From the Studio #43 – It Had to Be You – Sometimes it can work well to slow down the tempo of a tune, especially if you want to think about the meaning of the words. So that’s what I did, and the words in this case are simple and nice. (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #42 – Pardon Me Pretty – I thought that this tune deserved a more ambitious arrangement and an interpretation in the late 1920s style (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #41 – Basin Street Blues – Sometimes it’s interesting to play and record a typical jam session tune. Not to try to prove how it should sound; that would be too pretentious and too much work. But more importantly, how it could sound if not everyone was stepping on (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #40 – Out of Nowhere – Here’s another rendition of a beloved tune, inspired by the more or less classic versions that I’ve heard and, as always, by life itself (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #39 – Sonny Boy – Al Jolson made a dramatic interpretation, and the dance bands played it normally. We used to play it with my arrangement for The Absalon Orchestra, but it fell out of the repertoire. I think that I was influenced by a critic who said (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #38 – Sleepy Time Gal – There was already an instrumental version of the song in 1925 by Fletcher Henderson, and many singers sang it, among them Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards. While it was often either instrumental or vocal in the 1920s, I do a bit of (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #37 – Thanks to You – My life once dragged along without… One happy day… It seems I never had… Those things that make folks glad… But now that’s all been changed about… Since I met you… I have things to be glad about too… Thanks to you dreams came true (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #36 – The Japanese Sandman – Once in Paris, I was asked to sit in with a very fine big band. They wanted to play this tune, and I had to refuse since I didn’t know it. Well, of course I was familiar with a recording by Frankie Trumbauer’s Orchestra with Bix (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #35 – Stars Fell on Alabama – Trombonist Jack Teagarden is associated with this tune for me because he sang and played it on the second LP that I bought in my life, “The King of the Blues Trombon” volume two. There are recordings of it by many, and today (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #34 – Take Me In You Arms – I heard this for the first time about 60 years ago on an LP with the fine singer Ruth Etting in a sentimental rendition. But I think that it can also be used as an instrumental tune to jam on (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #33 – Am I Blue? – Here is another very attractive and useful tune, to be arranged or just played in a jam. Ethel Waters can be seen in an early film singing it. Later versions by Billie Holiday and others have dropped the verse. Normally it’s played in F but (…) read more and listenread more and listen

From the Studio #32 – The Love I Have for You – In later years, the versatile and charismatic singer Alberta Hunter made a fine recording of this, her own composition. I managed to convince Kiki to put it in her repertoire, and we often play it with her singing (…) read more and listenread more and listen