timeless music
Story By Mike Overall

It will be a memorable evening of discussing and listening to some classic American songs at the Craighead County-Jonesboro Public Library.

Remember Bogart and Ingrid Bergman romanticizing while Sam played and sang “As Time Goes By”? If you’re of a certain age, or just a classic movie buff of any age, will you ever forget Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the screwball comedy, “Top Hat,” the musical highlight of which was songwriter/lyricist Irving Berlin’s immortal melody, “Cheek to Cheek”? And how about the film noir classic “Laura,” whose title song was among the greatest American ballads ever written. Talk about a song almost stealing a great genre picture!

The so-called Golden Age of the American Popular Song occurred between 1900-50, an era that was steeped in the purest melodic, harmonic and lyric gold. And with the literally hundreds of songs that the era produced, from the fertile minds and pens of the genius George Gershwin to the lyrical and melodic gems of Berlin, Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Cy Coleman, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Harold Arlen, to name but a few, musical history was made. The musical miracle occurred in a special time and place, the latter mostly New York City, that will never be repeated.

What a time it was! Tin Pan Alley was a haven for songwriters and lyricists. Recording technology had advanced by leaps and bounds, bringing those wonderful songs to the collective ear of the nation.

Broadway shows and revues were at their zenith, and in Hollywood, from the MGM soundstages and the medium’s powerful hold on mass entertainment via the movies, listeners were exposed to all that was cool, sexy and sophisticated in popular culture.

The library, at 315 West Oak, is inviting the public to join in a celebration of this unprecedented era in American music on Monday night, Oct. 26, from 6:30 until 8:30 in the Round Room. The occasion is a joint meeting of the library’s two adult book clubs, neither of which is gender exclusive, at which “The House That George (Gershwin) Built” will be discussed. Wilfred Sheed’s book is a brilliant narrative/anecdotal history of that golden moment in American song, and an account of some of those seminal figures in popular music that he knew personally and loved for their incomparable talent.

But lest you blanche at something as dull as yet another book discussion group, please note: Some of the finest musicians in the area will be there to sing and play for the audience those musical gems that have influenced generations of jazz musicians as well as such touchstones of popular music as Linda Ronstadt, Willie Nelson, Barbra Streisand, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Carole King, James Taylor, Michael Buble and rock groups who have integrated into their repertoire the timeliness of Americana in song.

For song and lyrics, the incomparable duo of Joy Sanford on piano and Stacy Alley on vocals will be the highlight of the evening. Both artists will entertain the audience with several of the best songs the era had to offer. The two will be backed by a rhythm section composed of Mike Overall on drums, Derek Doyle on bass and Craig Collison, director of percussion studies at ASU, on vibes.
Sanford, a classically trained pianist, is also an accomplished jazz artist. She is the chosen accompanist for numerous artists at ASU and her piano artistry is legendary. She has performed with many groups in the area and has honed her jazz studies by attending several Jamey Abersold Jazz Clinics across the nation. Sanford is such an accomplished artist that at those clinics she has been consistently placed in the most advanced groups whose improvisationalist talents are overseen and rated by world-class musicians who conduct the sessions Her improvisational skills have impressed some of the greatest jazz pianists in the world.

Alley, associate professor of voice, acting and movement in the theatre department at ASU, has performed professionally since she was 11, in the U.S., as well as internationally. She spent five years performing for Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectacular. A member of the Screen Actors Guild, the accomplished vocalist, dancer and all-around entertainer has her Master’s in Fine Arts Degree from the University of Alabama and her undergraduate in arts from the University of Southern California.

Music director Rob Alley will direct several trumpet players who have agreed to back the group: Ron Horton, ASU’s director of jazz studies; Alley himself, one of the most in-demand jazz trumpeters in the area; and Craig Baker, composer and lead trumpeter of the jazz group Giant Steps. Other musicians invited to join in the celebration include Emil Williams, Kelly Craft, musician/composer Chris Lawrence, multitalented performer Grant Garland and Greg Arnold of Back Beat Music, whose eclectic contemporary group, Plain Meanness, has been a favorite at several library-sponsored events.

Although a limited number of the books are available for the public, persons interested in reading Sheed’s seminal work should stop by the library’s circulation desk to see if a copy is available.

This unprecedented evening of entertainment will also be an educational experience for all who are interested in this uniquely American song form.
Refreshments will be served at the program, which is one of many the library has or will present for the public in its ongoing Soul of a People series, which examines the legacy of the Federal Writers’ Project.

For more information, call the library’s Help and Information Department at 935-5133, Ext. 21.