Mark Pentleton

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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It’s November and since most of December’s 365songs will probably have a festive feel, I’ve been having a look at some of the songs that I really enjoy playing that I want to fit in before the end of the month. I couldn’t believe that I’d not played Misty! This song dates from 1954 and [...]

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Today’s song was written in 1931 by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt with lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was first recorded by Ozzie Nelson and his orchestra, but has been covered many times since by artists including Doris Day, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Dean Martin. In 1968 the song was recorded [...]

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Today’s song by George and Ira Gershwin dates from the 1937 film A Damsel in Distress when it was performed by Fred Astaire. Since then the song has been covered by many artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland and Michael Bublé.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:34 — 5.0MB)

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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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On its release in 1945, Sentimental Journey became a homecoming song for many veterans of WWII. First recorded by Doris Day, it was covered by many artists, including Ella Fitzgerald and Ringo Starr. I hope you enjoy today’s song.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:32 — 7.7MB)

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A lovely romantic song today, first recorded in 1946 by Nat King Cole. Since then it has been covered by many different artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin and in 1986 by Linda Ronstadt.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 6:23 — 8.8MB)

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Today’s song is It had to be you, one of my wife Catriona’s favourite songs. It dates from 1924 and was performed by Priscilla Lane in the 1939 film The Roaring Twenties. Since then it’s been performed by many artists, including Harry Connick Jr. in the 1989 Sleepless in Seattle Soundtrack. [Correction: as Pierre-Benoît pointed [...]

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