Bix, Hoagy and Skylark

[medjuck]

I was listening to one of the Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Shows the other day (the theme was "Birds") and he claimed that Hoagy Carmichael based Skylark on a Bix solo. If this is true, what solo is it. Ooops I just realized that it may not have been a recorded solo.

(I've also heard the Stardust was very influenced by Bix.)

[AllenLowe]

I think he was thinking of Star Dust - that bridge of Skylark don't sound like no jazz solo -

[jazzbo]

I found this, here: http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-0/skylark.htm

Hoagy Carmichael originally wrote the composition that would become “Skylark” for a musical about his deceased friend, Bix Beiderbecke. The song’s melody is said to have been based on Beiderbecke solos, at least the phrasing, a claim supported by the composition’s original title, “Bix Lix” (“Bix Licks”). Though the musical did not get produced, Carmichael reworked the composition and passed the melody on to Johnny Mercer who, some months later, called Hoagy and sang him “Skylark.” By that time Carmichael had forgotten he wrote it!

Young Man with a Horn was to have been the title for the Beiderbecke musical, the same as the1938 novel by Dorothy Baker that was partially based on Beiderbecke’s life. In 1950 Warner Brothers produced the film Young Man with a Horn, based on Baker’s novel and starring Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, and Doris Day. In the film Douglas portrays a trumpet player (dubbed by Harry James) in a downhill battle with alcohol after he marries a wealthy neurotic played by Bacall. Hoagy Carmichael narrates the tale as well as playing a substantial role as Douglas’ piano playing friend. Movie critics generally find something to like about the film and are almost unanimous in their praise for the musical score, which includes many standards.

“Skylark” was the second in what Richard Sudhalter in his Carmichael biography Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael calls Carmichael’s “musical aviary.” First came “Mr. Bluebird” (1935) with lyrics by Carmichael, and finally there was “Baltimore Oriole” (1942) with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster (“I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good”).

In his Mercer biography titled Skylark: The Life and Times of Johnny Mercer, Philip Furia explains the yearning expressed in “Skylark” as a voicing of the lyricist’s longing for Judy Garland with whom he had a stormy affair. Mercer told a friend that he wrote “I Remember You” for Garland and that “One for My Baby” (1943) bemoaned her loss.

Johnny Mercer claimed that “Skylark” was not inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s (1792-1822) poem, “To a Skylark,” although the similarities cannot be ignored. Both men were sad geniuses who turned to the skylark for answers: Mercer, with regard to romance queries, “Won’t you tell me where my love can be?” Shelley, with broader concerns, requests, “Teach me half the gladness, That thy brain must know…”

[medjuck]

So ol' Bob knows what he's talking about. (Actually I don't think he writes the shows-- though they do reflect his taste in music.)

[jazzbo]

Well, at first I was inclined to agree with Allen that he was thinking of Stardust, which Hoagy has said came from a "solo" just as you cite Bob claiming for Skylark. Skylark seems to be inspired by Bixes "solos" and sound and phrasing in general from this quote.

[AllenLowe]

well, no solid evidence - and I still can't hear that bridge as anything but something worked out at a piano-

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

It's an extraordinary bridge; but I've always thought it was something you might invent while out walking (and singing along with yourself).

MG

[jazzbo]

well, no solid evidence - and I still can't hear that bridge as anything but something worked out at a piano-

Bix played piano licks too. . .

[AllenLowe]

could be -

my favorite Skylark moment was by Barry Harris on a Xandau LP - might have been the Al Cohn record, I'm not quite sure - in the middle of bar three (assuming key of Eb) he played an A7, basically your classic bebop tritone sub, but perfectly timed here - and it's electrifying, harmonically-speaking - I hear that chord in my sleep - only comparable moment I know of his Hamton Hawes using (almost) the same device on a version of Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams - different tune, but also on beat three, though in measure 2 -

Edited August 22, 2008 by AllenLowe

[medjuck]

well, no solid evidence - and I still can't hear that bridge as anything but something worked out at a piano-

Bix played piano licks too. . .

There's a documentary about him where one of his ex-band-mates plays an unrecorded Bix piano piece. He discusses it first, then says to the interviewer "Should I play it for you?". At that point the audience I saw it with all yelled out "Yes!".