Yesterdays: The Jerome Kern Songbook - Instrumentals (1997)

About this title: Volume three of the Kern songbook series concentrates on instrumental versions of 16 of the revered composer's songs; and again, the Verve, MGM, and Mercury archives prove to be a nearly inexhaustible resource. Annotator Dan Morgenstern claims that due to their harmonic sophistication, Kern's songs did not become ripe vehicles for jazz improvisation until shortly after his death in 1945 when the beboppers were in full cry. After that, the deluge began, and boppers of several stripes dominate this collection. Among the blue-chip performances are Charlie Parker doing an Afro-Cubanized "Why Do I ... read more

Tracks:

1. The Song Is You [Kern/Hammerstein]
2. Nobody Else But Me [Kern/Hammerstein]
3. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes [Kern/Harbach]
4. All the Things You Are [Kern/Hammerstein]
5. The Last Time I Saw Paris [Kern/Hammerstein]
6. Why Do I Love You? [Kern/Hammerstein]
7. Pick Yourself Up [Kern/Fields]
8. Long Ago (And Far Away) [Kern/Gershwin]
9. Yesterdays [Kern/Harbach]
10. She Didn't Say Yes [Kern/Harbach]
11. I'm Old Fashioned [Kern/Mercer]
12. The Way You Look Tonight [Kern/Fields]
13. Who? [Kern/Hammerstein/Ha]
14. The Folks Who Live on the Hill [Kern/Hammerstein]
15. A Fine Romance [Kern/Fields]
16. Ol' Man River [Kern/Hammerstein]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.