[78-L] Peter Mintun—A Tune a Day

[Geoffrey Wheeler]

>
> just received from Peter Mintun
>
>
> St. Valentine’s Day, 2010 marked the premier of petermintunmusic 
> channel on YouTube. Every day, pianist Peter Mintun performs a special 
> song chosen from his vast repertoire of the 1920s and '30s. “You might 
> say that I’m an archivist who shakes the dust off several hundred 
> overlooked songs of the Prohibition years. In my head I have more than 
> 2,600 songs. I have played them on the piano for years, but now that 
> there are so few people around who actually remember these, I find it 
> is important to convey the words to my audience. Bobby Short once 
> accused me of singing ‘like a song writer!’ which, of course, is a 
> compliment! One time a disgruntled lounge customer just couldn’t 
> understand why I sought these songs and played them. ‘Those songs 
> belong in a museum,’ he exclaimed. And sure enough, I have proudly 
> performed these songs in many museums, including Museum of Modern Art 
> and the Museum of The City of New York.”
>
> http://www.youtube.com/user/petermintunmusic.
>
> Each song is performed on the restored Steinway concert grand that 
> once belonged to composer Dana Suesse (1909-1987).
>
>  Highlights will be songs from Hollywood movies, Broadway in the 1920s 
> and ‘30s and independent songs from Tin Pan Alley. Mintun met several 
> of his favorite writers, such as Johnny Green, Harry Warren, Edward 
> Heyman, Ira Gershwin, Dana Suesse, Kay Swift and Harold Spina. 
> Subscribers to the channel (which is free) will be notified of 
> additions. A brief introduction will precede each musical selection. 
> Mintun currently appears in concerts around the country, and has 
> played such venues at Bemelmans Bar in the Hotel Carlyle, The 
> Greenbrier Resort, and San Francisco’s Huntington and Fairmont Hotels.
>