Category Archives: Music by Larry DeAngelo

Holiday special: Kol Nidre – The Al Jolson Project

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Al Jolson in the 20's movie "The Jazz Singer", singing Kol Nidre

Al Jolson in the 20’s movie “The Jazz Singer”, singing Kol Nidre

Just in time for the Jewish High Holy Days, the Entertainment Plus Creations Al Jolson Project releases its recording of tenor Kevin Hanek singing Kol Nidre.

NASHVILLE, TENN, UNITED STATES, October 2, 2016 /EINPresswire.com/ — Central to The Al Jolson Story is the scene in the 1927 “talkie” in which the Jazz Singer leads one of the holiest prayers in the Jewish religion as his cantor father listens from his deathbed across the street from the synagogue.

In this first full-length movie featuring synchronized sound, electrified theatergoers actually got to hear Jolson as he sang melodies like My Gal Sal and Waiting for the Robert E. Lee. Then, as his father lay on his deathbed across the street from the synagogue, the musical mode switches from pop tunes of the day to a 1,300-year standard, as the rebellious Jazz Singer sings the Kol Nidre. “We have our son back,“ are the cantors last words.

To fill out this key musical component of the Al Jolson catalog, The Al Jolson Project has recruited heldentenor Kevin Hanek, who on Sept. 30 recorded his own Kol Nidre accompanied by Kathy Geary on the piano. Continue reading →

Tangerine

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Larry DeAngleo sings “Tangerine,” a popular song with music by Victor Schertzinger and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was published in 1941. It was introduced in the 1942 movie, The Fleet’s In, produced by Paramount Pictures, directed by Schertzinger, and starring Dorothy Lamour, William Holden, Eddie Bracken, singer Cass Daley, and Betty Hutton in her feature film debut. The most popular recorded version of the song was made by the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra with vocalists Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberly. The recording was released by Decca Records as catalog number 4123. The record first reached the Billboard charts on April 10, 1942 and lasted 15 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1. The lyrics in this version differ slightly from those in the movie. On the record, Eberly sings “And I’ve seen toasts to Tangerine/Raised in every bar across the Argentine,” the lyric that became standard. In the movie at that point, the line is “And I’ve seen times when Tangerine/Had the bourgeoisie believing she was queen.”