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JAZZ IN REVIEW:
MY FAVORITE
INTERPRETATIONS OF “AUTUMN IN NEW YORK”
Autumn In New York is a classic Jazz standard that has been
and continues to be performed by Jazz Icons since it was written in 1934. Ask me and I will tell you they are all my
favorites. But if you press me to choose
from the long, gorgeous list of interpretations I would say that top three were
recorded by Billie Holiday in 1952, Luis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald in 1957
and Johnny Mathis in 1963 and those are just the vocal renditions…
The instrumentals I selected are by John Coltrane, Stan Getz
and Oscar Peterson in 1960, Sun Ra in 1962 and a piano solo interpretation of
the song by Mary Lou Williams around 1953-1954.
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Let’s start with Billie
Holiday. The Holiday version I most love
was recorded on Decca in 1952. When I purchased
the original LP I first played it in the tiny record store and though it was
nearly packed with avid vinyl enthusiasts everyone stopped to listen to the
haunting rendition that filled the room with a thoughtful, romantic and almost
lugubrious magic. What is more, Lady Day
is soulfully accompanied by his majesty, Oscar Peterson… a magnanimous work and
one of my favorites… Funny but as she
sings I retrace my steps through Manhattan during the many Autumns I have spent
there and I must agree it is indeed a time when New York is most magical. Spring in New York is beautiful but in spring
ones heart begins to wander from the city and to other places returning in the
fall when nature cannot compete with the starlit skyscrapers on a cold night or
just at twilight. People are just
enjoying the city for the first time after the heat of summer, it is still a
bit balmy but crisp… it is Autumn In New York!
Now, when Luis Armstrong
and Ella Fitzgerald were paired for this song, it was one of the most brilliant
moments in musical history, it was 1957.
I do have the original vinyl and it is one of my most treasured
recordings. The pair make it seem as if
New York became just one absolutely fabulous party come Autumn… and indeed they
have so much fun singing together that you have to walk with them through
Midtown Manhattan past Greenwich Village and all the way up to Upper Manhattan
in an old convertible automobile just enjoying the sun on your face, the sounds
and people of the metropolis… Satchmo’s
smoky horn and Ragtime voice are simply planets in perfect alignment; the
universe has never been so complex and simple… Ella’s voice is liquid satin,
elegant, gorgeous, warm as the robust colors of a fall harvest… Together they do absolutely accomplish a
pluperfect dialogue between man and woman. They craft a tranquil and fundamental
kind of beauty that speaks to the most passionate nature of our humanity…
Johnny Mathis absolutely
captures the transition from the soft and slow summer countryside, the Hamptons
or Martha’s Vineyard and suburbs back to the magnificent grandeur of Manhattan. Whenever I listen to his version I too come
along on that energetic journey. Eager
to get the feel for the city again… the city missed… Manhattan! Johnny Mathis’ voice pours so like pure
silver that if anybody could convince you of the virtues of Manhattan in Autumn
amidst the hustle and bustle of that romantic metropolis surely it would be him…
For my part I will go. His voice is so
pastoral and wide-open like the fields of summer wheat a distinct contrast to
the canyons of steel he invites us to but because he sings so wonderfully well
we follow, I at least am thoroughly convinced, going back to New York will be
the most delightful of triumphs!
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Next stop are the instrumentals. First of all is the version of Autumn In New
York performed in 1960 in Dusseldorf Germany with John Coltrane accompanied by
Stan Getz and Oscar Peterson. The technical perfection of these geniuses of
musical performance is perhaps the most stunning to the senses, but to imagine,
just imagine, that this rare ingot of mortal perfection has been captured and
that we are able to hear it over 50 years later as if we were sitting down
before these Gods of Jazz… well, it is simply unimaginable! Whenever I listen to this I am reminded of
the meaning of modernity itself! I have always thought that of all the arts,
modernity was most effectively conveyed through modern music in the form of
Jazz. To me, Jazz was the personification of the Bauhaus manifesto, to begin
from zero and create a wholly new culture of beauty!
Second is the Sextet version
performed by Sun Ra around 1962. Now
this version is absolutely celestial… as if Sun Ra with his intergalactic sensibility
played not with instruments but with the very fabric of the heavens… Well, you
simply have to listen… and if you dare to listen your will not be able to stop
and you will find that you have been drawn into the crisp eloquence of
instrumental sound…
Let’s not forget Mary Lou
William’s piano solo of Autumn In New York.
It is the kind of fine piano recital piece that makes you sway in your
chair ever so slightly. This is a
beautiful piece with an after glow reminiscent of Errol Garner but unique in
its own right. What I love about this
version is what I love about all things that are simple and sweet, clear and
easily digested, brief and yet memorable…
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The song Autumn In New
York was also performed by many, many more amazing musicians and
vocalists. It was performed by Charlie
Parker in 1946, Frank Sinatra in 1949, Charles Mingus in 1951 Chet Baker in
1954, Andre Previn in 1958, Shirley Bassey in 1971 and many more. Not bad for a song that debuted in a Broadway
musical called “Thumbs Up” in 1934.
Written by David Vollin
Administrator: For The Brothas Intellectual Salon
A GALLERY OF RELATED IMAGERY
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