A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

 One of my favorite songs of all time is "All the Things You Are" by composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. Written in 1939 for the musical "Very Warm for May," it quickly became a popular standard of the Big Band era. Many singers, instrumentalists, and orchestras of the period did covers; Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Artie Shaw, Helen Forrest, Charlie Parker, Judy Garland, and Glenn Miller surely did back in the days of World War II and shortly after. Like other classics from the 1930s and 1940s - think "Moonlight Serenade" or "The Nearness of You" - "All the Things You Are" continues to captivate both singers and listeners, as new generations discover the charms of Kern's romantic melody and Hammerstein's poetic lyrics. The array of singers who have covered "All the Things You Are" is dizzying; it includes Ella Fitzgerald, Rebecca Luker, Renee Fleming, Johnny Mathis, Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanian...

(C) 1996 RCA Victor When John Williams stepped down as conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1993 after 13 successful seasons, a young but experienced conductor and pianist, Keith Lockhart, was chosen as his replacement. Looking more like a college freshman than music director of one of America's most famous orchestras, Lockhart has proved to be just as adept and popular as Williams and the late Arthur Fiedler. Song of the Volga Boatmen RCA Victor’s 1996 album The Boston Pops Orchestra: Runnin' Wild: Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Play Glenn Miller is a collection of songs made famous by Big Band era orchestra leader Glenn Miller, whose civilian and later Army Air Force bands provided audiences with music to dance to (and love to) before and during World War II. Before his mysterious death in December 1944, Miller's band and featured vocalists gave the world such beloved swing standards as " In The Mood," "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," ...

(C) 2007 Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Sony Legacy Records and Florentine Films On September 26, 2007, 300 or so Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member stations in the United States aired A Necessary War, the first episode of Ken Burns’ seven-part   documentary series about the American experience in World War II. A bottom-up story told mainly by the residents – civilians and military veterans – of four quintessentially American towns (Waterbury, CT, Mobile, AL, Luverne, MN, and Sacramento, CA), The War: A Ken Burns Film – unlike British ITV’s The World at War – focuses primarily on personal experiences, with more intimate reminisces about the human experience of war instead of discussions about tactics, grand strategy, and Big Power politics. The War was originally scheduled to air on September 15, 2007, but protests by Latino and Native American advocates about Burns’ emphasis on stories told by white and African American interviewees at the expense of their narrative c...

(C) 2007 Sony BMG Music Entertainment I'm Beginning to See the Light (Original 1945 Recording) On September 11, 2007, Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s Legacy label released The War: I’m Beginning to See the Light – Dance Hits from the Second World War. “Dropped” to precede the premiere broadcast of Ken Burns’ The War: A Ken Burns Film, this 20-track album was one of four Sony soundtrack recordings tied in to Burns’ 14-hour-long World War II documentary. (The other discs were The War: A Film by Ken Burns – Original Soundtrack; Songs Without Words – The War; and The War: Sentimental Journey: Hits from The Second World War ) Culled from several recordings made in the 1930s and 1940s, The War: I’m Beginning to See the Light – Dance Hits from the Second World War showcases some of the best jazz and swing music ever composed. Some of the greats from the Big Band era – Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Coleman Hawkins, and Benny Goodman – are hea...