A Child is Born

[Free For All]

I would guess that "Alice In Wonderland" is also not a Larry Kart favorite.

"Someday My Prince Will Come"? How does that one stand up? I'll admit that other than Miles' version I'm not a huge fan of that one.

Or "Windows"? Definitely a darker vibe there than the others, much more harmonic content. Not a "cute" tune like the others.

In the correct key of B minor, not the Real Book key of Bb.

Edited March 25, 2006 by Free For All

[Larry Kart]

As I recall, "Alice," like everything recorded 6/25/61 at the Vanguard (including two "Debbys"), is pretty magical. I don't have another "Alice" in my memory bank to compare with it, but my response to it as a tune is so conditioned by the shadings of that performance that I guess I hardly think of it as tune -- just as something that Evans touched during an in excelsis afternoon-evening of music making. But I know "Debby" from other versions than these two, and I don't like any of them, including Evans' original one.

"Someday My Prince Will Come" -- didn't Paul Desmond do a nice job with that somewhere? "Put Your Little Right Foot"/"Fran Dance" got old very quickly, I thought.

[jazzolog]

The lyrics to "A Child is Born" by Thad Jones:

(these are the original lyrics by Alec Wilder)

Now, out of the night;

New as the dawn,

Into the light,

This Child,

Innocent Child,

Soft as a fawn,

This Child is born.

One small heart;

One pair of eyes;

One work of art,

Here in my arms,

Here he lies,

Trusting and warm,

Blessed this morn

A Child is born.

A Child Is Born - Composer: Thad Jones - ©1969

There's got to be a story somewhere about the Alec Wilder lyrics. Wilder rarely wrote words even for his own songs...and of course he's known mainly as a composer rather than a lyricist. Gunther Schuller points out, "Sometimes Wilder wrote his own lyrics for his songs, but more often he collaborated with outstanding lyricists such as William Engvick, Johnny Mercer, Arnold Sundgaard and Loonis McGlohon." http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/wilder.php

Actually I came upon this thread as I looked for who did write the words for A Child Is Born. The various copies I have, including vocals, just list Thad's name. One of the earliest vocal versions was by Singers Unlimited in a very rare album they did with Oscar Peterson (now reissued by Verve I think.) Gene Puerling arranged just an oooooo-thing, which I would assume means there were no lyrics yet in 1971. The best vocal version I ever heard is by the PM (Phil Mattson) Singers from 1985. Originally on a Doctor Jazz LP, the set got preserved on CD. http://www.a-cappella.com/product/329/phil_mattson If this performance doesn't bring you to your knees, I guess you'll just have to spend your life up-tempo.

[jazztrain]

For those who aren't overly tired of the tune, there's this album that Dick Hyman recorded in 1977: "Themes & Variations on "A Child is Born" (Chiaroscuro CR 198). On it, Hyman plays versions of the tune in his interpretation of the styles of the following:

Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Erroll Garner, George Shearing, Cecil Taylor, Art Tatum, and Bill Evans. He also plays a lengthy interpretation of his own.

[Chas]

The version of "A Child Is Born" on the Richard Davis album is THE song. I was also at that Kansas City appearance by Roland Hanna and heard him state that he had written the song. I know Richard Davis so I asked him about it after that. Richard told me that Roland had always said that he was the composer of this song throughout the years.

Hanna must have been a self-effacing sort - on that debut version from the Richard Davis album , during the intro to the tune , Hanna announces , " A Child is Born " , " Thad Jones " .