Song of the Day by Eric Berman – “The Nutcracker Suite” by Les Brown & His Band of Renown The story of The Nutcracker was inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and the King Of Mice and was presented to Russian composer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, by Marius Petipa who was maître de ballet of the […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Chopin: Polonaise In A Major, No. 3, Op. 40-1 “Military”” by Arthur Rubinstein
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Chopin: Polonaise In A Major, No. 3, Op. 40-1 “Military”” by Arthur Rubinstein Not really a “Song” of the Day by Eric Berman, but rather a gorgeous piece of music. The “Military Polonaise,” “Polonaise in A major, Op. 40, No. 1” specifically, was composed by Frédéric Chopin […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Dance At The Gym” from the Original Soundtrack of “West Side Story” – Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Dance At The Gym” from the Original Soundtrack of “West Side Story” – Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim Broadway musicals don’t get any better than this! You can keep your Andrew Lloyd Webber with his one song per musical that gets repeated to oblivion; Leonard Bernstein and […]
Today in Rock History – June 18
1971, Fleetwood Mac appeared at Up The Junction in Crewe, England. 1974, Peter Hoorelbeke, drummer with Rare Earth, was arrested after a concert for throwing his drumsticks into the crowd. 1975, Elvis Presley had a face-lift at Mid South hospital, Memphis. 1976, Abba gave a special live performance in Stockholm for Sweden’s King Carl XVI […]
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker Suite" by Tchaikovsky
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker Suite” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky” The story was inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker and the King Of Mice” and was presented to Tchaikovsky by Marius Petipa who was maître de ballet of […]
Song Of The Day – “The Uncle Meat Variations” by The Mothers Of Invention
Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “The Uncle Meat Variations” by The Mothers Of Invention Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Dvorak…the alphabet of classical composers goes on and on…and then you come to “Z.” May I offer “Zappa?” Yup, Frank Zappa…an artist whose music will be studied by serious composers for generations to come. You […]
Song Of The Day – “Rhapsody In Blue” by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra
Paul Whiteman was one of the biggest selling artists of the 1920s, and led one of the best-loved sweet bands of all time. Sweet bands were society or café orchestras. They played music for listening and as a background for dining and conversing, as opposed to swing bands whose music was the main attraction and […]
Song Of The Day – “Aquarium” by Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks has essentially been making the same album since 1968, and fortunately for his fans, that album is a great one. Parks’ fascination with Tin Pan Alley sounds and Depression-Era songwriting has infused his work since the mid-1960s, resulting in albums that sound like original cast recordings from musicals that don’t exist. Over […]
Song Of The Day – “Soulful Strut” by Young-Holt Unlimited
It was a breath of funked out fresh air when “Soulful Strut” hit the charts in 1968, and today the song is one of the most refreshing instrumentals of all time. Eldee Young (bass) and Isaac “Red” Holt (drums) were Chicago musicians who made up the rhythm section for The Ramsey Lewis Trio. After gigging […]
Song Of The Day – “Simbah” by Gerry Mulligan Tentette
The innovative instrumentation and arrangements of Miles Davis’ landmark Birth Of The Cool nonet sessions from 1948, on which Gerry Mulligan played baritone saxophone, was a major influence on Mulligan’s Tentette recordings from January of 1953 that included “Simbah,” today’s Song Of The Day. But even though the Tentette recordings are less well known than […]
