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Midnight Sun (Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke song)

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"Midnight Sun" was originally an instrumental composed by Lionel Hampton and Sonny Burke in 1947 and is now considered a jazz standard. Subsequently, Johnny Mercer wrote the words to the song.

First recording

"Midnight Sun" was first recorded by Lionel Hampton himself and his orchestra in a Los Angeles studio on November 10, 1947, with solos by Hampton and trumpeter Wendell Culley (Decca Matrix L 4546).[1][2] First releases on the Decca label were on the B-side of 10-inch shellack singles, where the song was coupled with either "Blow-Top Blues" composed by Leonard Feather and played by the Hampton Sextet with "lovely"[3] vocals by Sarah Vaughan (Decca 28059), or "Three Minutes on 52nd Street",[4] another Hampton original recorded with the orchestra (Decca 28059 and Brunswick 03780 in the UK).[1][5]

The lyrics

According to Philip Furia, Johnny Mercer was driving along the freeway from Palm Springs to Hollywood, California, when he heard the instrumental on his car radio and started to set words to the song as he drove.[6] The lyrics were first recorded by June Christy for her 1954 album Something Cool. One famous recording of the song with the Mercer lyrics is by Ella Fitzgerald on her album Like Someone in Love from 1957. Fitzgerald recorded the song again in 1964 for her album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook and once more in 1978. "Midnight Sun" also became part of the repertoire of Carmen McRae after she recorded it first in 1955. Tribute albums to both singers by following jazz vocalists like Dee Dee Bridgewater or Vanessa Rubin included the song associated with them, just like Natalie Cole sang the song in a tribute show called "We Love Ella" at the University of Southern California's Galen Center in 2007.[7]

Recordings

"V" indicates vocal recordings with the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Other entries are instrumental interpretations of the composition.

Date Artist Album V Notes
1947 Lionel Hampton Orchestra single (Decca L 4546)[1] first recording of the song; reissued in 1948 on New Movements in Be-Bop[8][2]
1952 Coleman Hawkins single (various 7-inch and 10-inch)[9][10] with Orchestra arranged and conducted by Danny Mendelsohn; album release 1958 on The Hawk Talks
1953 Les Brown and His Band of Renown single arranged by Frank Comstock[11]
1953 Les Brown and His Band of Renown Concert at the Palladium (Vol. 2) live recording of the Comstock arrangement, released as 7-inch EP and various LP editions[12][13]
1953 Page Cavanaugh Trio single[14]
1954 June Christy Something Cool v first vocal recording of the song, with orchestra led by Pete Rugolo. The initial mono 10-inch was entirely re-recorded in stereo in 1960.
1954 Harry James Dancing in Person with Harry James at the Hollywood Palladium arrangement by Neal Hefti
1955 Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra Apollo Hall Concert 1954
1955 Lionel Hampton single featuring Buddy Rich on drums, released on Clef, 1963 album release Here's Gates
1955 Barney Kessel Vol. 3: To Swing or Not to Swing
1955 Carmen McRae Torchy! v with orchestra arranged and conducted by Ralph Burns
1955 Bobby Troup The Songs of Bobby Troup v
1956 Bob Dorough Devil May Care[15] v
1956 Jimmy Smith A New Sound... A New Star...
1957 Ella Fitzgerald Like Someone in Love v
1957 Art Pepper, Bob Cooper et al. Showcase for Modern Jazz originally credited to guitarist Howard Lucraft who directed the session[16]
1958 Duke Ellington's Spacemen The Cosmic Scene The melody is played by the horn section with soloing by Clark Terry and Jimmy Hamilton
1958 Teddy Charles and His Sextet Salute to Hamp (Flyin' Home) with Bob Brookmeyer, Zoot Sims and Art Farmer.[17]
1958 Julie London Julie v with Jimmy Rowles and His Orchestra
1959 Maxwell Davis with Members of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra Compositions of Lionel Hampton and Others... also released as The Stereophonic Sound of Lionel Hampton by the Members of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra
1959 Larry Elgart Larry Elgart and His Orchestra
1960 June Christy Road Show v
1960 Lou Donaldson Midnight Sun first released 1980[18]
1960 Stan Kenton and His Orchestra Road Show
1960 Jo Stafford Jo + Jazz
1962 Tito Puente The Exciting Tito Puente Band in Hollywood Latin version with Puente playing vibraphone[19]
1963 Brother Jack McDuff The Midnight Sun first released in 1968
1963 Sarah Vaughan Sarah Sings Soulfully v with a quartet arranged by Gerald Wilson
1964 Ella Fitzgerald Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook v
1964 The Four Freshmen More 4 Freshmen and 5 Trombones
1965 Arthur Lyman Call of the Midnight Sun
1966 Lou Donaldson Musty Rusty
1966 Lionel Hampton Hamp in Japan / Live with his orchestra
1967 Nancy Wilson Lush Life v
1968 Carmen McRae "Live" & Wailing v
1969 Willie Mitchell The Many Moods of Willie Mitchell
1972 Tony Bennett The Good Things in Life v
1975 Ella Fitzgerald & Oscar Peterson Ella and Oscar v
1978 Sarah Vaughan How Long Has This Been Going On? v
1980 Lionel Hampton Live in Europe
1985 Ahmad Jamal Digital Works
1986 Chuck Brown Go Go Swing Live v
1986 June Christy A Lovely Way to Spend an Evening v
1987 Kate Ceberano Kate Ceberano and her Septet v
1987 Mel Tormé and George Shearing A Vintage Year v
1988 Flora Purim Midnight Sun v
1994 Vanessa Rubin I'm Glad There Is You - A Tribute to Carmen McRae v
1997 Dee Dee Bridgewater Dear Ella v
1998 Dee Dee Bridgewater Live at Yoshi's v
1998 Abbey Lincoln Wholly Earth v
2001 Rebecca Martin Middlehope v
2001 Diane Schuur and Maynard Ferguson Swingin' for Schuur v
2002 Cæcilie Norby First Conversation v
2003 Holly Cole Shade v
2004 Al Jarreau Accentuate the Positive v arranged by Larry Williams featuring Tollak Ollestad on harmonica[20]
2005 Renée Fleming Haunted Heart v
2005 Hugh Masekela Almost Like Being in Jazz
2007 Elizabeth Shepherd Besides v
2007 Natalie Cole We Love Ella! A Tribute to the First Lady of Song v tribute show with an orchestra directed by co-host Quincy Jones, released on DVD[21]
2008 Paul Motian Trio 2000 + Two On Broadway Volume 5
2008 Dianne Reeves When You Know v
2009 Quincy Jones featuring Al Jarreau The 75th Birthday Celebration v
2010 Esperanza Spalding Chamber Music Society v a solo interpretation, only as a bonus track on the Japanese release. She already played the song at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2008.[22]
2013 Ellery Eskelin Trio New York II with organist Gary Versace and Gerald Cleaver on drums
2016 Bria Skonberg Bria v
2019 Krystyna Stańko Aquarius - The Orchestral Session v orchestrated and directed by Krzysztof Herdzin featuring violinist Mateusz Smoczyński[23]
2021 Julius Rodriguez Midnight Sun - EP

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Cf. entry of "Midnight Sun" in the Discography of American Historical Recordings
  2. ^ a b Audio track on YouTube.
  3. ^ Cook, Richard, Brian Morton (2006). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings, 8th Edition, London: Penguin Books, p. 579 ISBN 9780141023274
  4. ^ Besides Charles Mingus who also played bass on "Midnight Sun", the sextet session of June 8, 1947, additionally featured Kenny Dorham. Cf. Cook, Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings, ibid.
  5. ^ See also the liner notes by Burt Korall to Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra (1946-47) - Midnight Sun at Discogs, released on MCA in 1993 and produced by Orrin Keepnews as part of the series GRP Presents the Legendary Masters of Jazz, The Original American Decca Recordings. The booklet scans with full documentation on Discogs are readable.
  6. ^ Furia, Philip (1990). The Poets of Tin Pan Alley. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  7. ^ Natalie Cole's performance with an orchestra directed by Quincy Jones on YouTube.
  8. ^ New Movements In Be-Bop at Discogs
  9. ^ "Coleman Hawkins – Midnight Sun / Spellbound" at Discogs
  10. ^ "Midnight Sun", Decca matrix 82330 in DAHR
  11. ^ Entry in DAHR
  12. ^ Entry in DAHR.
  13. ^ Live recording from September that year at the Hollywood Palladium on YouTube
  14. ^ Entry in DAHR
  15. ^ Devil May Care at Discogs
  16. ^ Showcase for Modern Jazz at Discogs (list of releases)
  17. ^ Salute to Hamp at Discogs
  18. ^ Midnight Sun at Discogs
  19. ^ The Exciting Tito Puente Band in Hollywood at Discogs with audio from YouTube
  20. ^ "Midnight Sun" by Al Jarreau as audio track on YouTube
  21. ^ We Love Ella! at Discogs
  22. ^ Official video of Spalding's solo on YouTube. There are more videos of her playing the song, a.o. at NPR's Tiny Desk Concert, "Midnight Sun" at about 4:10.
  23. ^ "Midnight Sun" by Stańko as audio track on YouTube.
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