I don't even know how to approach the OP, but without entering into the "rock" area, here are some I can't seem to get past:
Cab Calloway,
"Kickin' the Gong Around", and the whole Minnie the Moocher/Smokey Joe cycle.
Hoagy Carmichael w/collaborators,
"Stardust",
"Heart and Soul", among others.
Kurt Weill,
"Youkali", definitely, probably
"I'm A Stranger Here Myself", and without question the entirety of
The Threepenny OperaJacques Brel, either
"Ne me quite pas" or
"Le Moribond", among others.
Cole Porter, maybe
"I Concentrate on You", or
"Night and Day", among others.
Irving Berlin,
"Change Partners" and
"Stepping Out With My Baby", among others.
Johnny Mercer w/ collaborators, "Fools Rush In", "One For My Baby", many, many more.
"I'm a Fool to Want You" was created in 1951 by Frank Sinatra, Joel Herron and Jack Wolf. It was created during the temultuous affair that involved both Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra. The affair was at first squashed by studio heads at MGM and Sinatra's managers but became big headlines when Sinatra left his first wife for Ava. Ava Gardner, at that time, was one of the most perfectly beautiful women in Hollywood at that time. The Sinatra-Gardner affair was doomed almost at the start with MGM studio heads sending Gardner to locations shoots in Africa and Europe in order to break-up the twosome. This resulted in passionately angry scenes between Gardner and Sinatra which resulted in a near suicide attempt by Sinatra in 1951 when he co-wrote "I'm a Fool to Want You." The first recording session for this song came in 1951 and was done in one take with Axel Stordahl (Sinatra's accompanist at that time) arranging and conducting the orchestra. So intense were the emotions that night that after the recording was done, Sinatra was so overcome with the grief in his own life, he left the studio and never returned, disappearing into the night. This recording from May 1, 1957 with Gordon Jenkins is just as devastating as the first with Jenkins' Tchaikovsky-like strings tearing at the melodic line gently but inevitably. Surely this is a masterpiece of the first order.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z26panRGOII would say that the most emotional moment was her listening to the playback of "I'm a Fool to Want You". There were tears in her eyes...After we finished the album I went into the control room and listened to all the takes. I must admit I was unhappy with her performance, but I was just listening musically instead of emotionally. It wasn't until I heard the final mix a few weeks later that I realized how great her performance really was.[4]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs9P-pfqF6YCorny, I know, but that's what I like.
Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 1:00 pm