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about
River City, Iowa: an out of the way footbridge under a full moon. A slick but goodhearted con-man meets a beautiful young librarian. She sings, they kiss and then... he scampers off to pow-wow with his accomplice.
"Till There Was You," appeared in 1957 as the climactic love ballad in the Broadway hit "The Music Man" by Meredith Willson. The movie version came out in 1962 and the Beatles included the song on their 1963 album "With The Beatles."
In contrast to the highly saturated romance of Shirley Jones' performance for the film edition, Ringo's bongos, Paul's winsome vocal plus George's pretty-sophisticated-for-a-20-year-old guitar solo tell a different tale*. Perhaps that of dancing the cha-cha in a London lounge before sneaking off to violate established norms in a limousine.
And then our treatment paints a different picture entirely. By now you all know that we in the Panorama Jazz Band love a good waltz. We've recorded several including a bunch of Venezuelan waltzes and two from the world of French concert music of the Romantic period.
These chord changes have always suggested the Parisian "Vals Musette" to me so we decided to record "Till There Was You" in an up-tempo triple meter with the Panorama Trio, spotlighting the accordion as well as all the tonal possibilities of the drum kit.
When you're used to working with a 7pc band, recording with a trio requires a lot more focus. By this time in the afternoon we were quite tired and, frankly, a bit loopy. But we finally did get a good take, a kooky, dance-y, free-wheeling romp that brings you somewhere, makes a party and delivers the lovers at the finish a bit tipsy, perhaps a little sweaty, giggling and ready for another.
We hope you dig it!
Also, this is the last of our trio recordings for now. We have studio time booked later this month with the Panorama Five. Stay tuned!
Thanks for listening,
Ben Schenck
Clarinetist / Bandleader
Panorama Jazz Band
New Orleans, LA
*By the way, listen closely for a modified version of Harrison's solo.
lyrics
Although our version is an instrumental, my teachers always said a jazz musician has to know the lyrics.
Till There Was You (Meredith Willson)
There were bells on a hill
But I never heard them ringing
No, I never heard them at all
Till there was you.
There were birds in the sky
But I never saw them winging
No, I never saw them at all
Till there was you.
And there was music and wonderful roses
They tell me
In sweet, fragrant meadows
Of dawn and dew.
There was love all around
But I never heard it singing
No I never heard it at all
Till there was you.
credits
from
Song-of-the-Month Club: Good Music For You,
track released June 1, 2019
Recorded Feb 22, 2019 at Oak Street Recording, New Orleans, LA
Credits:
Panorama Jazz Band
Ben Schenck - Clarinet
Michael Ward-Bergeman - Accordion
Doug Garrison - Drum Set
Words and Music - Meredith Willson / MPL MUSIC PUBLISHING INC. OBO FRANK MUSIC CORP
Arrangers - Ben Schenck, Michael Ward-Bergeman + Doug Garrison
Published by Snack Daddy Music (ASCAP)
Recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Lu Rojas at Oak Street Recording, New Orleans, LA
Cover photo - Ben Schenck
Graphic design - Ben Schenck
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