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Rich's Multimedia Retrospectives

Great American Songbook - Part 2

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The Great American Songbook, also known as “American Standards," is the canon of the most important and influential American songs  from the early and mid-20th century.  They include the most popular and enduring melodies from the 1910s to the 1950s that were created primarily for Broadway musical productions and Hollywood musical films.  The Songbook comprises standards by George Gershwin, Sammy Fain (above left), Arthur Schwartz (above right), Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Victor Young, Richard Rodgers, Frank Loesser, and many others.

Part II of this five-part series will focus on songs composed and recorded from 1930-1934, including such great numbers as Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top," Harold Arlen’s “Let’s Fall in Love," Richard Rodgers’ “Blue Moon," and Gerald Marks’ “All of Me."  We will have an opportunity to watch and listen to vocalists and arrangers both past and present interpret these timeless melodies and examine how their placement within the context of a musical show or film added to their historical significance and made them truly unforgettable.

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