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Even when words were added in 1929 by Mitchell Parrish it failed to take off. Fourteen years later, versions by Billy Ward & His Dominoes, with lead vocal by Eugene Mumford (# 5 R&B/# 12 Top 100) and Nat "King" Cole with orchestral backing by Gordon Jenkins (# 70 Top 100) saw it return to the charts. It didn't start out so renowned, however, as initially it was a 1927 up-tempo instrumental. Winding up at # 1, this instrumental version, voted the greatest record (and the song voted greatest song) of all time in a Billboard disc jockey poll, featured solos by Artie on clarinet, Billy Butterfield on trumpet, and Jack Jenney on trombone. History will record that Hoagy Carmichael, born on November 22, 1899 (the same year as another great, Duke Ellington), was one of THE major contributors to pop music to emerge in the 2Oth Century.
Twenty great tracks by some of the most renowned artists to grace one CD, with excellent sound reproduction and two pages of liner notes written by John E. But, as you will see from this album, his talent didn't end there. That same year, Tommy Dorsey had another hit with a new recording of the song, this time featuring vocals by Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers (# 7), while a Glenn Millerinstrumental hit # 20.In 1943, Baron Elliot & His Stardust Melodies Orchestra took it to # 18, with vocal by The Stardust Trio, and in a re-issue of his 1941 hit, the Tommy Dorsey version went to # 23. finished at # 46 AC.So, it would seem Hoagy Carmichael's firm position in pop music history would have been solidified on the basis of that one song alone. That same year other hits came from Louis Armstrong (# 16), Wayne King & His Orchestra (# 17 instrumental), and Lee Sims (# 20 in a piano version).In 1935 Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra, with vocal by Henry Wells, would take it to # 10 as the flip of his # 1 hit, Rhythm Is Our Business, and a year later Victor would release it with two different artists performing it on each side - Benny Goodman & His Orchestra as a # 2 instrumental, and Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra as a # 8 with vocal by Edythe Wright. The last hit version (to this point) then came in 1993 when Harry Connick, Jr. After that it seems everyone wanted to record it, and by 1943 there had been no less than 15 hit single versions, with Bing Crosby having the first vocal hit with it in 1931 (# 5). In 1964 Nino Tempo & April Stevens saw their rendition reach # 31 Hot 100, and in 1975 Johnny Mathis had his version top out at # 4 Adult Contemporary (AC).
And no wonder, considering the classics he composed, among them Rockin' Chair, Lazy River, Two Sleepy People, Small Fry, Heart And Soul (the last three with lyricist Frank Loesser, How Little We Know (introduced by the sultry Lauren Bacall in To Have And To Have Not), Ole Buttermilk Sky (first sung by Hoagy himself in the film Canyon Passage), Lazy Bones, Skylark, and In The Cool, Cool Of The Evening (all with lyricist Johnny Mercer), and the oft-recorded Georgia On My Mind, immortalized in the 1960 rendition by the late, great Ray Charles.At the top of this impressive list, of course, comes Star Dust (sometimes shown as Stardust), only the most recorded love song of all time. And it did again in 1962 in a new recording by Frank Sinatra which, with backing by the Don Costa orchestra, finished at # 98. Quinn. That is, until both Irving Mills & His Hotsy Totsy Gang (# 20) and Isham Jones (# 1) added it to their respective band's repertoire in 1930 - again as an instrumental. Next up was Sammy Kaye & His Orchestra in 1939, a # 16 instrumental, following which came the early 1941 Artie Shaw version.
Hearing his voice singing gives one goose bumps. These CDs please the ear, the heart, and the mind. I only wish the collection included the version of Small Fry sung by Bing Crosby and Johnnie Mercer and Kate Smith's rendition of Can't Get Indiana off my Mind. Great. Playing them gives me a reminder of the many contributions Hoagy Carmichael made to the world of music. Most people hear his compositions and don't realize who the composer was.
One of the best. His music is music which gives quiet pleasure and sense of deep relaxation. Hoagy Carmichael wrote and played some of the great American songs, including one of the greatest of all, his signature song, 'Stardust'. He had a certain laidback quality, an ease, an effortlessness ( or so it seemed) that suited truly the composer of 'Lazy River' 'In the Cool of the Evening' and 'Heart and Soul'.
Did anyone else recordthis song.Hoagy Carmichael, a great songwriter. Hoagy Carmichael wrote some great songs for the film GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. Great songs such as WHEN LOVE GOES WRONG, sung by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, as well as another one called AIN'T THERE ANYONE HERE FOR LOVE, a great song performed by Jane Russellamid a group of athletic musclemen from the US Olympic Team.A song deleted from the film WHEN THE WILD WILD WOMEN GO IN SWIMMING IN BIMINI BAY sung by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russellhas never surfaced anywhere, even though the scene from thatsong is used in the trailer of the film.
His songs have been covered by most of the greatest artists of the 20th century: Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and so on. The best part of the record is - by far - Mildred Bailey's recording of Rockin' Chair.
Her voice, coupled with the sound of xilophones, gives the song a sort of otherworldly beauty. It is very powerful and very moving at the same time.
Hoagy Carmichael is one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. All Carmichael's major hits (performed by an all star cast) can be found in this "Songbook".
I have rarely heard anything as good as this. He's the author of the best songs of the century (Stardust, Georgia on my mind, Lazy River, the Nearness of you, Heart and Soul,.).
"The Hoagy Carmichael Songbook", released in 1990, gives a fairly good idea of how good and influential was Carmichael's music.
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