on stage for “One For My Baby.” Gardner returned for a swinging “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” (Mercer). Her performance of “Over the Rainbow” (Harburg) had the audience cheering. The closing number, “I’ve Got the World on a String” (Koehler), once again had each band member taking solo turns to great applause.

Ron Forman

Ron Forman has been a Mathematics Professor at Kingsborough Community College for 45 years. In that time, he has managed to branch out in many different areas. From 1977 to 1994 he was co-owner of Comics Unlimited, the third largest comic book distribution company in the USA. In 1999,after a lifetime of secretly wanting to do a radio program, he began his weekly Sweet Sounds program on WKRB 90.3 FM, dedicated to keeping the music of the Great American Songbook alive and accessible. This introduced him to the world of cabaret, which led to his position as a reviewer for Cabaret Scenes.