Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Julie Lyon was born on November 17, 1969 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but grew up in Florida where she studied classical voice and received her degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Central Florida.
After college Julie started her musical career singing with different Top-40, Rock, Blues and Country bands until meeting her husband, drummer Tom Cabrera, and then turned to jazz.
Following her passion Lyon has recorded two albums, “Beginning To See The Light” and “ Live: Between Then And Now” and has since become a regular on the Park Avenue scene in Winter Park. An Orlando area staple, she performs regularly at Club Swank, Harvey’s Bistro, Fiddlers Green and The Citrus Club among others.
Pulling up stakes she moved with her husband to New York and continues to perform with her quartet/quintet in jazz clubs and appear at annual festivals. The vocalist and lyricist also composes, arranges and improvises her style through her original and standard catalogue of music.
Take A Dose On The Road
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Hollywood On 52nd Street
Three Coins in the Fountain is a popular song, music written by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sammy Cahn for the 1954 romantic comedy film of the same name. Starring Clifton Webb, Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters Louis Jordan, Rossano Brazzi and Maggie McNamara, the title song was sung by an un-credited Frank Sinatra and went on to become an enduring standard with perpetual encores by jazz musicians. It won an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 27th Academy Awards in 1955.
The Story: Three American women working in Rome dream of finding romance in the Eternal City. That dream is fueled by their belief in the magic of throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain and making a wish.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was born on November 12, 1917 in Coalinga, California. Her mother was an accomplished banjo player who folk songs became of great influence. Her first public singing appearance came in Long Beach when she was 12. She attended Long Beach Polytechnical High School with dreams of a career in opera but with the onset of the Great Depression she joined her sisters and became The Stafford Sisters. Popularity grew and they got their start at KNX Radio when Jo was just 18 and went on to perform at KHJ Radio in Los Angeles
The sisters found work in the film industry as backup vocalists, made their first recording with Louis in 1936 and a year later she created arrangements for Fred Astaire on the soundtrack of “A Damsel In Distress”. Jo went on to join the Pied Pipers, work with Tommy Dorsey in New York, record four sides for RCA Victor and then returned to Los Angeles. After the Dorsey years the group was signed to Johnny Mercer’s new label Capitol Records and started singing on the radio shows of Frank Sinatra, Bob Crosby and Mercer.
In 1944, Stafford left the Pied Pipers going solo, picked up the nickname G.I. Jo for her continuous performance for the US troops, hosted “The Chesterfield Supper Club” and before the decade ended had a couple of million-seller tunes. By the 50s she was doing work for Voice of America, recording at Columbia Records becoming the first artist to sell 25 million records and hosted The Jo Stafford Show on TV. In the Sixties she recorded for Reprise, Warner and Dot record labels in the Sixties, won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album for her performance a part of the comedy duo Jonathan and Darlene Edwards.
Stafford went into semi-retirement in the mid-60s citing the music business as no longer fun and retiring completely in 1975. She devoted her time to charity for those with developmental disabilities. She donated her library to the University of Arizona and was inducted into the Big Band Academy of America’s Golden Bandstand in 2007.
Jo Stafford, singer of jazz standards and tradition pop music whose career spanned thirty years passed away of congestive heart failure on July 16, 2008. Her work in radio, television and music is recognized by three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Put A Dose In Your Pocket
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Hollywood On 52nd Street
It Might As Well Be Spring has been a classic jazz favorite for many years but it didn’t start out that way. It was a song taken from the 1945 film State Fair with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and was part of the only original film score.
Jeanne Crain, who played Margy Frake, sang the song in the film, but was dubbed by Louanne Hogan. Dick Haymes, who portrayed the original Wayne Frake, made the first hit recording of the song, followed by Frank Sinatra, Sammy Kaye, Paul Weston, Margaret Whiting, Shirley Bassey, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Blossom Dearie, Nina Simone, Brad Mehldau and Jane Monheit.
The Story: Love, romance and competition take center stage as the Frake family sets off for the state fair. Margy is melancholy and looks forward to the break in routine. Father Abel is excited about entering his prize pig Blue By for the ribbon and bets his neighbor. Mother is entering the cooking competition with her pickles and mincemeat recipes. Brothe Wayne is left forlorn by his girlfriend’s inability to go with him.
At the fair all the romances take a different turn of occurrences and lucky beaus end up with new ladies, Blue Boy wins in all his categories thanks to his lady love Esmeralda, and it’s a happily ever after story ending.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
René Marie was born René Marie Stevens on November 7, 1955 in Warrenton, Virginia. With the encouragement of her children, the jazz vocalist and songwriter started her professional musical career in 1997 at the age of 42.
Performing at Washington D.C.’s Blues Alley in 1999, René signed with the MaxJazz label out of St. Louis and released four albums to critical acclaim and her sophomore project “Vertigo” received a coronet ranking by the “Penguin Guide to Jazz”, a distinction given to less than 85 other recordings in jazz history.
Her work often combines contrasting songs such as “Dixie” and the anti-lynching “Strange Fruit” on Vertigo or Ravel’s Bolero with Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne” on Live at Jazz Standard.
Attracting controversy and national attention in 2008, René substituted the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner” with “Lift Every Voice and Sing” when invited to sing the national anthem at a civic event in Denver. This arrangement of the national anthem forms part of the titular suite of Marie’s 2011 CD, “The Voice of My Beautiful Country” on the Motema Music label.
René Marie specializes in writing her own music, and she comments on the fact that this is not the norm in jazz in one of her songs, “This for Joe,” after a club manager who got mad at her for singing originals. Her 8th release, Black Lace Freudian Slip, maintains the tradition.
She followed that project by steering away from tradition with a rare tribute album to Eartha Kitt, her latest titled “I Want To Be Evil”. Vocalist Rene Marie continues to record, perform and tour worldwide.
Give A Gift Of Jazz – Share
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