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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This song comes from the 1927 Jerome Kern musical Showboat, and it’s dedicated to my grandfather Terry McGibbons who would have been 99 years old today. He used to love singing this song and I’m including a recording of him below.
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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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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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Today’s song comes from the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II musical Showboat. I remember being given the Showboat piano album by my first piano teacher, Elsa Baird, and I was probably a bit too young at the time to appreciate the rhythms and wonderful chord progressions. However, I’m so glad I was introduced to [...]

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