Like many of Dad’s arrangements, this is so cinematic. I just had to sit down and listen to it, then listen to it again, then play it for Susan. I came across “The Moon Was Yellow” from his album “Soundpower!” today as I was pulling this website together, and it knocked me out. And of course I’ve been listening a lot since Dad passed away. We had it on almost nonstop in Dad’s hospital room during his last few days-David had the wonderful idea of bringing in an amplified iPod packed with his grandfather’s recordings. I’ve been listening to Dad’s music a lot lately. I’m also sure that this sort of creative outburst, unscripted though it was, is exactly what Dad was hoping for. Dad always built brief open sections into his arrangements so that the stellar New York studio musicians he hired could play improvised solos-and I’m sure that’s one of the reasons he was able to attract artists like Clark. I remember the look of astonishment and appreciation on Dad’s face (and that of many of the others in the room), when Clark hit that final, stratospheric note. That’s when Clark blew the roof off the studio.
Listen to the recording (click on the little audio player icon below this paragraph), and buckle your seat belt when you get to about 1:30 into the tune.
5, previously played by Glenn Miller and Chet Baker, among others. It was on a piece called Moon Love, a popular tune based on the second movement of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.
My brother, Dan, and I went to several sessions, but the one I’ll never forget featured a screaming, jazzy solo by the great trumpeter and flugelhornist Clark Terry. One of my most vivid memories of Dad in the recording studio comes from the album Classic Bossa Nova, for which he transformed a dozen classical themes into short numbers with a bossa beat.
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