Why this tune? Tunes on Tuesday starts the new year with a new song written on New Year’s Eve. I started the song with I started the song with a twist on the concept of New Year’s resolutions. What if we resolve to not make any? That evolved into a sort of love song, whereContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Let’s Resolve”
Author Archives: Oren Levine
Tunes on Tuesday: Hanukkah Light
Why this tune? For Tunes on Tuesday during Hanukkah I’m sharing a solo piano version of my song “Hanukkah Light” that I recorded in 2020 as part of a series for the holiday (which you can find on Bandcamp). I recorded the song first in 2015 with Aaron Myers, and released it on his holidayContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Hanukkah Light”
Tunes on Tuesday: Mister Magic
Why this tune? It’s quite an achievement to have your song recorded twice in the same year by major artists. That happened to Ralph MacDonald in 1975 when Grover Washington Jr and Roberta Flack included his “Mister Magic” on their albums. Washington’s version is by far the most popular. I expect Flack’s vocal version wasContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Mister Magic”
Tunes on Tuesday: Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
Why this tune? This week’s tune is another reminder that many of the songs we think of now as jazz standards didn’t start that way. They only became jazz songs when jazz players interpreted them with a jazz language. Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise” as a melancholyContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Softly As In A Morning Sunrise”
Tunes on Tuesday: Feels So Good
Why this tune? Imagine a time when a smooth jazz instrumental over 9 minutes long reached #4 on the Billboard pop chart and was nominated for the record of the Year Grammy. That time was 1978 and the song was “Feels So Good” by Chuck Mangione, a trumpet and flugelhorn player whose birthday falls onContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Feels So Good”
Tunes on Tuesday: Skylark
Why this tune? We’re marking the birthday (Nov. 22) of the great American composer Hoagy Carmichael with one of his most famous songs. His melody for “Skylark” was based on a solo by his friend Bix Beiderbecke, an early jazz cornet player who encouraged Hoagy in his musical career. The harmony takes some unexpected harmonicContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Skylark”
Tunes on Tuesday: Days Of Wine And Roses
Why this tune? Tunes On Tuesday this week marks the birthday of the great lyricist and composer Johnny Mercer. He wrote lyrics for over 1,500 songs, including many classics composed by Henry Mancini. Mercer and Mancini collaborated on this tune, a movie theme that won the Oscar for Best Song in 1962. This is aContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Days Of Wine And Roses”
Tunes on Tuesday: Joy Spring
Why this tune? This week marks the start of a new Tunes On Tuesday series, returning to stories about tunes worth knowing and what they mean to me. This week’s tune is a tribute to thegreat Clifford Brown, a brilliant bebop trumpet player and composer who died at age 23in a 1956 car accident. InContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Joy Spring”
Tunes On Tuesday: 45 Seconds
Why this tune? I just updated the Original Music page on this site, adding audio and video clips plus charts for a bunch of songs I’ve written recent. While editing the page I saw a short song I recorded eight years ago that I refreshed for Tunes On Tuesday. “45 Seconds” was the musical responseContinue reading “Tunes On Tuesday: 45 Seconds”
Tunes on Tuesday: Powerful Questions
Why this tune? You may not think of software development as musical, but it inspired this week’s song. I took a course recently on Agile Coaching, learning how to help software teams use Agile processes to work more effectively. One of the many coaching tools we learned was the use of “powerful questions.” These areContinue reading “Tunes on Tuesday: Powerful Questions”
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 