[PDF] Vilnius; Places Tourists Never See At Night?... Book 1 by Gintaras Kavarskas in Arts-Photography

Description

From Irving Berlin to Cy Coleman; from ldquo;Alexanderrsquo;s Ragtime Bandrdquo; to ldquo;Big Spender;rdquo; from Tin Pan Alley to the MGM soundstages; the Golden Age of the American song embodied all that was cool; sexy; and sophisticated in popular culture. For four glittering decades; geniuses like Jerome Kern; George Gershwin; Cole Porter; and Harold Arlen ran their fingers over piano keys; enticing unforgettable melodies out of thin air. Critically acclaimed writer Wilfrid Sheed uncovered the legends; mingled with the greats; and gossiped with the insiders. Now hersquo;s crafted a dazzling; authoritative history of the era that ldquo;tripled the worldrsquo;s total supply of singable tunes.rdquo;It began when immigrants in New Yorkrsquo;s Lower East Side heard black jazz and bluesndash;and it surged into an artistic torrent nothing short of miraculous. Broke but eager; Izzy Baline transformed himself into Irving Berlin; married an heiress; and embarked on a string of hits from ldquo;Alwaysrdquo; to ldquo;Cheek to Cheek.rdquo; Berlinrsquo;s spiritual godson George Gershwin; in his brief but incandescent career; straddled Tin Pan Alley and Carnegie Hall; charming everyone in his orbit. Possessed of a world-class ego; Gershwin was also generous; exciting; and utterly original. Half a century later; Gershwin love songs like ldquo;Someone to Watch Over Me;rdquo; ldquo;The Man I Love;rdquo; and ldquo;Love Is Here to Stayrdquo; are as tender and moving as ever.Sheed also illuminates the unique gifts of the great jazz songsters Hoagy Carmichael and Duke Ellington; conjuring up the circumstances of their creativity and bringing back the thrill of what it was like to hear ldquo;Georgia on My Mindrdquo; or ldquo;Mood Indigordquo; for the first time. The Golden Age of song sparked creative breakthroughs in both Broadway musicals and splashy Hollywood extravaganzas. Sheed vividly recounts how Cole Porter; Richard Rodgers; Jerome Kern; and Johnny Mercer spread the melodic wealth to stage and screen.Popular music was; writes Sheed; ldquo;far and away our greatest contribution to the worldrsquo;s art supply in the so-called American Century.rdquo; Sheed hung out with some of the great artists while they were still writingndash;and better than anyone; he knows great music; its shimmer; bite; and exuberance. Sparkling with wit; insight; and the grace notes of wonderful songs; The House That George Built is a heartfelt; intensely personal portrait of an unforgettable era.A delightfully charming; funny; and most illuminating portrait of songwriters and the Golden Age of American Popular Song. Mr. Sheedrsquo;s carefully chosen depictions and anecdotes recapture that amazingly creative period; a moment in time in which I was so fortunate to be surrounded by all that magic.rdquo;ndash;Margaret WhitingFrom the Hardcover edition.