Michael Greensill wrote:
<<How dare you throw such an insult at the man with the guts to take a
couple of oboe solos on the Charlie Parker With Strings sessions? ;-)>>
That's the weird thing about him. He was a hip guy. All the stuff did
did for Alec Wilder.
But then he made Rosie Clooney sing "Come on-a My House". Here's a quote
from Will Friedwald......
"Miller exemplified the worst in American pop. He first aroused the ire
of intelligent listeners by trying to turn -- and darn near succeeding
in turning -- great artists like Sinatra, Clooney, and Tony Bennett into
hacks. Miller chose the worst songs and put together the worst backings
imaginable -- not with the hit-or-miss attitude that bad musicians...
traditionally used, but with insight, forethought, careful planning, and
perverted brilliance."
While all that is true, "Come on-a My House" made Rosemary Clooney a
much bigger star than she already was, and she has admitted how that
brought new life to her fading singing career and allowed her to
continue to sing the songs she truly loved.
A perverse brilliance perhaps, but I think Miller was trying to make a
last stab at capturing the public's attention for these stars in the
face of the rising tide of rhythm-and-blues and rock 'n roll. And it
worked to a point -- neither my grandmother nor my parents would never
have enjoyed Rosemary Clooney's gorgeous rendition of Invitation but
they all sure loved Come-on-a-My-House! And my dad bought every Sing
Along With Mitch album there was! (gag!) He also bought every Arthur
Fiedler / Boston Pops "Classical Music for People Who Hate Classical
Music" album, too.
Pablum, certainly, but because of listening to them (and feeble attempts
to sing along) I learned a heck of a lot of songs I would never have
been exposed to otherwise.
Who's to say that it was the worst in American pop -- if a lot of people
like something in the arts who is to say it's a bad thing? If it speaks
to a lot of people, even if not to you, isn't there something redeeming
about it? What's the alternative -- that people don't listen to music
at all if there isn't anything they like?
Mitch Miller was a very successful man who had a large following who
loved his products and made him wealthy -- we should all be so lucky
with our chosen artistic expression! :-)
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
