Classical Music

On the eve of his centenary, the pianist/composer Cy Walter is commemorated with the 2 CD retrospective collection 'Sublimities' that honors his remarkable career and talents. Volume 1 focuses on rare recordings, radio appearances and solo performances remastered from original '78s of this dean of cocktail piano players. Considered one of the premier interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Walter considered himself a "stylist of show tunes" and the first volume presents a rare ringside seat to the many classic performances of Walters' early career. Bringing deserved attention to Walters' near 40 year career, the collection includes a 24 page booklet with essays by contemporary pianists and music historians including Michael Feinstein, Peter Mintun, Maggie Perrin, Richard Behrens, and more.

On the eve of his centenary, the pianist/composer Cy Walter's 2 CD retrospective commemoration continues with Volume 2 celebrating his remarkable career and talents focusing on Walter as accompanist and composer. Considered one of the premier interpreters of the Great American Songbook, Walter considered himself a "stylist of show tunes" and this second volume presents another rare collection of classic song performances with a staggering roster of guest performers attesting to the respect Walters' held among his peers including Hoagy Carmichael, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Mabel Mercer, Benny Goodman, Art Tatum, and more, Sublimities brings deserved attention to Walters' near 40 year career. With a 24 page booklet with essays by contemporary pianists and music historians including Michael Feinstein, Peter Mintun, Maggie Perrin, Richard Behrens, and more.

Personnel includes: Frank Sinatra, Connie Haines, The Pied Pipers (vocals);
Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra.
Recorded between 1940 & 1942.
In 1939, Frank Sinatra scored his very first success, "All Or Nothing At All," with trumpeter Harry James' Orchestra. The following year the young singer began an extraordinary two year apprenticeship with the much classier Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, a regimen which taught him everything he needed to know about musical taste and judgement if not popular adulation. Make no mistake, however; from the beginning, through sheer dint of will, Sinatra managed to make his time with the master trombonist and bandleader a collaboration of musical equals.
Milestone recordings like "Stardust," "I'll Be Seeing You," "I'll Never Smile Again," "Everything Happens To Me" et al are both big band classics and the beginning of a new age of romantic popular singing. No male singer had ever gone as far as Sinatra did in exploring the tender feelings expressed in these songs, in identifying so completely with a given song's meaning. It was a revolution in popular sensibility that we are still living through several decades later.

Classical Music