Mark Pentleton

And so, December has begun and across the UK we’re surrounded by snow. I’m currently in Edinburgh working on the Apple K20 tour and the city is looking fantastic with snow everywhere. The event is taking place at Edinburgh Castle and I took a few photos this morning before things got started properly.
Winter Wonderland is [...]

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This song was written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in 1939 for the musical Very warm for May. Musically this song is very interesting, and there’s an in-depth analysis of the chord patterns on Wikipedia. Apparently the chord patterns and modulations “present challenges for the improviser”. I’d agree! The song has been recorded [...]

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Today’s song is a 1933 jazz standard from the film of the same name. It was written by Johnny Green and Eward Heyman.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:23 — 6.1MB)

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A real treat today! The perfect Gershwin harmonies in Bess, you is my woman now are just beautiful and I’ve always loved playing this song. I wanted something just perfect to play today to welcome my new little niece into the world. She doesn’t have a name yet, but many congratulations to mum Morag, dad [...]

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This song dates from the 1920s and is probably one of the most well-known Cuban songs. It has been covered by many artists, from Nana Mouskouri to Tito Puente and Joan Baez. The song was traditionally used as a vehicle for social commentary, with performers improvising verses according to events or situations, but always returning [...]

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This is such a lovely song and I hope I’ve done it justice! It was written by Jerome Kern in 1936 with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Apparently when Kern played the melody to Dorothy Fields for the first time, she “went out and started to cry. I couldn’t stop, it was so beautiful!” The song [...]

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This song is 80 years old this year. It was written for the 1930 film version of the musical Whoopee! The most famous version of the song, however, is Nina Simone’s performance from 1958. I was experimenting with layering sounds on my Roland RD700GX at the weekend and I decided to record a version of [...]

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Before September ends I thought I’d better squeeze this song in! It’s actually been quite a nice day here in Dundalk, Ireland, where I’m working for Apple on the K20 Roadshow, but I’m not sure if the weather at home was quite as nice. I hope therefore that September in the rain was an appropriate [...]

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Oh it’s a long, long time from May to December. At least from May 1st until December 1st it’s 214 songs! Around half way through comes 1st September and I thought Kurt Weil’s 1938 song was the perfect song to play today. I hope you enjoy it!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:58 — 6.9MB)

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Another jazz standard today: first recorded by Bing Crosby in 1934, this song has been covered by many artists including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and the famous Ella Fitzgerald version with the Nelson Riddle orchestra. Hope you enjoy today’s song!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:52 — 5.4MB)

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Today’s song dates from 1928 when it was first written for a never-published operetta by George and Ira Gershwin called East is West. It was introduced in 1930 in the musical Girl Crazy by Ginger Rogers.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:23 — 4.7MB)

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Today’s song was originally written in Spanish in 1931 by Gonzalo Roig and Agustin Rodriguez. I first heard the Spanish version of the song on Linda Ronstadt’s Frenesi album, and as a traditional bolero it has been performed by many Spanish-language singers from Trio Los Panchos to Julio Iglesias. An English version of the song, [...]

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Today’s song dates from 1939 and was one of the most popular pieces of music performed by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. It started life appropriately as the b-side to Sunrise Serenade. It’s dedicated to my mother- and father-in-law, Sandra and Tony, who celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary today.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:29 — 6.2MB)

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I hope I’m not tempting fate by playing this song too early in the summer! This weekend we’ve had beautiful weather and it really feels like summer has arrived. I’ve recorded Gershwin’s Summertime from the musical Porgy and Bess, written in 1936 and, as I’ve just found out today, based on a Ukrainian folk melody [...]

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I’ve been saving this song for my father-in-law Tony who celebrates his birthday today – I believe it’s one of his favourite songs. Written in 1933 by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach for the musical Roberta, it went on to become a standard with covers by performers as diverse as Louis Armstrong, Cher, Richard Clayderman [...]

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I like to think that I’m keeping things as varied as possible here on 365songs – in the past few days we’ve had TV Themes, Opera, Disney, 80s Power Ballad and today I’m returning to what is probably my favourite type of music to play with Gershwin’s They can’t take that away from me. It [...]

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This beautiful song was written by Charlie Chaplin and used in the soundtrack of his 1936 movie Modern Times. It was first recorded by Nat King Cole in 1954 and has been covered many times since.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:27 — 4.8MB)

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Recorded by such famous names as Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday, this song came to mind last night as I was getting petrol on my way home from a meeting at the school. I got completely soaked in torrential rain and howling wind and I since I was returning home to [...]

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Today’s song is the Mexican classic Perfidia, written in 1939 by Alberto Domínguez and was a hit for Xavier Cugat in 1940. It’s been recorded by many artists and I first heard it on the Nat King Cole Spanish album Mis Mejores Canciones. One of my favourite recordings is Linda Ronstadt’s version from the Mambo [...]

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Today’s song is the Gershwin classic But not for me, written for the musical Girl Crazy in 1930. It’s since featured in the movies Manhattan, When Harry Met Sally and Four Weddings and a Funeral. By the sounds of things I need to practise my jazz scales a bit more – the middle section is [...]

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