All My Own Work: 17 Great Songwriters Perform

構成数 : 1
合計収録時間 : 01:16:52
Compilation producers: Peter Dempsey, Ray Crick. Recorded between 1926 and 1946. Includes liner notes by Peter Dempsey. Digitally remastered by Martin Haskell and Tim Debney. Until Bob Dylan and the Beatles came along in the 1960s, it was generally uncommon for songwriters to be professional performers as well, though it was not entirely unknown. The generation of songwriters born in the late 19th and early 20th century produced a golden age of song during the interwar period, and some of them also committed their works to wax to one extent or another. This British compilation, drawn from remasterings of U.S. and U.K. recordings made between 1926 and 1946, presents 22 examples. The songwriters were born between 1888 (Irving Berlin) and 1909 (Johnny Mercer). Some were at least as well-known as performers as they were as songwriters -- Ray Noble, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, James P. Johnson. Others had credible careers as performers, even if they were best known as songwriters -- George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Noel Coward, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael. Others performed rarely -- Sammy Fain, Arthur Schwartz -- or their names are largely lost to history -- Mabel Wayne, Vivian Ellis. But all of them turn in enthusiastic renditions of their compositions. Not all are singers. Gershwin, Johnny Green, Schwartz, Ellington, and Johnson play their songs on piano, while Noble conducts his orchestra in a version of "Love Is the Sweetest Thing" sung by Al Bowlly, and Ivor Novello introduces and recites the lyrics to his "My Dearest Dear," then accompanies soprano Mary Ellis on piano. The most interesting performances are those of rarely heard writers like Fain, Wayne, and Cole Porter, who put a personal stamp on their material. But fans of great songwriting will welcome the entire collection. ~ William Ruhlmann
録音 : モノラル (Studio)