– Irving Berlin (1888-1989), arr. Joseph H. Jennings
Irving Berlin was one of the greatest popular song composers of the 20th century.
Berlin immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1893, and though he never
learned to read music, he composed some of the most famous songs of his day,
including “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” and “White Christmas.”
Blue Skies was a last minute addition to the Rodgers and Hart 1926 musical, Betsy
and was an instant success with audiences, who on opening night demanded a
whopping 24 encores from the musical’s star, Belle Baker. A long-time favorite of
Chanticleer audiences, Joseph Jennings’ (b. 1954) arrangement includes cameos of
other melodies you may have heard once or twice, in addition to the “band vocal”
section of Tommy Dorsey’s 1941 rendition.
Blue skies, smilin’ at me,
Nothin’ but blue skies do I see.
Bluebirds singing a song,
Nothin’ but bluebirds all day long.
Never saw the sun shining so bright,
Never saw things going oh so right.
Noticing the days hurrying by,
Blue days, all of them gone,
Nothin’ but blue skies from now on.
– Trad. Spiritual, arr. Jennings
America’s Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award acknowledging his contribution to the
African-American choral tradition. During his 25-year tenure as singer and music
director with Chanticleer, his gospel and spiritual arrangements became part of
Chanticleer’s identity and were appreciated by audiences worldwide. This spiritual
arrangement is an example of his remarkable ability to inject the vocal freedom
inherent in the Southern Baptist tradition into the structure of classical music. Set in
a typical call-and-response form, as the spiritual progresses, more and more musical
ideas are layered on, so that by the end, every singer is singing his own line.
Everywhere I go, everywhere I go, my Lord
Everywhere I go, somebody talkin’ ‘bout Jesus.
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