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[blueonblue]

Listening to this song is like climbing the stairs in the dark and finding an extra step that you didn't know was there.......if that makes any sense ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYNaF77FBhU

'blue'

[pljms]

I've long thought that if Bacharach had ever written a sonata or sonatina for any given instrument the slow movement wouldn't have sounded too dissimilar to the andantino from Malcolm Arnold's sonatina for clarinet and piano from 1951. For those not in the know, Sir Malcolm Arnold was an English composer best known for his music for countless movies from the late 40s until the early 70s, including Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Whistle Down the Wind, The Belles of St Trinians and Bridge On The River Kwai for which he won an oscar.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2B105VZglC8

[Martin Johnson]

I know what you're driving at, pljms, and hearing that excerpt from the sonatina again after many years got me thinking of another of Malcolm Arnold's beguiling small-scale works from the 50s, the serenade for guitar and piano:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XotKL6rdUgw

When I was very young in the 60s I used to pride myself on identifying Bacharach as the composer of new or previously unheard songs within seconds. The same applied to the film music of Malcolm Arnold and later his concert works. The UK's most prolific composer (60+ film scores, 20+ concertos, 9 symphonies, 5 ballets and a whole host of overtures, suites, sonatas, sonatinas, dances, fantasies, etc, etc) is also our most decorated and awarded (Knighthood, CBE, endless fellowships and honorary doctorates an Ivor Novello Award and an Oscar). However, despite the fact he's apparently also our most recorded 'serious' composer, he's now criminally under-performed on the concert stage and his works have rarely featured during recent BBC Proms seasons. Back in the 60s and 70s he was often seen at the Proms conducting his own music but his most famous appearance on the rostrum at the Royal Albert Hall was conducting Deep Purple with RPO in Jon Lord's Concerto For Group and Orchestra in 1969. Here's this larger than life figure and notorious bon viveur being interviewed briefly by Richard Attenborough in 1963 before he conducts the final movement of his popular guitar concerto featuring the soloist he wrote it for, Julian Bream:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JRTxtNQ1h3E

[Sara D]

One thing Malcolm Arnold shared with Bacharach was an extraordinary melodic gift. His theme to 'Whistle Down the Wind' still sounds unique over 50 years later and was the first film score I fell in love with.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c2wv0vdoy3U

[pljms]

Yes Martin, I remember watching the film 'Sky West and Crooked' on TV in the 60s and even as a child being able to recognise in its haunting, wistful theme the composer of 'Whistle Down The Wind'.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1jJ1Lq4PZ7o

[blueonblue]

Rare and obscure Bacharach/ David track....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOkDNscpN3Q

'blue'

[Martin Johnson]

Rare and obscure Bacharach/ David track....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOkDNscpN3Q

'blue'

I can't imagine that the producers of this TV show pilot engaged the talents of Bacharach, Hal David and Jack Jones for just a 47 second track so my guess is that this is an excerpt from a much longer recording. Although it does contain some of the triteness of Saturday Sunshine which tends to get my hackles up, it would still be interesting to hear the more complete version.

[pljms]

The song that probably did more than any other to make Bacharach a household name in the UK back in the 60s was Trains And Boats And Planes, for the very good reason that his own recording of it went Top 5. When I discovered that Joannie Sommers had recorded the song back in the day I just knew it had to be worth checking out.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e9w7H3mWbxI

[pljms]

Whenever BB talks about his jazz influences he tends to namecheck the same two musicians, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Somehow I can't imagine him not liking the playing of pianist Bill Evans. Hear what he does with just two chords - Cmaj7 and G9sus - in his mesmerising 'Peace Piece'.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv2GgV34qIg

[Sara D]

Whenever BB talks about his jazz influences he tends to namecheck the same two musicians, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Somehow I can't imagine him not liking the playing of pianist Bill Evans. Hear what he does with just two chords - Cmaj7 and G9sus - in his mesmerising 'Peace Piece'.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv2GgV34qIg

Great to hear Peace Piece again which I believe was inspired by his rendition of Some Other Time. Bill Evans playing A House is Not a Home couldn't fail, could it?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F5anVH8latM

[pljms]

Bill Evans also recorded 'Alfie'. Here he is playing it on TV in the 60s.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BlgFezYX528

[Martin Johnson]

It's a shame that Bill Evans didn't record more Bacharach.

I was at a record fair in west London a couple of weekends ago when I stumbled upon a Bobby Timmons LP from the late 60s entitled 'Do You Know The Way'. As the title suggests, it includes 'San Jose' and also 'This Guy's In Love'. As this album has apparently never seen the light of day on CD and the LP is very rarely seen, I had to fork out a pretty penny for it. It features the trio of Bobby Timmons on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums plus Joe Beck on guitar and most of it is the soul-jazz style for which Timmons was well known:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QyID5cwCZfk

[Blair N. Cummings]

Much as I love jazz, I`ve never warmed to its arranged marriage with Bacharach material. For those with a taste for it, I don`t think this album has ever been posted here:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... +Bacharach
This is obviously a late-sixties compilation and therefore not the label`s A-List but probably as effective a representation of the hybrid as there is.

[pljms]

Agreed. There's very few classic jazz recordings of Bacharach and those that are out there tend to be of the same two or three songs. I think guitarist Grant Green's 'Wives and Lovers' is one of the best examples of a jazz musician doing justice to a Bacharach tune and it also features McCoy Tyner on piano.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rUtoh76oO2g

[grooverider]

Aretha Franklin and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, "I Say A Little Prayer".
Additional background vocals include Patti Austin:

https://youtu.be/ZGT2bk9NhZM