LGM Classical – Lullaby of Birdland

Several weeks back, my piano teacher gave me a book of jazz numbers and told me to pick one. I chose “Lullaby of Birdland,” which I’ve always liked. I’ve managed to be able to play it pretty nicely.

The arrangement is sort of intermediate, maybe on the easy side, but it sounds good, with reasonably full chords. My teacher gave me a simpler arrangement, which I didn’t like, it turns out, because the chords are too thin. So I’m learning something about arranging. I’m also learning how to read chord notations, which are in some ways the antithesis of how I’ve learned what notes to play. I won’t go further into that.

When I was growing up, there were a lot of popular versions of jazz standards on the radio. Plus my mother loved to sing them. I had strong feelings about “Lullaby,” on which I did some research.

“Lullaby” is an instrumental piece. It has no need for words, which are an intrusion. Comments asserting otherwise will be ignored. It was written by George Shearing as an instrumental piece in 1952, with lyrics added by George David Weiss in 1954.

It was first recorded by George Shearing’s quintet in 1952.

This is a very 1950s sound, not much like how we think of jazz today.

Here’s a version with lyrics in French that was popular in the US in 1956.

But a great many people, including my piano teacher, like Sarah Vaughn’s version

Or Ella Fitzgerald’s.

George Shearing’s performance in 1992 at the Munich Philharmonic shows what thinking about a tune for 40 years can do. Sorry about it being unsharable, but it looks like it should be viewable on YouTube.

And finally, a great interview with Shearing about “Lullaby” and other things.