Alec Wilder

[Nate Dorward]

An idle question prompted by the fact that while I've come across the odd Wilder tune on record, have heard the McPartland album of his tunes, & have read his (crochety but very interesting) book on American popular song, it's still very rare you hear someone cover a Wilder tune. Anyone here have opinions on his songs? What are some notable covers? Why is he so marginal to the usual jazz-standard canon?

[JohnJ]

One song of his that has been widely covered is "I'll be Around". One of my favourite songs, particularly the Sinatra version on 'In the Wee Small Hours'.

[AllenLowe]

as a songwriter I think he's somehwat over-rated (though I'll be Around is a gorgeous tune) - the most interesting things he did, IMHO, are the Octets, quirky and fascinating - two things to read are his book on American popular song and the biography written on Wilder a few years back - both excellent and insightful -

[Joe]

IMHO, the Sinatra connection is worth pursuing. There are [at least] two albums of "Sinatra conducts..." on the market, one dedicated to Wilder compositions, the other featuring his work alongside that of "usual suspects" Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Gordon Jenkins, and Elmer Bernstein.

The Wilder peices on the COLOR LP -- "Blue" and "Gray" -- are especially interesting.

[JSngry]

"Blackberry Winter" has gotten a few covers.

Good songs, always, but I dunno, kinda "precious" a lot of times too.

A good song and a good "jazz vehicle" are only sometimes the same thing, I think.

[Big Wheel]

There's also this one:

http://www.doubletimerecords.com/scripts/dtr118.asp

[JohnS]

A quick look at the discography shows Wilder as arranger on many Mildred Bailley recordings. However I recall reading years ago about his octet which recorded several sides in the late 40s(?). I've only heard one number by this group and I'm sure the was some "jazzy" content.

[Nate Dorward]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, "I'll Be Around" I've encountered fairly often (it's also the only Wilder tune to appear in the fakebook I've been using lately). I must confess my question about his own work is in part because I remember his judgments about other songwriters being highly opinionated & sometimes offbeat (in particular, he thought Gershwin somewhat overrated--if I remember rightly he found his tunes "pushy", esp. in their use of repeated notes in the melody). I hadn't come across the biography of him--I'll check it out.

Jim: yes, I know what you mean about some good songs being not terribly good potential vehicles for jazz! But I do find myself often think that jazz musicians could dig a little deeper in the backcatalogue of popular song--there's a lot of interesting, neglected tunes out there. (I was recently watching The Pirate with the little'un & wondering why a couple of those songs never made it, for instance--"You Can Do No Wrong" in particular.)

[Stereojack]

Another Wilder tune I like a lot is "Who Can I Turn To" (not the Anthony Newley song!). Tommy Dorsey recorded it with a Jo Stafford vocal in the early 1940's, and Booker Little did a nice version on his Time LP.

Morgana King made a whole LP of Wilder songs called "The Winter of My Discontent", including It's So Peaceful in the Country, While We're Young, and Who Can I Turn To.

I don't think he's at all overrated.

[MartyJazz]

Another Wilder tune I like a lot is "Who Can I Turn To" (not the Anthony Newley song!). Tommy Dorsey recorded it with a Jo Stafford vocal in the early 1940's, and Booker Little did a nice version on his Time LP.

Morgana King made a whole LP of Wilder songs called "The Winter of My Discontent", including It's So Peaceful in the Country, While We're Young, and Who Can I Turn To.

I don't think he's at all overrated.

So THAT explains why I always thought that the Booker Little cover was mistitled! Thanks for clearing that up. I not only can turn to Newley, I can do so with Wilder as well.

[brownie]

There is a nice album by Mundell Lowe and his Orchestra 'New Music of Alec Wilder' that was recorded in 1956 for Riverside.

Joe Wilder (of course!), Milt Hinton, Trigger Alpert and Eddie Shaughnessy were in the Lowe band.

Alec Wilder supervised the session and Frank Sinatra wrote the liner notes!

Don't think this one ever was reissued.

Tunes were:

- Suggestion for Bored Dancers

- She Never Wore Makeup

- What Happened Last Night?

- Walk Softly

- Let's Get Together and Cry

- Mama Never Dug This Scene

- Pop, What's a Passacaglia?

- No Plans

- The Endless Quest

- Around the World in 2:34

- An Unrelenting Memory

- Tacet for Neurotics

[Nate Dorward]

Wow, I can't believe they haven't reissued that--what an intriging lineup & those titles are great too! Those guys sound great on Chris Connor's albums of the period.

[jazztrain]

Another Wilder tune I like a lot is "Who Can I Turn To" (not the Anthony Newley song!). Tommy Dorsey recorded it with a Jo Stafford vocal in the early 1940's, and Booker Little did a nice version on his Time LP. 

Morgana King made a whole LP of Wilder songs called "The Winter of My Discontent", including It's So Peaceful in the Country, While We're Young, and Who Can I Turn To.

I don't think he's at all overrated.

There also are worthwhile albums of Wilder tunes as performed by Roland Hanna, Marian McPartland, and Bob Brookmeyer.

[marcello]

I had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Wilder some when I was in college in Rochester. I was a bellman at the hotel he called home in Rochester ( where he spent a lot of time as it was his home town; his other "home was the Algonquin in NYC ) and I also spent quite a bit of time with his best friend, photographer Louis Ouzer. Lou's studio and the Eastman School (where his classmates were Mitch Miller and Goddard Liberson of Columbia ), and the hotel were within yards of each so I saw and talked with him for a good part of two years in the early '70's.

If I didn't work or was at class I was at the Ouzer Studio (I went to school for photography at R.I.T.) working for Lou and watching him work. Mr. Wilder would spend hours at the studio, reading and talking to Mr. and Mrs.Ouzer who were his best friend. It was a place where he didn't have his armour up.

Besides the popular songs that he CRAFTED, Wilder wrote many, many modern chamber pieces for different ensembles and respected soloists."Suite for Flute, Clarinet and Piano",

"Grandma Moses Suite", "Nonet for Brass" ,and for tuba, "Effie Suite", are performed often.

His "popular" material is also performed regularly:

Recordings of "I'll Be Around" include:

Eddie Higgins Quintet, Moonlight Becomes You [Venus]

Randy Porter Trio, Brio [Heavywood]

Jackie Allen, Love Is Blue [A440 Music Group]

Tierney Sutton, Dancing in the Dark [Telarc]

George Shearing includes "Who Can I Turn To?" on his new CD Like Fine Wine [Mack Avenue].

Cologne [Fuzzy Music] by pianist Bill Dobbins includes three Wilder songs: "While We're Young," "The Winter of My Discontent," and "Moon and Sand."

This is just I could find without trying hard!

His radio show that he did with Loonis McGlohon, "American Popular Song" was a real treat that brought this very intelligent mind together with the best singers alive.

Overrated? I don't think so.

[frank m]

He also wrote, I believe, "While we're Young". If you've never heard Peggy Lee sing it, you can find it on itunes. Best 99 cents you will ever have spent.

[AllenLowe]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I find most of his popular-style tunes to lack compelling melodic movement - I do love the octets which are not really "jazzy" so much as they are a very fascinating mating of classical techniques with pop feeling.