Tag Archives: Something For Thursday

Concluding a celebration of Black History Month by way of music, we have a selection performed by musical prodigy Philippa Duke Schuyler. Schuyler lived from 1931 to 1967. She was an enormously gifted musician who spent much of her youth … Continue reading →

Despite my best efforts in high school and college–and I did make a lot of efforts–I never did become a “jazzman,” as the term was back then. (I have no idea if the jazz world has adopted a more inclusive … Continue reading →

It’s Black History Month, so why not feature a man who I consider to be one of the four greatest voices* in the history of pop music? I’m talking about the astonishing, amazing, absolutely one-of-a-kind Sam Cooke. Every time I … Continue reading →

Featuring black musicians this month in honor of Black History Month, here’s a good one. If your spine isn’t tingled by this, I don’t know what to do for you. Here is William Warfield singing “Ol’ Man River” from Showboat. … Continue reading →

Listening to this piece might lead one to assume that it is perhaps a movement from a larger sacred work for baritone, chorus, and orchestra, but it is not: It’s a piece of film music, composed by Patrick Doyle for … Continue reading →

As noted the other day, conductor and pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy has retired from public performance. Ashkenazy was born in 1937 in Russia, but in the 1960s he emigrated to the West where he has lived ever since, starting with London … Continue reading →

The 1957 musical Funny Face is kind of an odd duck of a movie. It seems to me a bit underrated, coming as it did when the musical was likely on the decline, but it’s still an entertaining film loaded … Continue reading →

I’m sure you’ve often wondered: “Why sure, the main theme from Star Wars sounds great when played by a full symphony orchestra, but how does it work when scaled down to a string quartet?” And here’s your answer!

So a strange thing happened while I was writing my annual Year’s End Quiz for 2019. The last question of the quiz is “Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.” I always interpret this less as a song … Continue reading →

If you read the Daily Dose of Christmas below and wonder which Frank Sinatra song I remember from very early in my youth, it’s this one. Here’s “Love’s Been Good to Me”.