Tag Archives: Hoagy Carmichael

Episode 442. Henry Wright Revisited

March 2, 2026African American Singers, Black History Month, Black History Month 2026, Broadway, Great Baritones, Listeners' Favorites, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Operetta, Pop Icons, Singers of ColorAl Stillman, Arthur Altman, Arthur Rebner, Augusto Martelli, Bruno Martelli, Buddy DeSylva, Carlo Alberto Rossi, Carlo Concina, Clarence Gaskill, Doc Pomus, DuBose Heyward, Duke Ellington, Eartha Kitt, Eddie DeLange, Eden Ahbez, Ennio Neri, Enzo Bonagura, Ernest de Curtis, George Gershwin, Gerard Souzay, Giambattista de Curtis, Gian Carlo Testoni, Gino Mazzocchi, Giorgio Calabrese, Giulio Libano, Harald M. Kirchstein, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren, Henri René, Henry Wright, Herman Hupfeld, Hoagy Carmichael, Ira Gershwin, Irving Mills, Johnny Mercer, Joseph Kosma, Juan Tizol, Len Mercer, Leo Robin, Lew Brown, Lorenz Hart, Mack Gordon, Mitchell Parish, Mort Shuman, Ned Washington, Paul Bonneau, Ray Henderson, Richard Rodgers, Robert Mellin, Robert Stolz, Romano Mussolini, Russ Columbo, Ted Koehler, Victor Young, Vittorio Mascheroni, Wayne Shanklincountermelody

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Last week I published an episode about Black Pop Singers who emigrated to Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. Most of these gentlemen settled in the German-speaking countries, where there was a ready market for the “otherness” and exoticism that they embodied. The one outlier on that episode was Henry Wright, born in 1933, who in the late 1950s toured Italy with Lionel Hampton’s band and elected to remain there. With a voice as suave and seductive as any of the great crooners of the 1950s and 1960s, Henry Wright first came to international prominence as the voice on the record to which Sophia Loren performed her legendary striptease in the 1962 film Ieri, oggi, domani [Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow]. He went on to make a great impact on Italian pop music throughout the 1960s. A couple years ago I began collecting the ultra-rare (and costly) records of Henry Wright, which formed the basis of two separate Countermelody episodes. Here is the second of those episodes, first published as a bonus episode nearly three years ago now, which is devoted to Henry Wright’s recordings of pop standards, most of them from the so-called Great American Songbook, but a few of them English-language adaptations of favorite songs originally in Italian. The program begins with one of Henry Wright’s first Italian recordings, which features standards by Duke Ellington and Harold Arlen. The majority of the music on the program, however, is from Henry Wright’s 1967 LP, Prisoner of Amore, in which he is joined by the doodling pianism of Romano Mussolini (youngest son of the late dictator), and the somewhat overwrought arrangements of Giulio Libano. In spite of the excesses of his colleagues, Henry Wright still manages to make a positive showing in this, (as far as I know!) his final recording. In the course of the episode, I go down a number of rabbit holes that go off in a number of interesting directions: the songs of Harry Warren, the early pop stylings of Gérard Souzay in the first flush of youth as a pop crooner on the French airwaves, and the fascinating life and times of the pre-hippie Eden Ahbez, best known as the composer of “Nature Boy,” whose further compositions were performed by (among others) the sophisticated and cosmopolitan Eartha Kitt and Ahbez himself.

Countermelody is the podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and author yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody’s Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

Episode 69. Voiceless Wonders: An Introduction

January 10, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Drag Performance, Full-Figured Baroque, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Voiceless WondersA Little Night Music (Sondheim), Abel Meeropol, Adele Astaire, Alberta Hunter, Alec Wilder, André Cluytens, Andy Razaf, Audrey Hepburn, Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Barbara, Bertolt Brecht, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Bourvil, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Bruno Seidler-Winkler, Bud McCreary, Celius Dougherty, Chita Rivera, Claude Debussy, Divine, Dody Goodman, Emmerich Zillner, Erich Kunz, Eugen Jochum, Fats Waller, Follies (Sondheim), Frances Gershwin, Francis Poulenc, Franz Schubert, Fred Astaire, Fred Ebb, Geoffrey Parsons, George Bizet, George Gershwin, Georges Tzipine, Gerhard Stolze, Hans Werner, Harry Plunket Greene, Helmut Krebs, Henry Mancini, Hildegard Knef, Hoagy Carmichael, Hugues Cuenod, Ira Gershwin, Jacques Offenbach, Jane Bathori, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Kander, Johnny Mercer, Josef Hochmuth, Joséphine Baker, Judi Dench, Julie Wilson, Julius Patzak, Kander and Ebb, Karl Erb, Kurt Weill, L’aigle noir, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Lotte Lenya, Lou Reed, Mabel Mercer, Madeleine Grey, Manos Hadzidakis, Marlene Dietrich, Maurice Ravel, Meg Christian, Melina Mercouri, Michel Sénéchal, Mildred Bailey, Moon River, Never On Sunday, Noël Coward, Pete Seeger, Pierre Bernac, Povla Frijsh, Randall Thompson, Rudolf Sieczyński, Schubert Winterreise, Shoot Your Shot, Stephen Sondheim, Strange Fruit, The Fugs, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Winterreisecountermelody

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Some of the greatest singers in history are not necessarily the most vocally-gifted. This is the first of what I hope will be a series of episodes devoted to such artists. I consider singers across many genres: recitalists (Pierre Bernac, Madeleine Grey, Povla Frijsh, Jane Bathori), cabaret (Mabel Mercer, Noël Coward, Julie Wilson, Barbara, Lotte Lenya), musicals (Fred and Adele Astaire, Chita Rivera), pop music (Bob Dylan, Lou Reed), jazz (Billie Holiday, Alberta Hunter), actors (Audrey Hepburn, Melina Mercouri, Judi Dench, Hildegard Knef, Divine), and even comedians (Dody Goodman, Bourvil), with special focus on a few of the voiceless tenors who hold a special place in my heart (Hugues Cuenod, Karl Erb, Helmut Krebs, Julius Patzak). At the end, I feature two aging icons (Marlene Dietrich and Joséphine Baker) in unforgettable live performances of two protest songs that are painfully relevant at this moment in time. Composers include Alec Wilder, George Gershwin, Kurt Weill, Franz Schubert, Stephen Sondheim, Francis Poulenc, Abel Meeropol, Claude Debussy, Kander and Ebb, Pete Seeger, Carl Orff, Manos Hadzidakis, Fats Waller, Maurice Ravel, and Rudolf Sieczyński. Please join me for this very special episode. But prepare yourselves for an emotional wallop.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. And please head to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available.

Episode 45. Muriel Smith (Crossover Classics I)

July 26, 2020African American Singers, Art Song, Bel canto, BHM2023WK4, Black History Month, Crossover, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Muriel Smith, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, SmithBHMWK4Angela Morley, April Olrich, Auyar Hosseini, Body and Soul, Carmen Jones, Charles Zwar, Franz Waxman, Georges Auric, Georges Bizet, Hoagy Carmichael, Hugh Martin, Hugo Wolf, Johannes Brahms, Julian Bream, Kenneth Leslie-Smith, Luther Saxon, Marc Blitzstein, Mörike-Lieder, Moulin Rouge, Muriel Smith, Ned Washington, Nimmersatte Liebe, Norman Gimbel, Oscar Hammerstein II, Ralph Blane, Reginald Burston, Richard Rodgers, Robert MacGimsey, Rodgers & Hammerstein South Pacific, Rodgers & Hammerstein The King and I, South Pacific, Sweet Little Jesus Boy, The King and I, The Nearness of You, Wallace Stott, Wally Stottcountermelody

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For the first of my Black History Month episodes back in February, I did a program featuring the extraordinary artist Muriel Smith, who in 1943, while still a student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, created the title role in Oscar Hammerstein II’s Carmen Jones, which used George Bizet’s opera as the springboard for a hybrid musical featuring an all-Black cast. After several other Broadway appearances (including in a revival of Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock, Muriel Smith moved to London, where she was featured in the “exotic” roles in the London premieres Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific and The King and I. For several years she was the toast of London, appearing on records, on radio, on television, and in concert, as well as singing Bizet’s gypsy in performances of Carmen at Covent Garden in 1957. Most of the currently extant examples of Smith’s singing are of popular music, which she performed with her unique blend of bel canto precision and pinpoint interpretive accuracy. I have recently gotten my hands on numerous rare 78s of Smith’s mid-1950’s pop records, as well as her 1953 EP, I’m in the Mood for Love, all of which are featured on this episode. I also share examples of her famous turns in musicals, capped with a rare recording of her singing Hugo Wolf’s “Nimmersatte Liebe.” Two excerpts from her 1955 Songs of Christmas 45 render this episode a veritable Christmas in July celebration! Musical guest stars include, among others, Marc Blitzstein, Georges Auric, Harvey Fuqua, Auyar Hosseini, Franz Waxman, Luther Saxon, Martin and Blane, Julian Bream, and the extraordinary Angela Morley.

Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great classical and opera singers of the past and present with the help of guests from the classical music field: singers, conductors, composers, coaches, agents, and voice teachers. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content. And please head to our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford.