Why this tune?
Tunes on Tuesday celebrates Jazz Appreciation Month with another seasonal classic. Tommy Wolf wrote the music in 1955 to a lyric by Fran Landesman, her jazz interpretation of T. S. Eliot’s “April is the cruelest month.” It’s a complex musical setting for a complex lyric exploring the singer’s feelings of loss and loneliness following the end of a relationship. Here’s one lyric gem among many in the song:
“But when you keep praying for snow to hide the clover/
Spring can really hang you up the most”
There are well over 300 recordings of the song, which is classified as a “popular” song but quickly became a mainstay of the jazz repertoire, as a vocal and instrumental piece. It’s a long song, especially at a ballad tempo. I’m playing the last chorus of the refrain (and taking some liberties with the melody along the way).
Tunes On Tuesday Reel
Check it out!
Betty Carter
Bill Charlap
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 