It’s All Right – from the Musical “Can-Can” (1953). Words and Lyrics by Cole Porter Performers: Voice & Piano Duo Louise Howlett & Albert Combrink Where: Live in concert at the launch of their CD “Night Sessions” at the Alliance Francaise in Cape Town When: 7 October 2010. **** To book the artists or purchase a [...]
It’s All Right – from the Musical “Can-Can” (1953). Words and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Performers: Voice & Piano Duo Louise Howlett & Albert Combrink Where: Live in concert at the launch of their CD“Night Sessions” at the Alliance Francaise in Cape Town When: 7 October 2010.
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To book the artists or purchase a CD, contact:
* albertcombrink@worldonline.co.za or
* singing-lady@hotmail.com
Cole Porter had a huge success with the show "Can-Can" (1952), (featuring "C'est Magnifique" and "It's All Right with Me") running for 892 performances.
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike most successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote both the lyrics and the music for his songs. He was a “Steinway Artist” and dabbled in more serious music in ballet collaborations with Darius Milhaud during his Paris period – showing the high regard in which he was held from early on in his career.
Below is a sample page of the Sheet Music forCole Porter’s hit It’s all right with me. The full voice and piano score can be bought at Freehandmusic.It provides a useful example of how Louise Howlett and Albert Combrink arrange their songs. Both musicians use the original score as a starting point, but alter rhythm, melody and harmony. Their arrangement aims to give the song a more contemporary feel.
Below you can download FREE SHEET MUSIC AND LYRICS of the Chord Chart of Cole Porter’s It’s All Right With Me from the musical Can-Can:
A live video recording of the Garner/Burke classic “Misty”.
Misty - Louise Howlett (Vocals) & Albert Combrink (Piano) – Live Video
Music by Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) Lyrics by Johnny Burke (October 3, 1908 — February 25, 1964)
Performers: Voice & Piano Duo Louise Howlett and Albert Combrink
Where: Live in concert at the launch of their CD ”Night Sessions” at the Alliance Francaise in Cape Town
When: 7 October 2010.
To book the artists or purchase a CD, contact
- albertcombrink@worldonline.co.za or
- singing-lady@hotmail.com
Erroll Garner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his instantly recognisable swing piano playing and his distinctive ballads. In 1954 the Erroll Garner Trio introduced the instrumental Misty. A year later Johnny Burke penned the lyrics, creating the song we know today. Misty remained relatively unknown until Johnny Mathis popularized the vocal version with his million-selling recording in 1959. Johnny Burke was a lyricist who had started his professional career as a house pianist for the Irving Berlin Publishing Company, playing popular songs to customers in the hope of selling more copies.
“There are several variations of the origin of Misty. One has Erroll Garner sitting on an airplane waiting for take off and looking out the window into the mist and observing a rainbow; another has him in the air flying from Chicago to New York; and a third simply says he was in an airplane thinking about his wife. Regardless, as a musician who could neither read nor write music, he hummed the tune to himself repeatedly while he hurried home to play his melody on the piano for transcription.” (Jeremy Wilson: Jazzstandards.com)
Eroll Garner & Clint Eastwood, early 1970's
Misty featured prominently Clint Eastwood’s 19712 film Play Misty For Me. (Photo Fred Seibert)
Download FREE SHEET MUSIC of Erroll Garner’s song MISTY Here:
Lyrics for MISTY (Music Erroll Garner, Lyrics Johnny Burke):
Look at me,
I’m as helpless as a kitten up a tree
And I feel like I’m clinging to a cloud
I can’t understand,
I get misty, holding your hand.
Walk my way,
And a thousand violins begin to play
Or it might be the sound of your hello
That music I hear,
I get misty the moment you’re near
You can say that you’re leading me on
But it’s just what I want you to do
Don’t you realize how hopelessly I’m lost
That’s why I’m following you.
On my own,
Would I wander through this wonderland alone
Never knowing my right foot from my left,
My hat from my glove,
I get misty, and too much in love
(All lyrics are property and copyright of their owners. All lyrics provided for educational purposes only.)
Piazzolla’s famous “Libertango” performed live by CT Tango Ensemble on their “Tango Dreams” Tour – May 2011
Libertango – Astor Piazzolla
Performed by CT Tango Ensemble on 31 May 2011 at the University of Johannesburg Theater.
CT Tango Ensemble:
Stanislav Angelov – Accordion
Jacek Domagala – Violin
Albert Combrink – Piano
Charles Lazar – Double Bass
The dancers are Diane Cannell and Danie Gouws.
DOWNLOAD a Free Copy of the Sheet Music of Astor Piazzolla’s Libertango (for Piano Solo) HERE.
Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. A virtuoso bandoneónist, he regularly performed his own compositions with different ensembles. This popular Tango was written shortly after he composed his Tango Operita Maria de Buenos Aires.
By the early 1970s Piazzolla was living in Rome, (managed by the Italian agent Aldo Pagani) and exploring a leaner, more fluid musical style drawing on more jazz influence, and with simpler, more continuous forms. Pieces that exemplify this new direction include Libertango and most of the Suite Troileana, written in memory of the late Anibal Troilo.
CT Tango Ensemble plays different versions of Piazzolla’s music. In some cases we perform the maestro’s own arrangements note-for-note as they were composed. In cases such as this “Libertango” the ensemble makes its own arrangement - creating space for Jazz improvisation as well. As always, we believe our versions are “watched” over by the spirit of Piazzolla, and we are guided by our love for this music and our experience of over a decade of performing in this genre.
To book CT Tango Ensemble go to our record label: http://www.goodmusic.co.za
Live Video Footage from the “Night Sessions” CD Launch
“Fly me to the Moon” written by Bart Howard (1954)
Louise Howlett (voice) & Albert Combrink (keyboard)
Recorded live at the launch of their CD “Night Sessions” – 7 October 2010, Cape Town
A Little Fly Me to the Moon History:
From “Sinatra! The Song is You – A Singer’s Art” by Will Friedwald
Regarding the song, Fly Me to the Moon, Friedwald says that the composer, Bart Howard, originally wrote the song as a waltz and there were already hundreds of versions out there before Sinatra recorded it. June Christy and Peggy Lee were two of the bigger names who sang this song.
Quincy Jones had arranged the song as an instrumental for Count Basie. Jones boosted the tempo and changed the time signature to 4/4 for Basie’s 1963 album “This Time by Basie.”
Sinatra had known Bart Howard for over a decade and wanted to record the song. On the Sinatra-Basie album of 1964, the song explodes with energy and Howard, the songwriter, wrote “Frank changed the lyrics (and the song) so much, which normally would have annoyed the crap out of me but didn’t because it worked so well.” The song went on to become an anthem for swinging songs.
To book the artists or purchase a CD, contact Louise Howlett at singing-lady@hotmail.com and visit www.albertcombrink.com for more information.
Purchase downloadable tracks of the CD at https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/combrinkhowlett
Fly me to the moon – FREE DOWNLOADABLE SHEET MUSIC
"Fly me to the Moon" Free Sheet Music
Fly me to the moon – Lyrics:
Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like on
Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby, kiss me
Fill my heart with song
And let me sing forever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you
Fill my heart with song
Let me sing forever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words
In other words
SAMA Nominees for “Best Instrumental Album” extend the traditional tango into the realm of Jazz: Bassist Charles Lazar’s latest composition, Live Amateur Video footage.
“…Now, I’ve told you…” - composed by Charles Lazar
Recorded live on 07 April 2011 during KKNK (Klein Karroo Nationale Kunstefees) in Oudtshoorn.
CT Tango Ensemble:
Stanislav Angelov – Accordion
Willie van Zyl – Saxophone
Albert Combrink – Piano
Charles Lazar – Double Bass
Watch a live video of CT Tango Ensemble playing “Los Mareados”; Download Free Sheet Music of “Los Mareados”; Lyrics and translation of “Los Mareados”
Los Mareados (Music: Juan Carlos Cobian /Enrique Cadicamo (1900-1999)
Performed live by the CT Tango Ensemble:
Juan Simon – Voice
Stanislav Angelov – Accordion
Jacek Domagala – Violin
Albert Combrink – Piano
Filmed during the run of Tango Show El Beso – December 2004 at The Little Theatre – Cape Town, produced by El Cacha Tango Company, directed by Heinrich Reisenhofer (www.elcacha.com)
Juan Carlos Cobian
A deceptively simple little Tango, Los Mareados starts with a quasi-recitative, building to a very dramatic climax. It’s composer, pianist and tango-innovator Juan Carlos Cobian (1896-1953), was born in Pigüé, Buenos Aires. His fame rests on both his playing as a pianist, and his compositions. He was perhaps the first to fill in the bass line with embellishments when the melody rests. This practise was later taken up by other masters such as Francisco de Caro. Alongside the composer Enrique Delfino, Cobian was the main creator of the so-called “Tango-Romanza”. Born of Spanish father and Argentine mother, he showed early pianistic promise imitating the lessons of his sister Delores, who encouraged her parents to let her younger brother take lessons as well. After graduating from the “Conservatorio Williams” at the age of 17, he did the rounds in Buenos Aires playing for silent movies and beer houses until landing a job with the best paid bandoneonist of the time, Genaro Esposito. He was arrested for evading military service, but the time to good use, writing a number of tangos.
“Tango-poet” Enrique Cadicamo
Novelist and “Tango-poet” Enrique Cadicamo (1900-1999), born Luján, Buenos Aires, was an early prize-winner of the Max Glücksmann competition for new tangos. His lyrics are rich in the Lunfardo style. Lunfardo is not so much a Latin dialect of Spanish, as it is a specific use of a “sub-set” of that language, rich in imagery that might be lost on the audience – or not, depending on how one is using it. Lunfardo is frequently found in the lyrics of Tangos, supplying nuances and double-entendres with overtones of sex, drugs and the criminal underworld. It is an integral part of the Spanish spoken in Argentina, Uruguay, even parts of Paraguay and Chile. But for all practical purposes, Lunfardo is not understood by the general Spanish speakers from other countries. In the mouths of some, Lunfardo is mere slang. In the pen of Cadicamo, it’s power even attracted the ire of censorship.
Buenos Aires 1943
From “Los dopados” to “Los Mareados” to “En mi passado” and back again.
Cobian originally composed Los Mareados as an instrumental tango. The lyrics were added by Raúl Doblas and Alberto Weisbach for use in the play “Los Dopados” (The doped) which premièred in Buenos Aires in 1922. The acidic text describes two lovers breaking up and swearing to get angrily and madly drunk together on “Champagne that kills your little soul”. The show was soon forgotten.
Two decades later, Cadicamo heard an old record of the song with Cobian himself on the piano. He wrote new words, repeating the central theme of the bitter champagne-drinking break-up. So, in 1942 Los Mareados was recorded again and was an instant hit on the local radio stations. But not for long: just three years before Juan Domingo Perón became president, the military government clamped down on Lunfardo elements in all forms of public life. Suspect literature and music were banned, and Los Mareados was no longer allowed radio play.
Eva & Juan Perón
Cadicamo, locked in an office with an intimidating armed military official, was “requested” to rewrite the lyrics. And so, the tame “En mi pasado” was born. No more drunken Champagne-tinged skirmishes: the lovers part calmly and without sex, alcohol or violence.
Los Mareados was only heard in its original form again in 1949. A delegation of poets and musicians begged for a special hearing with the president of the nation, General Juan Domingo Perón. Perón was swayed by the passion of a group that included the greats Anibal Troilo and Francisco Canaro, and lifted the ban.
Los Mareados Lyrics (Cadicamo) in the original Spanish (and Lunfardo)
Rara.. como encendida te hallé bebiendo linda y fatal…
Bebías y en el fragor del champán, loca, reías por no llorar…
Pena Me dio encontrarte pues al mirarte yo vi brillar
tus ojos con un eléctrico ardor, tus bellos ojos que tanto adoré…
Esta noche, amiga mía, el alcohol nos ha embriagado…
¡Qué importa que se rían y nos llamen los mareados!
Cada cual tiene sus penas y nosotros las tenemos…
Esta noche beberemos porque ya no volveremos a vernos más…
Hoy vas a entrar en mi pasado, en el pasado de mi vida…
Tres cosas lleva mi alma herida: amor… pesar… dolor…
Hoy vas a entrar en mi pasado y hoy nuevas sendas tomaremos…
¡Qué grande ha sido nuestro amor!…
Y, sin embargo, ¡ay!, mirá lo que quedó…
Ave. de Mayofe - Buenos Aires c.1930
Los Mareados Lyrics (Cadicamo) in a very loose English Translation by Albert Combrink
How strange! As if you were on fire, I found you drinking - contagious and fatal.
You drank, and in the noise of the Champaign, you were crazy – laughing so that you did not cry.
It pained me to see you like that, your brilliant eyes shooting an electric bolt – your beautiful eyes that I adored.
Tonight, my friend, alcohol will be our friend. What matters is that we be inebriated, and we recall how intoxicated we used to be.
Everyone has sorrows, and we have ours.
Tonight we will drink, because we can no longer see who we used to be.
Today you enter my past – part of the history of my life.
My soul takes three things with it: Love, a Scale, and Pain.
Today you enter my past. We will take new paths.
How great was our love.
And yet, despite everything, our love looks at what is used to be.
Download Free Sheet Music of “Los Mareados” in a piano arrangement by Tango Pianist and Arranger Rogelio Marra.
CT Tango Ensemble performing Julian Plaza’s Payadora live at the 2008 Paulaner October Music Festival Cape Town’s V & A Waterfront.
CT Tango Ensemble performing Julian Plaza’s Payadora live at the 2008 Paulaner October Music Festival Cape Town’s V & A Waterfront. The CD was also recorded on their second Album, Tango Club(launched March 2010)
CT Tango Ensemble
Stanislav Angelov – Accordion,
Albert Combrink – Keyboard
Jacek Domagala – Violin
Dave Ridgway – Double Bass
Read more about Julian Plaza’s delightful milonga, Payadora HERE
Recorded live & produced by Marek Pinski from CDXpress (pinski@iafrica.com)
To buy their CDs or book the Ensemble go to: www.goodmusic.co.za
Louise Howlet (Voice) & Albert Combrink (Piano) perform the 1934 Rodgers & Hart Classic, “Blue Moon” at the launch of their CD “Night Sessions”, 7 October 2010, Cape Town.
Louise Howlet (Voice) & Albert Combrink (Piano) perform the 1934 Rodgers & Hart Classic, “Blue Moon” at the launch of their CD “Night Sessions”, 7 October 2010, Cape Town.
To book the artists or purchase a CD, contact Louise Howlett at singing-lady@hotmail.com and visit www.albertcombrink.com for more information.
The following information is by Bill Brent and was published originally in the Weekly Bugle.
Thought you’d be interested in the story of Blue Moon.
Bill Brent
Blue Moon was the only Rodgers and Hart song to become a hit, that was not written for a show or movie; but Blue Moon has a remarkable history. The lyric that we are familiar with was the fourth… here’s the story:
Rodgers and Hart were under contract to MGM for about a month when they were given the task of writing songs for the “Hollywood Party”. They were told every MGM star would be in it, Disney was making a technicolor cartoon to stick in the middle of it, and it was to be the big screwball comedy “to end all screwball comedies” to quote Richard Rodgers… “One of our ideas was to include a scene in which Jean Harlow is shown as an innocent young girl saying – or rather singing- her prayers. How the sequence fitted into the movie I haven’t the foggiest notion, but the purpose was to express Jean’s overwhelming ambition to become a movie star (‘Oh Lord, if you’re not busy up there,/I ask for help with a prayer/ So please don’t give me the air…’).” The scene was never shot, no sound checks were ever made, and in fact, only three of the dozen or so Rodgers and Hart songs written for the film made it to the screen. So MGM Song #225 is dated June 14, 1933, and was registered for copy-right as an unpublished work by MGM, JULY 10, 1933. The remarkable saga of “Prayer” epitomizes what Rodgers and Hart went througn when they were under contract to Metro.
"Blue Moon" - Melissa Sadie Wright (permission to use requested)
In its second life the “Prayer”/”Blue Moon” tune was given a new lyric and became the title song of the 1934 MGM film Manhatian Melodrama, which starred Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Leo Carillo, and was the movie that John Dillinger had been watching when he was gunned down outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago. It was registered for copyright as an unpublished work by Metro-Goidwyn Mayer, March 30, 1934. So Hart wrote a lyric for the song to be used as the title song (played either before or during the opening credits of the Movie)… But before “High Noon”, you just didn’t have too many title songs, so “Its Just That Kind of a Play” AKA The Manhattan Melodrama was cut.
Rodgers liked the melody and when MGM asked for a nightclub number for “Manhattan Melodrama”, he had Hart write new lyrics and “Prayer (Oh Lord, make me a movie star)” became “The bad in every man” sung by Shirley Ross. The song made it into the film but did not become a hit. The press kit shows sheet music on the song, but I’ve never run across any.
It was Rodgers & Hart’s publisher, Jack Robbins who told them he thought the song would be a hit, if Hart could make it more commercial. Hart was reluctant to write a fourth lyric, but Robbins swore he’d plug the song from California to Maine. Hart caved in and wrote “Blue Moon”. Robbins “gave” it to the “Hollywood Hotel”, a radio program that used it as their theme, and on January 15, 1934 He had Connie Boswell record it for Columbia. Blue Moon turned up in at least seven other MGM motion pictures including “Marx Brothers At The Circus” and “Viva Las Vegas”.
PRAYER
Oh, Lord, If you ain’t busy up there,
I ask for help with a prayer,
So please don’t give me the air.
Oh, hear me, Lord. I must see Garbo in person
With Gable when they’re rehearsin’
While some director is cursin’.
Please let me open up my, eyes at seven
And find I’m looking through the Golden Gate
