[78-L] Happy 100th, Johnny Mercer

[David Lennick]

Did I see Johnny holding an UNTRIMMED Capitol pressing in one shot?

dl

simmonssomer wrote:
> I remember Mercer's "The Air Minded Executive"  (He dearly loved to fly)
> One of my earliest  Capitols.
> 
> Al S.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jeff Sultanof" <jeffsultanof at gmail.com>
> To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
> Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 11:10 PM
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Happy 100th, Johnny Mercer
> 
> 
>> Johnny Mercer's Capitol Records with Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers or just
>> himself with Paul Weston's Orchestra (often the arrangements were written 
>> by
>> Skip Martin) are among my favorite recordings of all time. Fantastic vocal
>> and instrumental arrangements, near-perfect performances - there is so 
>> much
>> love on these records.
>>
>> I well remember afternoons with my mentor Jerry Graff, who had one of the
>> greatest vocal groups ever, The Beachcombers. We would sit and listen to
>> these records and Jerry would tell me what to listen for and why something
>> worked as well as it did. Sharing these records with him turned out to be
>> great arranging lessons.
>>
>> I have one great favorite, "Movie Tonight," a record I first heard when I
>> was three years old. I still get shivers when I hear it.
>>
>> May Johnny rest in peace.
>>
>> Jeff Sultanof
>>
>> On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 10:47 PM, Cary Ginell <soundthink at live.com> wrote:
>>
>>> No harm intended, Randy. Guess we just agree to disagree. I found the
>>> program eminently entertaining and not at all irritating. Maybe some 
>>> newbies
>>> will be encouraged to pick up Gene Lees' splendid bio of Mercer, 
>>> "Portrait
>>> of Johnny" that came out a few years ago.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I only wished that they had included "The Sweetheart Tree" from "The 
>>> Great
>>> Race," which Mercer wrote with Henry Mancini. I think that was one of his
>>> best songs.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> One thing that would have been nice to include as maybe a voiceover 
>>> (unless
>>> there was video taken of this), was a one-man concert Mercer gave in the
>>> early 70s that was issued as part of a 3-LP box set from the
>>> Book-of-the-Month called "An Evening With." Each LP features a solo
>>> performance by a classic American songwriter. Mercer's on one, Sammy Cahn 
>>> on
>>> another and Alan Jay Lerner on the third. You talk about a whirlwind 
>>> show.
>>> Mercer sang parts of 50 of his songs in that hour. I haven't listened to 
>>> the
>>> LP in quite a while, but I'm going to drag it out this weekend and listen 
>>> to
>>> it again.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Cary Ginell
>>>
>>>> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 18:32:23 -0800
>>>> From: forwardintothepast at yahoo.com
>>>> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
>>>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Happy 100th, Johnny Mercer
>>>>
>>>> Cary, I didn't want analysis, I merely wanted Mercer's lyrics to be
>>> heard.
>>>> This was cut with such a short attention span that any given song 
>>>> wasn't
>>> performed by one artist, it was performed by six or seven, sometimes with
>>> jarring key changes along the way. And you're right--everybody was
>>> identified, along with the source of the material, which normally I would
>>> applaud, but when each shot only lasted six or seven seconds at best it 
>>> made
>>> for a tremendous amount of visual clutter, all of which distracted 
>>> mightily
>>> from appreciating the nuances of Mercer's lyrics. I felt like Johnny was
>>> softly trying to sing one of his songs, while a juggler and a circus 
>>> clown
>>> and a guy on a pogo stick were all blocking our view of him.
>>>> This should have been edited with more of an emphasis and respect for
>>> Mercer's words. Lyrics are delicate things.
>>>> I should note that I thought the biographical portions of the show were
>>> generally fine, just not organized the way I would have liked. You and I
>>> know Mercer's story forward and backward, so if this documentary actually
>>> told it forward and backward, we still knew what happened and when. 
>>> Someone
>>> who was just learning about Mercer would be mightily confused, I suspect.
>>>> --Randy