Tag Archives: Mabel Mercer

Episode 164. Mabel Mercer (Season Four Premiere)

September 30, 2022African American Singers, Broadway, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersAda “Bricktop” Smith, Adolph Green, Alec Wilder, Anne Caldwell, Austin C. Johnson, Betty Comden, Buddy Barnes, Carolyn Leigh, Clarence Moore, Cole Porter, Cy Coleman, Cy Walter, Du Bose Heyward, Edward Heyman, George Cory, George Gershwin, Harvey Schmidt, Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Jerry Herman, Jimmy Lyon, Joe McCarthy, Johnny Green, Julie Wilson, Kaye Ballard, Leonard Bernstein, Loonis McGlohon, Lorenz Hart, Mabel Mercer, Madame Spivy, Marie Lloyd, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Marvin Hamlisch, Oscar Levant, Paul Simon, Ralph Burns, Ray Mayer, Richard Rodgers, Sam Hamilton, Skip Redwine, Spivy, Tom Jones, W.C. Handy, Willard Robison, William Engvick, William Roycountermelody

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Welcome to Season Four of Countermelody! My long-time listeners know a few things things about the podcast. First, the most important quality in a singer is not voice, but communicative skills. Second, I have posted episodes in the past on singers that I dub “voiceless wonders,” artists whose primary virtue is exactly that ability to convey the meaning of the words. Third, though the music I play is primarily opera and so-called classical music, I often explore genres that move outside of those boundaries. Fourth, from the very beginning of my podcasting career, I have made it a point to highlight the careers of artists of color as well as queer artists. Throughout this season of the podcast, I will also be focusing on great singers in their later years. All these aspects are in evidence in today’s subject: Mabel Mercer (1900-1984), the doyenne of cabaret. Born to a teenage mother of Welsh heritage whose father was an itinerant African American musician, Mercer first pursued a career in British music hall. From there, she made her way to Paris, where she soon became a fixture at a nightclub run by her pal Bricktop (AKA Ada Smith). As WWII loomed on the horizon, she made her way, with the help of her friend (and possible lover) the wealthy and eccentric lesbian Joe Carstairs, to New York, where she soon established herself at the pinnacle of cabaret culture by virtue of her impeccable diction, intimacy of delivery, sense of story-telling, and unbounded repertoire of upwards of a thousand songs. Most of Mercer’s recordings represent the artist well into her middle age, when her once beautiful soprano voice had become little more than a croak. And yet, perched regally on a chair at the Café Carlyle and other nightclub venues, she gave definitive performances of nearly every song she touched. The episode offers a hint of the interpretive depth displayed in repertoire ranging from the traditional Great American Songbook (especially the songs of Cole Porter) through Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. Guest artists heard include Kaye Ballard, Bobby Short, and Julie Wilson, as well as Bricktop and Madame Spivy, both nightclub hostesses and close friends of Mercer’s who were celebrated performers themselves.

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.” 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 support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available exclusively to Patreon supporters are currently available and further bonus content including interviews and livestreams is planned for the upcoming season.

Episode 151. Cole Porter [Pride 2022]

June 28, 2022African American Singers, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Great Baritones, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersAlfred Drake, Annie Lennox, Bobby Short, Buddy Barnes, Cesare Siepi, Cole Porter, Cy Walter, Don Ameche, Donald Pippin, Eddie Ward, Eileen Farrell, Elisabeth Welch, Ethel Merman, Frances Langford, Fred Astaire, Gertrude Lawrence, Helen Merrill, Hutch (Leslie Hutchinson), Janet Blair, Johnny Green, Johnny Mathis, Jonathan Cohen, Joséphine Baker, Julie Wilson, Kaye Ballard, Kiss Me Kate, Lena Horne, Leo Reisman, Leslie Hutchinson, Lisa Kirk, Mabel Mercer, Nelson Eddy, Oscar Peterson, Patricia Hodge, Patricia Morison, Paul Weston, Pembroke Davenport, Percy Faith, Peter Matz, Roland Shaw, Skip Redwine, Tommy Dorsey, Virginia Bruce, William Roycountermelody

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Because I’m still on the road, I’m posting an old bonus episode in place of a new one this week, and I’m posting it early. This was originally published about two years ago, in tandem with an episode that did on Cesare Siepi, which highlighted Easy to Love, his 1958 album of Cole Porter songs. Among my listeners, most of whom adored that episode, there were a few naysayers, including my own not-boyfriend, who felt that Siepi did not do justice to Porter’s insouciant wordplay. So I decided, as one of my first bonus episodes, to offer an “antidote” to Siepi’s song stylings. This is the episode that resulted. It features a wide range of performers, from Mabel Mercer to kd lang (many of them coincidentally queer), offering their own distinctive take on Porter’s brilliant output. Many of the songs are offered in contrasting versions, including Fred Astaire singing “Night and Day” in his original recording from the 1930s, followed by his 1950s version with a jazz combo led by Oscar Peterson. Or Ethel Merman singing her original recording of “I Get a Kick out of You” from the time of the original production of Anything Goes, followed by her infamous version decades later from The Ethel Merman Disco Album. Please enjoy and I’ll see you again at the end of next week.

Episode 149. Music Black and Queer

June 17, 2022African American Singers, BHM2023WK2, Black History Month, Drag Performance, Interview, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersAgustín Lara, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Billy Preston, Billy Strayhorn, Bobby Short, Carmen McRae, Carolyn Franklin, Charlie Shavers, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Esquerita, Frankie "Half-Pint” Jaxon, Gladys Bentley, Irving Berlin, Irving Mills, Jackie Shane, Jacques Prévert, Jo Bouillon, Joan Armatrading, Johnny Mathis, Joseph Kosma, Joséphine Baker, Larry Owens, Mabel Mercer, Michael R. Jackson, Nona Hendryx, Oscar Peterson, Rona Siddiqiui, Sylvester, Tracy Chapman, Wendell Marshallcountermelody

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Over the course of history, for Persons of Color who also happen to be queer, the interface between these two populations is sometimes an enormously challenging one, but one which also frequently produces path-breaking musical artists of enormous courage and originality. In celebration of Juneteenth this coming weekend, and as a follow-up to my Queer Blues episode published last year, I once again pay tribute to an extraordinary array of Black and Queer musical artists across a wide spectrum of popular musical styles, be it Blues, jazz. middle-of-the-road pop, musicals, rock ‘n’ roll, disco, and folk. Artists represented include Billy Strayhorn, Billie Holiday, Johnny Mathis, Tracy Chapman, Mabel Mercer, Joan Armatrading, Nona Hendryx, Sylvester, Joséphine Baker, Jackie Shane, Carmen McRae, Billy Preston, Esquerita, and Carolyn Franklin, Michael R. Jackson, the 2022 Tony Award winner for A Strange Loop, is introduced by my dear friend the theater scholar David Savran, who describes what makes this piece and its creator so daring and original.

Episode 138. Cabaret Risqué: Broadway Edition

April 1, 2022African American Singers, Broadway, Comic Relief, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Queer Pride, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century MusicAlec Wilder, Alyn Ainsworth, Ann Miller, Arnold Weinstein, Arthur Schwartz, Bertolt Brecht, Bessie Smith, Bruce Rameker, Burt Bacharach, Buster Davis, Carolyn Leigh, Charlie Meredith, Charlotte Rae, Chita Rivera, Christopher Denny, Cole Porter, Dick Shreve, Durwood Douché, Eddie Cantor, Elisabeth Welch, Ellen Greene, Francesca Blumenthal, Fred Barton, Gayla Morgan, Gertrude Lawrence, Gertrude Niesen, Glenn Osser, Howard Dietz, Hugh Martin, Irving Berlin, Jimmy Carroll, Joan Morris, Joe Harnell, John Waters, John Willett, Jonathan Tunick, Judy Holliday, Julie Wilson, Kurt Weill, Lawrence Rush, Lea DeLaria, Lorenz Hart, Mabel Mercer, Marlene Dietrich, Martha Wright, Mary Martin, Mink Stole, Morty Palitz, Nina Hagen, Patricia Prunty, Paul Gemignani, Pearl Bailey, Philip Springer, Porter Grainger, Ralph Blane, Ralph Manhein, Raul Julia, Richard Pearson Thomas, Richard Rodgers, Ronny Whyte, Sheldon Harnick, Skip Redwine, Sophie Tucker, Stanley Silverman, Stephen Sondheim, Vivienne Segal, Will Irwin, William Bolcom, William Engvick, William Roycountermelody

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At Countermelody, this April Fool’s Day begins with a dirty musical joke, and a great one! The episode continues with nearly a century’s worth of performances of risqué songs, most but not all of them from musicals. Among the composers and lyricists, the great Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Brecht and Weill, Comden and Green, Carolyn Leigh, Alec Wilder, Stephen Sondheim, Bolcom and Weinstein, Fred Barton, the late Francesca Blumenthal, my friends Richard Pearson Thomas and Lawrence Rush, and the mysterious Durwood Douché. Among the performers, who really let their raunchy side out, Pearl Bailey, Eddie Cantor, Judy Holliday, Mabel Mercer, Gertrude Lawrence, Ann Miller, Vivienne Segal, Marlene Dietrich, Elisabeth Welch, Martha Wright, Raul Julia, Gertrude Niesen, Chita Rivera, Nina Hagen, Mary Martin, Julie Wilson, and Lea DeLaria, among many others. Fasten your seat belts: this is a long episode, but a beautifully down and dirty one!

Episode 110. Black Crooners

October 10, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, BHM2023WK3, Black History Month, Great Baritones, Happy Birthday, Lieder, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Schubert, Singers of Color, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersArthur Prysock, Barry Gordy Jr., Barry White, Bert Williams, Billy Eckstine, Billy Porter, Bobby Short, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Brock Peters, Brook Benton, Bruce Hubbard, Cole Porter, Cyndi Lauper, Francisco Araiza, Franz Schubert, George Gershwin, George Goodman, Harry Belafonte, Hutch (Leslie Hutchinson), Ira Gershwin, Irwin Gage, Jackie Wilson, Johnny Hartman, Johnny Mathis, Johnny Mercer, Jon Hendricks, Joseph Kosma, Josh White, Lamont Dozier, Leonard Bernstein, Leslie Scott, Linda Ronstadt, Lou Rawls, Mabel Mercer, Marvin Gaye, Mills Brothers, Miriam Makeba, Nat King Cole, Nelson Riddle, Owen Williams, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis Jr.countermelody

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Season Three of Countermelody begins with a potpourri episode of some of my favorite crooners of color. I begin with an example of Bert Williams, the first African-American superstar, and offer a few other examples of important precursors, but I focus on the heyday of the crooner, from the 1940s through the early 1960s, including such honey-voiced singers as Billy Eckstine, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis, Jr., Johnny Hartman, Lou Rawls, Brook Benton, and Arthur Prysock. Since I apply the term “crooner” fairly loosely, I am also able to present singers from outside the traditional repertoire of the standard crooner, including Josh White, Leslie “Hutch” Hutchinson, Harry Belafonte, Barry White, Bobby Short, and Lamont Dozier. The episode concludes with a tribute to Broadway baritones of color and with a stunning live performance of Jackie Wilson singing “Danny Boy” in honor of my birthday. Vocal guest stars include Miriam Makeba, Linda Ronstadt, and Mabel Mercer.

Episode 95. Queer Blues and Beyond (Pride 2021)

June 27, 2021African American Singers, BHM2023WK2, Black History Month, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Protest Songs, Queer Pride, Singers in Old Age, Singers of Color, Voiceless WondersAda “Bricktop” Smith, Alberta Hunter, Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday, Bricktop, Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington, Ethel Waters, Gladys Bentley, Joan Armatrading, Joséphine Baker, Laura Love, Lucille Bogan, Lucille Hegamin, Ma Rainey, Mabel Mercer, Meshell Ndegeocello, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Tiny Davis, Toshi Reagon, Victoria Spiveycountermelody

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For my second Queer Pride episode this month, I offer you a panoply of blues and other popular music sung by women of color over the past 100 years and over a wide range of the LGBTQ spectrum. The focus is on the queer and bisexual women of color who enlivened the Harlem blues scene in the 1920s, including the newly popular and celebrated Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, as well as other vital and iconoclastic singers of that era, including Bricktop, Lucille Bogan, Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters, Victoria Spivey, Lucille Hegamin, and the fascinating Gladys Bentley. The net is further extended to include jazz (Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae, Dinah Washington), pop, rock ‘n’ roll (Big Mama Thornton), gospel (Sister Rosetta Tharpe), cabaret (Mabel Mercer, Joséphine Baker), soul (Carolyn Franklin) and folk (Joan Armatrading, Meshell Ndegeocello, Toshi Reagon, and Laura Love). Of course in this episode the musical categories are as flexible as are the sexual and gender boundaries, so expect to see a lot of genre-hopping as well among these subversive, innovative, and pathbreaking women of color.

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. 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 83: Frühlingslieder [Spring Songs]

April 4, 2021African American Singers, Art Song, Broadway, Comic Relief, Crossover, Great Baritones, Holiday Music, Lieder, Mezzo Madness, Music for a World in Crisis Series, Needle Drop, Pop Icons, Twentieth Century Music, Voiceless WondersAksel Schiotz, Alan Jay Lerner, Alec Wilder, Benjamin Luxon, Bernard Kruysen, Brigitte Fassbaender, Bryn Terfel, Buddy Clark, Burt Bacharach, Charles Gounod, Claude Debussy, Comedian Harmonists, David Triestram, Dionne Warwick, Dorothy Fields, Edith Mathis, Edvard Grieg, Elly Ameling, Emilio de Gogorza, Emily Skinner, Erik Werba, Felix Mendelssohn, Fran Landesman, Frank Loesser, Franz Schubert, Georgia Brown, Gerald Moore, Gilbert Kalish, Gordon MacRae, Hans Hotter, Hugo Wolf, Jan DeGaetani, Jean Fournet, Jean-Paul Jeannotte, Jerome Kern, John Ireland, Judith Raskin, Kirsten Flagstad, Kurt Weill, Liane Augustin, Luther Henderson, Mabel Mercer, Martina Arroyo, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Milton Babbitt, Ned Rorem, Noël Lee, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paul Weston, Peter Schreier, Polly Bergen, Rebecca Luker, Richard Rodgers, Roberta Alexander, Sergei Rachmaninov, Tamara Milashkina, Tom Lehrer, Tommy Wolf, Vernon Duke, Walter Jurmann, Wilhelm Müller, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Yip Harburgcountermelody

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Dear listeners, it is Easter Sunday. While we are strictly non-sectarian at Countermelody, I did want to offer a program of spring favorites to welcome in the earth’s rebirth. (I also had to scramble to create a “filler” episode due to having lost two days of work this week after receiving my first jab on Wednesday.) Hence today’s offering: a Blumenstrauss of songs celebrating the beloved season of spring. I decided to limit today’s selections exclusively to song, omitting opera, operetta, and oratorio, but somewhat arbitrarily including songs from musicals amidst the classical and pop offerings. Even so, what a lineup of stars today: everyone from Mabel Mercer to Jan DeGaetani, from Hans Hotter to Dionne Warwick, from Georgia Brown to Roberta Alexander, from Kirsten Flagstad to Gordon MacRae. We hear composers ranging from Alec Wilder to Franz Schubert, from Milton Babbitt to Burt Bacharach, and from Hugo Wolf to Tom Lehrer. May these songs and songsters help us to welcome in the long-awaited spring!

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. 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 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.