Christine Rosholt © Andrea Canter

Arlen - Born Hyman Arluck in 1905 - broke into the world of jazz and popular music not as a composer, but as a vocalist. ; His early vocal recordings in the late 20s reveal a startlingly jazzy tenor, full of enthusiasm, rhythm, and a penchant for improvisation rare for the white singers of his time. It was while arranging, playing, and singing in bands in New York, that a piano riff of his was transformed into a song by lyricist Ted Koehler. The song, “Get Happy”, was a massive, sustained hit; an eventual standard, and it served as proof to the young Mr. Arlen that his future lie in the creation of, rather than in the performance of, popular songs.

Harold Arlen

One of the most interesting aspects of Arlen’s story is the fact that, unlike a relative “late bloomer” such as Cole Porter, there was no “warm up” period for his genius to formulate a style or hit it’s stride....He was writing classics from the very beginning. Within the first few years of the 1930s, he had created many of the most famous songs of his entire career, such as “Stormy Weather”, “Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea”, and “I’ve Got The World On A String”. By the late 1930s, he’d created the motion picture score for which many remember him best: “The Wizard Of Oz”. In the 1940s, Arlen gave us such classics as “One For My Baby”, “Ac-Cent-Tu-Ate The Positive”, and “My Shining Hour”, and his memorable 1950s tunes include “The Man That Got Away” and “Born In A Trunk” both from the Judy Garland comeback epic, “A Star Is Born”.

Over the years, many lyricists served time as Arlen collaborators, including Johnny Mercer, E.Y. Harburg, Ted Koehler, even Truman Capote. But the finished products derived from these collaborations would almost always be refered to as “Arlen songs”, not only because of the public’s usual tendency to unofficially assign “ownership” of a pop song to it’s composer, rather than it’s lyricist, but because Arlen’s songs were stamped with a special quality: a rare combination of earthiness and sophistication, passion and innocence, and the rich, bluesy melody that marked them as works of the great Harold Arlen.

Supporting the three vocalists will be the Rick Carlson Trio, consisting of three of the most accomplished players in the Twin Cities: Rick Carlson, piano - Keith Boyles, bass - and Jay Epstein, drums. All three are well acquainted with Harold Arlen’s catalogue, and will add immeasurably to the musical “rainbow” to be presented on Sunday, January 14th, at 2 PM, at the Bloomington Center for the Arts, 1800 W. Old Shakopee Rd. Tickets are $19 (TCJS Members / Seniors / Students $16) and there is plenty of free parking. Call 952-563-8575 for tickets or visit wwww.bloomingtoncivictheatre.org.

This article first appeared in the Twin Cities Jazz Society's publication: TCJS Jazz Notes. Arne Fogel is a performer, broadcaster, TCJS board member www.arnefogel.com

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