JIMMY McHUGH IS THE CULPRIT: MURDER, HE SAYS IS A KILLER SONG

Murder, He Says is an absolutely knock-out, if somewhat lesser known, Jimmy McHugh gem.

Tori Amos hit a bullseye with her recording, featured in Mona Lisa Smile starring Julia Roberts. 

Dinah Shore scored a wartime hit with her jitterbug version of the tune, now featured in the new hit game, LA Noire. 

Here’s a sample of the song’s 1940s hipster lyrics:

He says, Jackson, he says
and my name's Marie
He says, Jackson, he says
shoot the snoot for me
He says, Jackson, he says
Is that the language of love?

The high spirited and perennially peppy Betty Hutton killed ‘em with her jump & jive LIVE performance of Murder, He Says for Armed Forces Radio’s Command Performance program.

Summing it up her style, the show’s host Bob Hope called the Betty ‘A Vitamin Pill on Legs’!

Here’s a link to a rare film clip of this 1943 performance (and another to Tori Amos’s great swing track.)

Enjoy.

Betty Hutton:

Tori Amos:

JIMMY McHUGH MUSIC: an Evening of music at Vitello's Jazz Club

Judy McHugh Presents an 
Evening of Jimmy McHugh

at Vitello’s Jazz Club

Judy McHugh is presenting a very special evening of music to salute Black History Month, featuring the music of her grandfather, Jimmy McHugh.

Ella Fitzgerald & Jimmy McHugh

The composer’s indelible ties to the Black community began in the Roaring Twenties, when he was the music director at New York’s legendary Cotton Club.

There he not only wrote countless songs for the era’s most famous African-American performers, but was also directly responsible for Duke Ellington’s first engagement at the famed Harlem showplace. This was when and where the Duke’s career was launched.

Since then McHugh’s music has been performed and recorded by hundreds of African-American artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole and Smokey Robinson.

Judy McHugh has put together a great talent lineup to cap the month long celebration of Black history, featuring John Proulx, piano and voice; Chuck Berghofer on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums. Vocalist Sherry Williams rounds out the bill, along with a special guest appearance by Deana Martin (Dean’s daughter and Jimmy McHugh’s Goddaughter.)

We hope to see you there.

Wednesday, February 29, 8pm

Vitello’s Jazz & Supper Club

4349 Tujunga Avenue

Studio City, CA 91604.

818.769.0905

http://www.vitellosjazz.com/event/jimmy-mc-hugh-music-presents-black-history-month-tribute/

Featured on The International Review of Music

Picks of the Week

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Ella Fitzgerald:
Reach For Tomorrow

http://youtu.be/ykP8Wtcg86w

Billie Holiday:
I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

http://youtu.be/ykP8Wtcg86w

Sarah Vaughn:
I'm In The Mood For Love

http://youtu.be/yezEgD0TmB8 (Mood)

JIMMY MCHUGH’S SONGS STAND THE TEST OF TIME:

Moody’s Mood For Love gets the Royal Treatment

Hip hop artist Prince Paul is considered one of the most original and innovative hip hop artists and producers ever to emerge.

On his second, highly acclaimed and influential album, A Prince Among Thieves, Prince Paul sampled the Jimmy McHugh & James Moody jazz classic, Moody’s Mood For Love as the basis for a new song, Mood For Love.

Def Jam artist Don Newkirk is the featured vocalist on the jazz tinged track.   

No wonder I’m In the Mood For Love, Moody’s Mood For Love, On The Sunny Side Of The Street, Let’s Get Lost and many other Jimmy McHugh songs are give fresh and innovative interpretations by a such a diverse range of artists year after year.

Here’s a link to Prince Paul’s Mood For Love:

Michael Feinstein's American Songbook February 17th on PBS

Follow the link to PBS to find your local broadcast time.

http://www.pbs.org/michael-feinsteins-american-songbook/

JIMMY McHUGH MUSIC SALUTES BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Ella Fitzgerald & Jimmy McHugh

Judy McHugh Presents

an Evening of Jimmy McHugh

at Vitello’s Jazz Club

Judy McHugh is presenting a very special evening of music to salute Black History Month, featuring the music of her grandfather, Jimmy McHugh.

The composer’s indelible ties to the Black community began in the Roaring Twenties, when he was the head music director at New York’s legendary Cotton Club.

There he not only wrote countless songs for the era’s most famous African-American performers, but was also directly responsible for Duke Ellington’s first engagement at the famed Harlem showplace. This was when and where the Duke’s career was launched.

Since then McHugh’s music has been performed and recorded by hundreds of African-American artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole and Smokey Robinson.

Judy McHugh has put together a great talent lineup to cap the month long celebration of Black history, featuring John Proulx, piano and voice; Chuck Berghofer on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums. Vocalist Sherry Williams rounds out the bill, along with a special guest appearance by Deana Martin (Dean’s daughter and Jimmy McHugh’s Goddaughter.)

We hope to see you there.

Wednesday, February 29, 8pm

Vitello’s Jazz & Supper Club

4349 Tujunga Avenue

Studio City, CA 91604.

818.769.0905

http://www.vitellosjazz.com/event/jimmy-mc-hugh-music-presents-black-history-month-tribute/


Ella Fitzgerald:
Reach For Tomorrow

http://youtu.be/ykP8Wtcg86w

Billie Holiday:
I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

http://youtu.be/ykP8Wtcg86w

Sarah Vaughn:
I'm In The Mood For Love

http://youtu.be/yezEgD0TmB8 (Mood)

Etta James: A Legendary Voice is Stilled

Sadly, after a prolonged illness, musical icon Etta James passed away this past week, just five days before her 74th birthday. Thankfully her family was by her side.

With a musical style that spanned a variety of music genres including blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz, Etta was truly a singer’s singer.

She began her singing career in the mid-Fifties and before the decade ended she scored several R&B hits including the rollicking Dance With Me Henry. 

Though an incredibly gifted vocalist, Ella was a troubled soul who suffered through some very hard times due to her years of drug abuse. Fortunately, in the 1980s the singer recovered her health and was able to begin a significant and well-deserved comeback. 

Etta spent the last decade and a half of her life being thought of as a jazz queen, a soul diva and of course as the Matriarch of the Blues. Her return to the spotlight introduced a whole new audience to her earlier music, including her legendary Chess Records recordings.

Her Blue Gardenia CD was inspired by her life-long idol, Billie Holiday. The disc includes her wonderfully soulful recording of Jimmy McHugh’s Don’t Blame Me.

We send our sympathy and kindest thoughts to her family.

http://www.myspace.com/music/player?sid=38750&ac=now

SWEET, SWEET MUSIC: MICHAEL FEINSTEIN, AMBASSADOR OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK, APPEARING WITH TONY WINNER BARBARA COOK

Michael Feinstein is back in residence at Feinstein's at The Loews Regency through December 30. This time he's sharing the bill with Broadway legend, Barbara Cook, who is a 2011 Kennedy Center Honors recipient along with Meryl Streep, Neil Diamond, Yo-Yo Ma and Sonny Rollins.

Michael Feinstein is a terrific friend and supporter of Jimmy McHugh Music.
In 2009 Michael headlined a sold out concert at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, saluting the music of Jimmy McHugh, as he did a year earlier at Los Angeles's Mark Taper Forum.

Barbara Cook also has a close connection to Jimmy McHugh, having starred on the original studio cast album of 'Lucky In The Rain', a 2000 musical comedy built around Jimmy's songs.

MichaelFeinstein.com
BarbaraCook.com
FeinsteinsAtTheRegency.com

STEVE TYRELL AT THE LEGENDARY CAFE CARLYLE: A HOLIDAY TRADITION

It's that time of the year again- Vocalist Steve Tyrell is ringing in the holidays at The Cafe Carlyle.
Continuing through New Years Eve, this is the Grammy-winner's seventh return engagement at the chic nightspot.
After the passing of the legendary Bobby Short, The Café Carlyle invited Steve to take over their revered Holiday Season which Mr. Short had not missed in 36 years.  

In his four and a half decades in the music business, Steve Tyrell has achieved great success as an artist, producer, songwriter, music supervisor, and performer gaining a passionate following all over the world. 

As a record producer, Steve has collaborated with such diverse artists as Rod Stewart, Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Linda Ronstadt, Aaron Neville, Mary J Blige, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt, Burt Bacharach, Bette Midler and Stevie Wonder.

Steve is a great friend and supporter of Jimmy McHugh Music, performing numerous McHugh standards in concert and on record.

We suggest you book a reservation soon as the word is out: 
Steve Tyrell at The Cafe Carlyle is a guaranteed way "to make the season bright".

The Cafe Carlyle  www.thecarlyle.com

STEVIE WONDER AND THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK

In 1963, less than two years after taking America by storm with his first number one record, Fingertips Part Two, 15 year-old Stevie Wonder took time out to record an  album of standards. 
It was his third LP on the Tamla (Motown) label and the first to drop Stevie's nickname, 'Little' Stevie Wonder'.

Whenever (and however) possible, Motown Records chief Berry Gordy would strive to reach the widest demographic appeal for the label's artist stable.

Consequently Gordy urged Marvin Gaye, The Supremes and other Motown stars to record music from the Great American Songbook.
Although the time was not right for Stevie's album to capture the mature adult audience Berry Gordy sought, it nonetheless is a undiscovered gem that definitely warrants attention. 
Veteran jazz man Ernie Wilkins did a brilliant job of arranging and conducting the album which is highlighted by Jimmy McHugh's On The Sunny Side Of The Street.

NY’s City Center transforms into Harlem’s Cotton Club to Salute Duke Ellington. Show features the Music of Jimmy McHugh

Duke Ellington‘s Cotton Club Parade, opens November 18 at New York City Center. Cotton Club Parade is a celebration of Ellington’s years at the famed Harlem nightclub in the 1920s and early ’30s, when the joint was jumping with revues featuring big bands, swing and blues, dancers, singers and novelty acts.

The Cotton Club Parade re-imagines one of the world famous Cotton Club floor shows. It will feature the renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, who also serves as music director.

Jimmy McHugh, who was the Cotton Club’s musical director, discovered Ellington at a small New Jersey club. He was responsible for booking Duke and his Band into the famed nightspot for a two-week engagement, which turned into a four-year residency at the Club.

Legendary performers such as the Nicholas Brothers, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Snake Hips Tucker, Peg Leg Bates and a 16-year old Lena Horne all performed at the Cotton Club.

As in the original revues, Cotton Club Parade will feature singers, dancers and variety acts, and songs by the greatest jazz composers of the time, including Jimmy McHugh (I Can’t Give You Anything But Love and Diga Diga Doo).

Cotton Club Parade will run for six performances only November 18-22, 2011

Links:

http://www.nycitycenter.org/tickets/productionnew.aspx?performanceNumber=6033

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Ellington

www.dukeellington.com

SONY'S MASTERWORKS BROADWAY RELEASES RECORDINGS OF SONGS FROM THE HISTORIC JIMMY MCHUGH & DOROTHY FIELDS MUSICAL 'BLACKBIRDS OF 1928'

Masterworks Broadway, a subsidiary label of Sony Masterworks, is re-releasing classic recordings of songs from 'Blackbirds of 1928' the pioneering, all-black musical written by Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields.


These are the only recordings of songs from this landmark score, presented as they were originally performed. Taken directly from the original masters, they have never before been available digitally.

Adelaide Hall

Originally recorded in 1953, the recording features the legendary Cab Calloway and Thelma Carpenter performing I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby, Diga-Diga-Doo and other McHugh/Fields classics. 


The show, which was the first Broadway success for composer Jimmy McHugh and lyricist Dorothy Fields, became the longest running all-black show on the New York stage.
Directed by producer Lew Leslie, it starred Adelaide Hall, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson and Mantan Moreland.





Set for release November 15, 2011 , Blackbirds of 1928 will be available as a digital download and disc-on-demand with the original cover art and new liner notes at Arkivmusic.com and Amazon.com.

JEAN-MICHEL PILC CONJURES OSCAR PETERSON PLAYING THE JIMMY MCHUGH SONGBOOK

Self-taught pianist Jean-Michel Pilc has built his jazz reputation by playing with the likes of Roy Haynes and Michael Brecker.

Pilc’s technique evokes Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson but demonstrates imagination that is entirely his own.

Jean-Michel’s standing as one of his generation’s best is solidified with his newest release, Essential.

                                     

The album is highlighted by his very original take on Jimmy’s Too Young to Go Steady, on which the pianist sticks close to McHugh’s melody, while playing up the minor harmonics.

Oscar Peterson Plays The Jimmy McHugh Songbook (originally released in 1959) has recently been re-released on Solar Records.


In addition to guest artists Stan Getz and Lester Young, The Oscar Peterson Trio which included jazz mainstays Ray Brown, Ed Thigpen and alternately, Barney Kessell or Herb Ellis, are all present and accounted for on this newly issued 22 track gem. 

Click below to hear the music. 

http://www.rhapsody.com/share/Alb.46128228

Tony Bennett: Forever On The Sunny Side Of The Street

At age 85, Tony Bennett is now the most senior artist ever to top Billboard’s Pop album chart.

His new release, Duets II, debuted in the #1 slot it’s first week in release. As hard to believe as it is, it’s Tony’s first Number One album! 

Duets II teams Tony with the late Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, Aretha Franklin and Willie Nelson along with several other top tier artists.

It goes without saying (but we will anyway) that On The Sunny Side Of The Street as performed by Messrs Bennett and Nelson is one for the books, but then again, so is the entire album. 

Here’s a link to Willie’s earlier solo recording of On The Sunny Side Of The Street. 

http://youtu.be/OcQJ4T9HNfU

What happens when Hot Jazz meets Western Swing?

The Austin-based Hot Club of Cowtown have to be the most globe-trotting, hardest-swinging Western Swing trio on the planet. They have played stadiums opening for such artists as Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson and bring their brand of western swing to a wide range of festival audiences all over the world.

Jimmy McHugh’s Diga Diga Doo is just about the most perfect example of 1920’s Hot Jazz.

On tour Hot Club of Cowtown give a show-stopping performance of the tune.

We’ve unearthed a clip of HCC absolutely knocking Diga Diga Doo ‘out of the park’ on BBC Television's Later with Jools Holland, Wonderfully eclectic music program.

We hope you’ll take a minute to click the link below to hear Jimmy’s iconic hot jazz classic and discover Hot Club of Cowtown.

http://hotclubofcowtown.com/

A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening

Jimmy McHugh & Bobby Darin

One summer night in 1959, at The Hollywood Bowl, Bobby Darin headlined a salute to the music of Jimmy McHugh. It was called I Feel a Song Coming On.

The 21-year old wunderkind had just exploded onto the national scene, winning Record of the Year for his breakthrough hit, Mack The Knife, at the first ever Grammy Awards Ceremony.

Bobby sang I Feel A Song Comin' On, On The Sunny Side Of The Street, Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer, I Won't Dance, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, I Couldn't Sleep A Wink Last Night and Let's Get Lost.

Conductor Buddy Bregman led the mammoth 105 piece orchestra, which included a 55 member string section!

Rounding out the salute to Jimmy’s music was Vic Damone and the gorgeous Italian actress and singer Anna Maria Alberghetti. Among the McHugh songs they performed was Can't Get Out Of This Mood, When You and I Were Young Maggie Blues and When My Sugar Walks Down The Street.

The show ended with Jimmy Bobby, Vic and Anna Marie singing A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening.

Indeed it was.

Click to hear:

Bobby Darin/I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby

SONG SPOTTING: The Cotton Club

Most recently screening on CineMax’s MAX HD channel, this epic crime drama, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is centered around the famed Harlem Jazz Club of the 1920’s, The Cotton Club.

The 1984 film features several Jimmy McHugh songs including Exactly Like You and his iconic ‘hot jazz’ barn-burner, Diga Diga Doo.

Jimmy was the club’s first Musical Director a coveted position which he held during the Club’s most celebrated years. Under his musical direction he discovered Duke Ellington and brought the young, novice songwriter Dorothy Fields to the Club to write songs with him.

Richard Gere, Diane Lane and Gregory Hines head up the cast which includes Nicolas Cage, Bob Hoskins, Laurence Fishburne, Maurice Hines and Gwen Verdon.

The film received several Golden Globe © and Academy Award© nominations.

Try to catch The Cotton Club on the tube- you wont be disappointed!

Click to hear:

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra performing

Jimmy McHugh’s Diga Diga Doo

Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane…

During Diana Krall's July 4 show at The Centre at York University in Toronto, it was hard to ignore a low-flying jet as it made straight for its runway, cutting straight across the open roof of the tennis arena and nearly drowning out Krall and her trio.

You could see the musicians bracing themselves for the roar as it built in the distance, their eyes peeled on the sky, instead of their instruments.

In the middle of playing Jimmy McHugh’s Exactly Like You, Krall demonstrated some fast thinking, spontaneously detouring into a couple of ‘flying’ songs (Elton John’s Rocket Man and Fly Me To The Moon) then segueing right back into the classic McHugh tune.

Click the link below to see Diana perform Exactly Like You at the legendary Abbey Road Studios

http://youtu.be/dWIr5-9jQiU

On The Radio

Recently, after playing John Pizzarelli's recording of I Just Found Out About Love, SiriusXM Radio’s redoubtable Jonathan Schwartz had some glowing words to say about Jimmy McHugh.

To paraphrase Jonathan: ‘There wouldn't be any worthwhile music in this country without Great American Songbook composers like Jimmy McHugh.’ 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Schwartz

www.johnpizzarelli.com

www.siriusxm.com