 Marian McPartland Remembers Hoagy Carmichael |
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| I met Hoagy Carmichael through my husband,
cornetist Jimmy McPartland. He knew Hoagy well; they practically grew up together, and
Hoagy was always among the musicians who frequented the Friars Inn in Chicago, listening
to the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and other bands of the twenties. In the late 40s, Hoagy
and I played duets together at the home of a mutual friend, Sherman Fairchild, who had two
beautifully matched grand pianos in his living room. Sherman threw extravagant parties and
Hoagy was always a fixture. Hoagy would play one tune after another, with me at the other
piano trying to keep up. "And then I wrote. . .," he would say, meantime dipping
into his scotch and soda as he played. Hoagy was a self-taught piano player and composer. Born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1899, he got into "hot music" through the great cornetist, Bix Biederbecke. Hoagy went to Indiana University and in those early years he arranged some music for the Wolverines, a famous band of the time that featured Biederbecke. All his songs have a certain musicality about them — Hoagy had a way of putting a song together that is his alone. From the start, he wrote memorable songs. One of the first was "Washboard Blues," recorded by Paul Whiteman, in which Hoagy both played and sang. Many of his most famous songs were written about 1929, and although I was only 11 at the time that "Stardust" was written, I remember hearing it on the BBC and learning to play it. It has a beautiful verse and many years later, Frank Sinatra recorded the verse alone. So many of Hoagy’s tunes are world famous and are performed by everyone from jazz musicians and singers to symphony orchestras. Perhaps the most notable are "Rockin Chair," "Georgia on My Mind," "Lazy Bones," and "Skylark," and perhaps the most revered is "Stardust," which artists as varied as Tony Bennett, Joe Williams, Carly Simon, and Willie Nelson still perform and record today. Hoagy was a very down-to-earth person. Whenever we would meet, he was always full of jokes and good humor. I think his personality is reflected in some of his songs, such as "Small Fry," "My Resistance is Low," and "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," the song for which he and Johnny Mercer won an Oscar in 1951. Of his work in so many films, to me the most memorable were "To Have and Have Not," "Here Comes the Groom" with Bing Crosby, and "Johnny Angel." "Johnny Angel" features a very attractive song called "Memphis in June," with down-home lyrics like "everything is peacefully dandy" and "up jumps the moon" that are very typical of Hoagy. As we celebrate the Hoagy Carmichael Centennial, it’s wonderful to know that, through his music, Hoagy lives on! |