Skitch Henderson, His Piano and Orchestra • Paris At Midnight [1957] Decca Records DL 8339

 

I love themed albums and this is no exception - 

I also love French songs!  

Profitez-en, mes amis ! ~Gipsy Dancer~  😍

Skitch Henderson was born Lyle Russell Cedric Henderson in Birmingham, England in 1918. He moved to the United States when he was 14, began playing piano in dance bands, and studied music at UCLA and the Julliard School. His teachers included Arnold Schoenberg and Fritz Reiner. In the 1930s he became a rehearsal accompanist for Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, and soon was playing piano for The Bob Hope Pepsodent Show on the radio. During World War II he was a fighter pilot in the Army Air Corps. After the war he became music arranger and conductor for shows such as Songs by Sinatra (1946), I Deal in Crime (1946), Philco Radio Time (1946), Ethel Merman Show (1949), Frank Sinatra’s Light Up Time (1950), as well as leading his own orchestra on the road. Bing Crosby called him Sketch Kid because of the quick piano sketches Henderson would make for Bing’s orchestrator. He moved to a staff position at NBC and eventually succeeded Arturo Toscanini as music director for the network. He became the first bandleader for the Tonight Show with Steve Allen (1954-56) and later Johnny Carson (1962-66), there devising the “Stump the Band” routine, in which audience members suggest obscure song titles for the band to then try to play. The bands he assembled for the Tonight Show were noteworthy for the first-rate jazz players such as trumpeters Terry Clarke and Doc Severinsen.

In 1963 he received a Grammy Award for an album of selections from Porgy and Bess, with the RCA Orchestra, Leontyne Price, and William Warfield. After leaving NBC, Henderson became a fixture of the New York musical scene for years, founding and conducting the New York Pops. He appeared as guest conductor of San Diego, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Tulsa, and Stamford, Conn., and pops orchestras in Virginia, Florida, and Kentucky. Abroad, he conducted the Royal Philharmonic and the London Symphony. In 1997 he was awarded the Handel Medallion, New York City’s highest honor for the arts. He died in 2005 at his home in New Milford, Conn.

Tracklist:

01 Parlez Moi D'Amour

02 La Vie en Rose

03 Pigalle

04 The Last Time I Saw Paris

05 My Lost Melody (Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin)

06 Valentine

07 I Wish You Love (Que Reste-t-il de nos Amours?)

08 Padam... Padam... (How It Echoes The Beat of My Heart)

09 If You Love Me (Hymne A L'Amour)

10 April In Paris

11 Under Paris Skies (Sous Le Ciel de Paris)  

12 Comme Ci, Comme Ça

13 Mimi

14 Domino

15 Autumn Leaves (Les Feuilles Mortes)

16 Paris In Spring

17 The Petite Waltz (Le Petite Valse)

18 Un Grand Amour (A Great Love)