The 1926 Broadway musical, Betsy, was not a hit, running for only 39 performances. All but one of its songs were written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The one exception, “Blue Skies,” written by Irving Berlin, was performed for 24 encores by vocalist Belle Baker on opening night and went on to be a huge hit, recorded by Bing Crosby Ella Fitzgerald and many, many others.
It was one of several Berlin favorites performed on Sunday, June 7, by multireedists Will (left in above photo) and Peter Anderson at NJJS’ Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert at the Madison (NJ) Community Arts Center. Others included “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, “Isn’t It a Lovely Day”, “There’s No Business Like Show Business”, and “How Deep is the Ocean.”
According to the Andersons, Berlin wrote 5,000 songs and once said, “I write a song to please the public, and, if the public doesn’t like it, I change it.” They also pointed out that Berlin’s “Always” was written as a wedding present for his wife, Ellen Mackey, to whom it he was married for 60 years.
Pianist Ehud Asherie (in photo below) joined the Andersons for an exuberant afternoon, which no one wanted to end, but it did with the festive “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, sung, they reminded us, by Peter Boyle, in the movie, Young Frankenstein.
The Andersons were preceded by New Jersey City University Jazz Studies students, saxophonist Sofia Carrasco (in photo below) and pianist Victor Sotomayor. They led off with Thelonious Monk’s “Ask Me Now” and followed with “Vida Pasajera”, a traditional tunantada (Peruvian dance), arranged by Carrasco, and two original compositions by Sotomayor — “Desvelos,” inspired by the Afro-Peruvian rhythm known as “lando” and “Plegaria,” which reflects on the resilience, struggles, and cultural legacy of Andean communities in Peru.
Carrasco and Sotomayor are co-founders of the Misti Peruvian Jazz Project, an ensemble dedicated to exploring the intersection of jazz and Peruvian musical traditions.
PHOTOS BY MARGUERITE LAFOUNTAINE
