Out with the Old. In with the Old.
February 07 2011

The Pianobabbler had two encounters with the Great American Songbook (GAS) this week. One, an entrance. The other, an exit.

The entrance: The Pianobabbler found himself the other night playing at a tony venue with a young saxophonist. Jesse.

Jesse recently graduated from a prestigious jazz program. I was fully prepared for a GAS-less evening of intricate jazz, labyrinthine harmonies, abstruse perorations, and a dash of who-cares-if-you're-listening-we're-cool-anyway.

On the contrary, Jesse loves the old songs and the older accessible ways. Pennies From Heaven. Stardust. The Man I Love. Gershwin, Porter, Ellington. Jesse would name his favorite recording of the song after calling it for us to play. Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson. Ellington's Jazz Party. Coleman Hawkins' and Chu Berry's Tenor Giants.

My fingers couldn't believe my ears. Had yesterday's trite tunes suddenly become the retro hip melodies of the young? I thought these songs, and melodic improvisation on them had gone the way of the LP, land-line phones, and print magazines.

Not at all, said Jesse. "These are the best songs, and the best interpretations. I love them."

The exit: Wilfred Sheed. He died the other day. 81 years old. Thank goodness he lived to write The House That George Built (2008.) This abundant book brilliantly epitomizes both Sheed's life, and the first half of the 20th century's pop songs that came to be known as the GAS. Sheed braids the two story threads with the yarn of experience, and an infinitely threaded linguistic twine. He celebrates the music in writing; he makes the writing music.

To one such as Pianobabbler who grew up loving and playing the songs of the GAS, The House That George Built felt like a fresh bath in an antique tub. Even as I assumed those songs had seen their day, and would take their place alongside the pop songs that have worn out their welcomes, Sheed's book reminded me that there lay much potential energy in Tin Pan Alley's battery of compositions.

I never suspected I would find these songs' redemption with a member of the generation accused of turning its back on GAS.

So: thank you Wilfred Sheed for importing the music into your words and preserving the profound delights and pleasures of the GAS. And thank you Jesse for bringing me back to the future, as our music barrels back to the past.

The Pianobabbler has babbled.

The Pianobabbler is a RonDavisMusic production. The Pianobabbler's blog posts appear weekly at pianobabbler.com. Please remember to leave your comments and thoughts below. Subscribe to the RSS feed. And subscribe to RonDavisNews by clicking on the Mailing List link, above right. And follow us on Twitter.

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