[sschweiger]

N4F212 -- Great Show! If it "only" had the Deodato interview, the Jobim recordings, and the Frank-Ella-Bing moments, the show would have been terrific! With such tracks as "I'll Never Be The Same," "I'll Never Smile Again," & "I'll See You Again," N4F212 was a great one!

"Major bows" from Nancy, Chuck, Dan, & Friends!

[Mark Blackburn]

I've been partial to the words (spoken and written) of Chuck Granata since he graciously welcomed some small errors I'd detected in the hard cover first edition of his masterwork on Frank's recording sessions (where our favorite singer was always defacto producer). What sort of things? Oh like the brand of guitar George Van Epps was playing back when he recorded with Frank in the early 50s. Stuff like that.

But I was never so impressed with Chuck's knowledge than when he was eliciting the thoughts of Mr. Deodato (whose oh-so-evocative, deceptively-simple orchestration for “Wave” is still my all-time favorite Brazilian arrangement; bet it's Eumir's too!)

Though he and Chuck didn't use the word “voicings” – the selection of which particular instruments (“flutes? bass flutes? strings?”) best suits the song's 'mood' – in the subjective opinion of each great arranger, Chuck elicited the most wonderful reflections by Eumir on his unique 'voicings' – and why certain instruments are better suited – in the way they can project, even overpower in studio vs live recordings with a big orchestra.

I particularly enjoyed Chuck informing Eumir about the accomplishments of Morris Stoloff (sp?) whose orchestral version of PICNIC was "important" to Mr. Eumir when he was growing up. Mr. Stoloff actually conducted Eumir's arrangements because, he said: “They asked me to take over the piano part” (which for unspecified reasons wasn't working out).

Our Chuck, without any trace of “let me tell you all I know about this,” again and again prompted a delighted “Really??” from Eumir. You could hear the smile in both their voices.

Anyway, just had to say -- I love all "Nancy for Frank" shows, but this one was particularly gratifying for this listener (who fancies himself a student of great arranging). Bravo, Mr. Granata. And thanks, Nancy for making it happen!
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p.s. I was delighted (but not surprised) when Mr. Deodato shared with you his life-long appreciation of Henry Mancini as an ARRANGER. Tonight I'd been trying (almost) in vain to find a recording by someone other than Debby Boone and Rod Stewart that included the short but lovely opening verse that Sammy & Jule wrote for TIME AFTER TIME. Lo and behold, in the middle of his 1986 recording with Hank Mancini's arrangement of the song, there it is, inserted in the middle, as a rubato, out-of-tempo bridge. The arrangement by Mancini is gorgeous. A link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaKCJ...eature=related