Great American Songbook

The term Great American Songbook includes a non- well-defined number of outstanding songs of American popular music from the 1930s to 1960s. They are part of stylistically and chronologically further designed Classic or Traditional Pop Pop ( awarded for the Grammy Awards ), ie the still unaffected by the Rock and Roll " classic" pop music with its starting point in the Tin Pan Alley. The term Great American Songbook brings the view expressed that it had acted as the artistic highlight of the ( sung ) popular music creation in the United States.

The following composers / lyricists are regarded as the classic representative of the Great American Songbook:

• Harold Arlen ( " Over the Rainbow ," " Stormy Weather " )
• Irving Berlin ( "White Christmas ", " Alexander 's Ragtime Band ", " Blue Skies " )
• Hoagy Carmichael ( "Stardust" by Mitchell Parish, "Georgia on My Mind" with Stuart Gorell and " The Nearness Of You " with Ned Washington)
• Duke Ellington ("In a Sentimental Mood ," " It Do not Mean A Thing ," " Satin Doll ," " Mood Indigo " )
• Jerome Kern ( " Look for the Silver Lining", " Ol ' Man River ," "The Way You Look Tonight ", "All the Things You Are", " The Song Is You," " Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" )
• Henry Mancini ( " Moon River ," " Days of Wine and Roses " )
• Johnny Mandel ( " The Shadow of Your Smile " )
• Johnny Mercer ( "One for My Baby ( and One More for the Road ) " )
• Cole Porter ( "Night and Day", " I've Got You Under My Skin ," " It's De-Lovely " )
• Rodgers & Hammerstein ( " Oh What a Beautiful Mornin ' ," " Shall We Dance? ", " The Sound of Music" )
• Rodgers & Hart ( " Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered ," " My Romance ," " Have You Met Miss Jones ", " My Funny Valentine" )
• Vincent Youmans ( " Tea For Two ", " Hallelujah! " And "Time on My Hands " )

Of great importance also had the songwriting duo

• Johnny Burke and James Van Heusen ( " It Could Happen to You" and " But Beautiful " )
• Sammy Cahn and James Van Heusen ( " Darn That Dream" and "Polka Dots and Moonbeams " )
• Mort Dixon and Allie Wrubel ( " Gone with the Wind " and " ( I'm Afraid ) The Masquerade Is Over " )
• Sammy Fain ( "Alice in Wonderland" with Bob Hilliard, "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing" with Paul Francis Webster )
• Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh ( " Do not Blame Me," " I'm in the Mood for Love" )
• Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown ( "Singin 'in the Rain ," " I'll Be Seeing You " with Richard Whiting )
• Mack Gordon and Harry Revel ( "Time on My Hands " )
• Gus Kahn ( " When Lights Are Low " with Ted Fiorito, "Chloe" with Neil Moret )
• Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young ( " Dinah " )
• Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby ( "Three Little Words" )
• Burton Lane ( " How About You " with Ralph Freed, " Old Devil Moon" by Yip Harburg)
• Frank Loesser ( "On a Slow Boat to China", "Baby It's Cold Outside ", " I Hear Music" by Burton Lane )
• Don Raye and Gene DePaul ("Star Eyes" and "You Do not Know What Love Is " )
• Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger ( "Love Is Just Around the Corner " )
• Jule Styne ("Just in Time" by Betty Comden & Adolph Green, " I Fall in Love So Easily " with Sammy Cahn )
• Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz ( "You and the Night and the Music", "Dancing in the Dark" )
• Fats Waller and Andy Razaf ( " Is not Misbehavin ' ," " Honeysuckle Rose " )
• Harry Warren ( " Jeepers Creepers " with Johnny Mercer, " Chattanooga Choo Choo " by Mack Gordon)
• Victor Young and Ned Washington ( "Stella by Starlight " )
• Bronislau Kaper ( " On Green Dolphin Street" with Ned Washington)

The era of the Great American Songbook coincides with the predominance of radio as a mass medium and the Golden Age of Hollywood of the studio system, which significantly favored the production conditions for the composer / lyricist and the marketing opportunities for their works. The songs were often written for Broadway and Hollywood musicals and are characterized by catchy melodies and sophisticated, tailored to the musical arrangements and lyrics. The influence of jazz is evident, but is the genre Swing in the foreground. The works of the Great American Songbook have become standards; they have been and are included because of their ongoing popularity and quality of many singers in sets, ranging from Ella Fitzgerald's influential Sings the ... Songbook series at Verve Records from the 1950s and 1960s about Tony Bennett to the present day, such as by Queen Latifah and Rod Stewart.

Among the most important interpreters of the Great American Songbook include: Louis Armstrong, Fred Astaire, Tony Bennett, Betty Carter, Rosemary Clooney, Chris Connor, Bing Crosby, Blossom Dearie, Billy Eckstine, Michael Feinstein, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Shirley Horn, Lena Horne, Diana Krall, Al Jolson, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, Carmen McRae, Mabel Mercer, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Mel Tormé, Rudy Vallee, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington.