The World of Tomorrow

In 1939, The New York Worlds Fair, trumpeted as The World of Tomorrow, was the big national news on radio and in newspapers.

Among the hundreds of thousands of visitors to Gotham that summer was an unknown vocal group, The Quintones, who made their way East to record with legendary producer and manager, Buck Ram.

Ram recognized that a proven jazz standard was just the thing needed to pull a hit from the young untried vocal quintet.

He quickly decided on one of his own personal favorites, Jimmy McHugh’s When My Sugar Walks Down The Street.

Buck Ram

Having decided on the perfect song for their sound, Buck took the group into the studio and recorded ‘Sugar’ on September 5, 1939.

Remarkably, only six weeks later, just as the Worlds Fair was closing, the record had already made it’s way to the top of America’s Hit Parade.

The Quintones

Buck Ram later went on to earning his place in Rock & Roll history for his work with The Platters.

http://youtu.be/n-9gpFE1_Hw

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

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/display/39wf/frame.htm

John Coltrane: Ballads

One winter night, in 1962, John Coltrane gathered in a drafty New York recording studio with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones and legendary engineer, Rudy Van Gelder.

After a minimum of rehearsal and then recording just one take each of eight songs, John Coltrane’s landmark album, Ballads was complete.

Coltrane included two Jimmy McHugh tunes on the LP, Say It (Over and Over) & Too Young To Go Steady.

This is definitely essential listening for anyone who loves jazz.

Here are links to John Coltrane performing the music of Jimmy McHugh:

Say It (Over & Over)

http://youtu.be/JFp6FxdcDv8

Too Young To Go Steady

http://youtu.be/vgOY_e64mbk

More about John Coltrane including a rare 1966 Interview:

http://youtu.be/IqCPFRRWZic

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

Happy Birthday Jimmy McHugh!

July 10 is the birthday of the legendary Jimmy McHugh, 

composer of many of the most popular songs ever written including:

I’m In The Mood For Love

On The Sunny Side Of The Street

Let’s Get Lost

I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby

I Won’t Dance

Don’t Blame Me

Where Are You

I Feel A Song Coming On!

Blue Again

I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me

Can’t Get Out Of This Mood

I Just Found Out About Love

Say It (Over and Over)

When My Sugar Walks Down The Street

Good Music Never Goes Out of Style.

From Frank Sinatra to The Sex Pistols, hundreds of artists have recorded Jimmy’s music. The list is as diverse as it is astonishing:

Michael Feinstein

Steve Tyrell

Dean Martin

Billie Holiday

Diana Krall

John Pizzarelli

Michael Buble

k.d. lang

Chet Baker

Rod Stewart

Willie Nelson

Tony Bennett

Quincy Jones

Ringo Starr

Terence Blanchard

Duke Ellington

Smokey Robinson

Charlie Parker

Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys

Bryan Ferry

Peggy Lee

Stephane Grappelli

Wesla Whitfield

Charlie Watts

Ella Fitzgerald

Jamiroquai & Jools Holland

Jane Monheit

Stan Getz

Amy Winehouse

Judy Garland

The Cast of Jersey Boys

Music for Film, Television and Much More

You’ll find McHugh Music on Broadway, in movies, on TV & in commercials worldwide.

Most recently in Rockstar Games 

innovative new video game L.A. Noire

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

Song Spotting

Film Noir takes a Detour

Jimmy McHugh’s I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love With Me is the theme song of the 1945 film noir Detour.

This is particularly interesting in that McHugh’s upbeat tune greatly contrasts with the film’s sinister tone.

In both it’s style and content, Detour is considered to be one of the darkest film noir ever produced during the classic 1935 to 1955 period. Director Edgar G. Ulmer’s work was heavily influenced by the 1920s German Expressionism Movement.

To quote Chicago Sun-Times Film critic Roger Ebert: ‘No one who has seen it has easily forgotten it.’

http://youtu.be/PkJ5XSx7i7c

http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=eBVyA9Dqr00&feature=related

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1005744-detour

Good Things Come In Small Packages

Although it’s only 16 seconds long, people all over the world are familiar with the Universal Pictures Fanfare that opened all of the films released by the studio from the mid-1930s. Whether in theatres or on TV, everyone has heard the triumphant orchestral soundbite which, most notably, trumpeted the start of Universal’s Frankenstein, Dracula and Wolfman movies.

Jimmy McHugh composed this iconic bit of motion picture history to accompany Universal’s ‘globe and stars’ logo.

The Fanfare was retired in 1946, but has often been revived to open such films as the recent Jack Nicholson remake of The Wolfman, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid starring Steve Martin and director Ron Howard’s fantasy flick, Willow.

http://youtu.be/Aop_7Q3PoW0

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