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"Body and Soul" was added to the score of Three's a Crowd in its Philadelphia preview before the show opened in New York, October 15, 1930. Other songs from this show currently included in the Cafe SongbookCatalog of The Great American Songbook:
According to jazz critic Will Friedwald, "Body and Soul" was written when, in 1930, Johnny Green and Edward Heyman recieved a call from Gertrude Lawrence who needed some new material for her 1930 New York act. Friedwald's essay on "Body and Soul" in his book Stardust Melodies tells the complete story of the song's origins (Will Friedwald, Stardust Melodies: A Biography of 12 of America's Most Popular Songs, pp. 147 ff. paper-bound Ed.).
Phil Johnson,
"Body and Soul" Lives of the Great Songs, Tim De Lisle (Ed.)
UK: Pavilion, 1994
(A collection of essays on
individual popular songs by
very capable critics
Jazz critic Phil Johnson after describing the scene in the 1986 film 'Round Midnight, in which Dexter Gordon plays "Body and Soul," comments on the iconic status of the song:
Pain and loss, darkness and death, love and life gone sour: this then, is the subtext to the song -- at least in the film, which puts a doomy French spin on the dreamy cadences of the tune. And this is largely what "Body and Soul" has come to mean for us today, even without the lovelorn lyric. . . . "Body and Soul" has become the iconic reduction of all those late-night crying-into-your-beer jazz ballads. It's a standard for all saxophonists not because it tests their technical skills but because it challenges their powers of emotional expression. (Lives of the Great Songs, p. 114)
Dexter Gordon performing "Body and Soul" on Tenor Sax (playing Dale Gordon in the 1986 film Round Midnight) with Herbie Hancock on piano, Pierre Michelot on bass, John Mclaughlin on guitar, and Billy Higgins on drums.
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The Cafe Songbook
Record/Video Cabinet: Selected Recordings of
"Bosy and Soul"
(All Record/Video Cabinet entries
below
include a music-video
of this page's featured song.
The year given is for when the studio
track was originally laid down
or when the live performance was given.)
Performer/Recording Index
(*indicates accompanying music-video)
Notes: "Body and Soul" was added to the score of the Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz revue "Three's a Crowd" (even though it was not written by them), which opened in New York on October 15, 1930, where it was sung by Libby Holman. Her recording was one of six to reach the American charts in 1930, along with those of Paul Whiteman, Ruth Etting, Annette Hanshaw, Helen Morgan and Ozzie Nelson. Because the song was written for British singer Gertrude Lawrence, albeit for her to perform in New York, it quickly made it back to London where it also achieved success. Video plays same track as on albums at Amazon and iTunes links above.
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