Ed Mascari

Conversations at the Piano

When I was growing up there was a tradition among some of the local churches to present variety shows. This was a way to raise some money for the parish. However, it turned out to be both a way to build community as well as an opportunity for creative expression. Because of my early interest in music, I attended the rehearsals and performances of these shows since my mother was always involved.

The first time that I actually participated in one of these church shows was in a comic skit created by my brother and I along with our ventriloquist dummy Jerry Mahoney. My first musical performance in a show took place a couple of years later when I was 14, and this ignited my interest in developing my musical talents more seriously. The following year, being the aspiring young musician I was, I began carefully observing the paid professional music director, pianist Henry Michaels. Michaels was a graduate of Mannes College of Music and created instant arrangements from a Fake Book for each singer’s solo. When the performances actually took place, the arrangements really came to life because Michaels’ piano playing was enhanced by the addition of a professional bass player and drummer. What I didn’t realize during the rehearsals was that Michaels’ seemingly instant arrangements had been conceived with the concept that the other instrumental parts would complement and expand the keyboard role so beautifully.

One year the planning committee came up with the idea of using the theme of songs with Moon in the title (or lyrics) as a way of unifying the show. As an aside, I often recommend to my piano students that they create medleys of songs that they like. The reason for this is that it’s so easy to forget the songs that a student has practiced and studied if she doesn’t play them consistently. The more tunes she knows, the more challenging it is to keep them in shape. By organizing pieces into medleys it makes it much easier for her to review her repertoire.

There are many ways of organizing songs into medleys: by composer, by accompaniment type (e. g. beguine bass), by Broadway Show, etc. Perhaps my thought about possible ideas for combining songs into medleys dates back to the church variety show of Moon songs. After all that was the first time I heard Jimmy Van Heusen’s Polkadots and Moonbeams.

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The first time I came across Like Someone In Love in a Fake Book, I was immediately taken by its descending bass line, the line that the left hand plays that is created by the bottom notes of each chord (in this case: C-B-A-G-F#-F-E). The discovery of this great standard took place right after I had made the transition from being the keyboard player in my commercial group Synergy to my role as a solo jazz pianist. As a result, I probably noticed this style of arranging the chords because of its similarity to Billy Joel’s Piano Man.

Like Piano Man, many pop songs written after 1960 incorporate the descending bass line technique in as a way of connecting one chord to another. In contrast to this, the standards of the American Popular Songbook usually emphasize the ii – V and ii-V-I chord progressions as the method for relating and joining one chord to another. Certainly, the use of the handi variation aka minor line cliché is common to both styles of music. However, Like Someone In Love is more of a exception than the rule for the standards.

In any case, I got to thinking about how composers from every era often found ways to express a non-musical image by using a certain compositional technique. For example, many of my students play James Bastien’s arrangement of the theme from the 5^th movement of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. In many instances, I tell these students about how amazed I am every time I listen to the section of the piece in which the composer created the effect of a chirping /singing bird by using real instruments. No computers or synthesizers necessary!

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Several years ago, a composer friend recommended that I read a book called Walking on Water, which he found helpful for understanding the creative process. The author was Madeleine L’Engle. Many of you may recognize the writer’s name because of her well-known books including A Wrinkle in Time.  Having spent most of my career as a professional musician seeking to find a balance between my corporate side (i.e. the need to make a living) and my creative side (i.e. the need to explore and develop my composing, arranging, improvising, performing and writing as well as my teaching talents and interests), this book was a huge help.

Ms. L’Engle had dealt with her own need to balance her roles in life, that of being a writer as well as a wife and mother. In the book, she dispels the myth of our image of Beethoven walking through the woods and having all of the music for a symphony just pop into his head. The creative process is certainly a complex one. I have explored the concepts of psychologist Carl Jung, studied the content of my former composition teacher Lukas Foss‘ Boston University Faculty Lecture, and read many biographies of classical composers. As a result I have come to realize that creativity certainly involves a combination of many components.

One of the elements that can evoke and energize our creativity is to discover a successful working method that we can practice until it becomes a habit. Although this will NOT guarantee that we’ll compose a great symphony or write a bestselling novel, it will certainly contribute to the quality and amount of material that we can create. Over the years, I have observed that many of my piano students will arrive at one of their lessons and proudly produce a piece of music that they have composed or arranged. For some, it’s music written down on staff paper, for others it’s something that they can play on the piano and for a few, it’s a notated musical score along with a MIDI recording that they have produced on their computer.

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When I’m teaching my piano students how to play one of the great standards, it’s easy for me to forget something very important. If you’re like most students, you probably have become familiar with songs, especially the standards from the American Popular Songbook, by hearing vocal versions of them on recordings and/or by going to Broadway shows (including shows of this type presented locally).

So what’s wrong with this? Nothing is wrong! 

However, your acquaintance with a particular song is probably making you think that a song can only be performed one very specific way – the way you heard it.

Here’s the good news…..

There are usually many ways to interpret songs. Such is the case with today’s featured blog selection, Jimmy Van Heusen’s Imagination. I must tell you that during the past week, I felt like my listening relationship with this great piece was more typical to that of my students than to that of my normal overview.

Here’s what I mean…

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For a long time on my gigs, Here’s That Rainy Day was the only song by Jimmy Van Heusen that I played. When I decided to present this blog post series that features his compositions, I realized that even though I have played many of his great songs since my early years as a professional musician, I’ve still only scratched the surface of his oeuvre (body of artistic i.e. compositional work). In fact, Van Heusen’s list of his 50 commonly performed standards represents only about 6% of his total output of 800 songs.

Last week’s featured selection, Darn That Dream, marked the beginning of Van Heusen’s most prolific period. Not long after collaborating on this tune and several other songs with lyricist Eddie DeLange, he began his long-time partnership with lyricist Johnny Burke. Burke, like his soon to be collaborator, started out as a staff pianist for a music publisher. In this case, it was Irving Berlin’s company.

Burke headed for Hollywood in 1936 and within four years he and Jimmy Van Heusen began making their mark on song writing history. As a matter of fact, four of the six standards that I selected for this blog post series come from this collaboration. As I mentioned earlier, I have played Here’s That Rainy Day since the earliest days of my performing career.

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I’ll never forget the time that I found out Michael Landon’s real name. Years ago, many actors and actresses used a stage name rather than their real name as a way of helping their fans remember them. Can you imagine seeing the youngest of Ben Cartwright’s three sons on Bonanza being billed by his birth name, Eugene Horowitz?

Although I never used a stage name, this practice was so common among performers that anyone who wanted to join the musicians’ union had to list his or her stage name on the membership application. Thinking back to a few professional musicians who used stage names, I am reminded of an experience I had on one of my summer hotel gigs in the Catskill Mountains. A few weeks into the season, a saxophonist came with his family to stay at the hotel for his annual vacation. Apparently the owner of the hotel had promised him free room and board if he would perform with our trio in the casino (as the lounge was called) every night during his stay.

And so without any discussion or warning, this gentleman introduced himself by his real name and then proceeded to show us all sorts of promotional materials that used his stage name which I think was Paul Whiteman (not to be confused with the band leader who premiered Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue). To make a long story short, this older man took over the leadership of our group by becoming both the featured soloist and the emcee. Oh yes, he also showed up to perform in a white dinner jacket with his tuxedo so he would stand out from the three of us who wore black tuxedos.

Need I say more?

Well that brings us to the composer of today’s song selection, Darn That Dream: Edward Chester Babcock.

Who?

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