Welcome to Week 12 of The Definitive Version, a new weekly feature of my website. You can read more about the project here.
Song: “Lullaby of Birdland”
Composer: George Shearing
Lyricist: George David Weiss
Form: AABA’
Standard Key: F Minor/ A-flat Major
George Shearing, the blind British jazz pianist, penned this classic tune in 1952. It’s been popular since. It has a catchy melody, and harmonic progression that feels natural to improvise to. It can be performed at various tempos, as we’ll see below, though the natural fit is a medium-up swing. One caveat: the printed lead sheets of “Lullaby of Birdland” do not reflect actual practice of the form: there is a different ending to the final “A” depending on whether it is a turnaround to another chorus or the end of the piece. This is common practice, but is not in the book – which means that it’s easy to spot the performer who has only learned the song from a book.
Definitive Version: Mel Tormé (1982 from An Evening with George Shearing and Mel Tormé)
Form: Ballad Chorus (Shearing) | Swing Chorus (Tormé) | Vocal Solo | Piano Solo | Bass Solo | Piano/Vocal Fugal Improv | Trading | Vocal Chorus | Tag
Feel: Ballad / Swing
Key: D Minor (Shearing) / F Minor (Tormé
Instrumentation: Piano & bass
This 1982 live recording was the first of six collaborations between George Shearing and Mel Tormé – they clearly found the collaboration rewarding! It was recorded live in San Francisco, with just piano and bass collaboration with Mel. The recording ended up winning Mel a Grammy Award for “Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male” in 1983. About their collaboration, George Shearing wrote:
It is impossible to imagine a more compatible musical partner… I humbly put forth that Mel and I had the best musical marriage in many a year. We literally breathed together during our countless performances. As Mel put it, we were two bodies of one musical mind.
The album, and presumably the performance, ends with this tour-de-force performance of “Lullaby of Birdland.” at 7 1/2 minutes long, it has room for everything, including a charming ballad rendition to open the track, featuring Shearing himself playing and singing rubato. From there, Mel’s interpretation swings, the vocal and instrumental solos are sophisticated, musical, and clever, and the performance ends with a bang. Mel Tormé was a consummate jazz singer, but he started as a pop singer and child star (actor, instrumentalist, singer, radio performer – he did everything), and he never forgets that he is in front of an audience. This is a live interpretation at the highest level, and makes Shearing’s quote above easily believable.
Also Recommended:
- Sarah Vaughan (1954) Swinging, with Sarah’s classic sound, here collaborating with an all-start band including Clifford Brown.
- Ella Fitzgerald (1967, from Ella & Duke at the Cote D’Azur) – Two great artists, starts with a bang.
- Dianne Reeves (2001 from The Calling) – The great Dianne Reeves, on her tribute album to Sarah Vaughan.
- Mel Tormé (1956, from Mel Tormé With the Marty Paich Dek-Tette) – For comparison, Mel interpreting the song almost thirty years earlier.
- Blossom Dearie and The Blue Stars of France (1955) Just for some historical perspective, listen to this version from the Blue Stars. Blossom Dearie created this vocal group in Paris, and this recording was a major Billboard hit in 1956. The arranger? Legendary French composer Michel Legrand. Among the singers? Several founding members (later) of The Swingle Singers, including Ward Swingle himself.