1. "The Arrival of Baby Harry" by John Williams, on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone soundtrack. Starts with a creepy/magical celesta sound, followed by swirling strings. Now the english horn introduces more strings with bell towers, some wordless chorus, all anticipatory of the arrival. Ah, now Harry's theme comes in, that's the arrival we've been waiting for. The second part is happier, but very brief. Harry has a hard life ahead.
2. "Baby, Don't Tell on Me" by Lester Young, Count Basie, and Jimmy Rushing; performed by the Count Basie Orchestra on The Essential Count Basie, Volume 1. Nice muted trumpet solo for this blues. Jimmy sings, apparently on his criminal activities that his lover shouldn't squeal about.
3. "Babyface" by U2 on Zooropa. Interesting fusion of Bono's lower register with someone (Bono?) singing falsetto an octave higher.
4. "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby", traditional tune arranged by Gillian Welch and T Bone Burnett, sung by Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Beautiful three-part harmony with a haunting bowed saw (or theremin?) and a guitar that seems off on its own world.
5. "I Found a New Baby" by J. Palmer and S. Williams, performed by the Benny Goodman Sextet on Charlie Christian: Genius of Electric Guitar. One of the first integrated jazz combos, this showcases Charlie's great blues feel. The piano and Benny trade comical little licks, very flighty.
6. "I'm Crazy 'bout my Baby" by Fats Waller, performed by Fats Waller with Ted Lewis & his orchestra, on Jazz: The Singers 1930s. Fortunately, Fats' baby is crazy about him as well, since Cupid is their teacher.
7. "I'm Nobody's Baby" by Ager, Davis, and Santly; performed by Mildred Bailey & her orchestra, on Little Jazz. A great trumpet solo by Roy Eldridge, such a fat yet mellow sound. And his bends seem like trombone glissandi, they are so clear.
8. "There Goes My Baby" by Nelson, Patterson, and Treadwell, performed by The Drifters on The Best of the Drifters. Heavily produced, with strings and strong reverb on the drums and voices to give a very spacial feel. In the fourth verse producers Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber put a cello line that they claim resembles Rimsky-Korsakov.
9. "Hush Little Baby" traditional melody, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin on Hush. Very upbeat, not a lullaby.
10. "When My Baby Smiles at Me" by Bill Munro and Harry von Tilzer, performed by Benny Goodman on Live at Carnegie Hall. A great little number (50 seconds), it sounds like a cross between Dixieland and klezmer.
1 comment:
Ooh ooh, how about the entire musical entitled "Baby"? Extra bonus: good brass writing.
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