Johnny Mercer

Born: November 18, 1909

When people write about Johnny Mercer, they usually talk about his fabulous career, the sheer quantity of his output, the speed and ease with which he wrote, his southern charm, the hip sophistication of his lyrics. But all this misses the real point. Ask anyone who writes lyrics. Johnny Mercer was a genius. He was born John Herndon Mercer on November 18, 1909 into an old Southern family in Savannah, Georgia. His father was a wealthy attorney with a flourishing real estate business, and young John was sent to a fashionable prep school, the Woodbury Forrest School in Virginia. However, when he was 17, his father's business collapsed, and his father found himself a million dollars in debt

Ana?s Reno: Lady of the Lavender Mist

by Pierre Giroux
July 22, 2025

Ana?s Reno continues to strengthen her reputation among the top young interpreters of the Great American Songbook with her album Lady of the Lavender Mist. Four years after her debut, Reno returns with greater vocal maturity, deeper interpretive insights, and support from a seasoned rhythm section featuring guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist David Wong and drummer Joe ...

The Music of Hoagy Carmichael, part 2

by Larry Slater
June 20, 2025

This is the second hour dedicated to the music of Hoagy Carmichael, the most jazz oriented of all the American songwriters. His output was remarkably varied, and without a signature style that characterized the theater composers like Jerome Kern or Cole Porter. Carmichael composed several hundred songs, including 50 that achieved hit record status. ...

Susan Hinkson: Just in Time

by Katchie Cartwright
May 10, 2025

In 2025, radio programmers are apt to carp about singers who continue to cover the Great American Songbook. There are new songs and songwriters to explore, they say, and it is true. But for lovers of mainstream jazz, the mellow sound of a sensitive balladeer like Susan Hinkson singing a gem like Harold Arlen and Johnny ...

Nicole Zuraitis: The Up and Down and Up Journey to Newport

by Mark Robbins
April 29, 2025

Nicole Zuraitis should receive a Grammy Award just for her laugh! It's deep, loud, energetic and a treat to hear. Not taking herself too seriously, her conversation is peppered with laughter while she talks about the high and lows of her travels from a struggling young jazz vocalist/composer to her surprising (to her) Grammy win. Her ...

Terry Gibbs Dream Band: Dream Band, Vol. 7: The Lost Tapes, 1959

by Angelo Leonardi
February 24, 2025

?Non credo che ci sia mai stata una band migliore di questa, compresa la mia?. Mel Lewis espresse queste parole per la mitica orchestra che il vibrafonista Terry Gibbs guid�� in California tra il 1959 e il 1961 e fu chiamata “Dream Band" per l'entusiasmo che suscit�� tra i fortunati che l'ascoltarono dal vivo.

What��s Harder to Write, Poetry or Lyrics?

by Joan Merrill
January 15, 2025

Lyrics are often compared to poetry. Are they a form of “the poetic art?" Are they less “artistic?" Poetry has a romantic aura to it, whereas lyric writing seems rather plebeian (to borrow a word from “Cry Me a River"). Writing lyrics doesn't have the cachet writing poetry has. It isn't as cool. And ...

Danny Jonokuchi Big Band: A Decade

by Jack Bowers
October 15, 2024

For trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader Danny Jonokuchi, the path to success--in music and in life--has never been smooth or trouble-free. Born with a congenital lung disease, Jonokuchi needed life-saving surgery while in high school to treat a collapsed lung, which caused him to put his trumpet playing aside, at least temporarily. Years later, and almost a ...

John Bauers

Sean Fyfe: Stepping Stones

by Pierre Giroux
May 8, 2024

In an era when the echoes of jazz legends resonate through the ages, pianist Sean Fyfe emerges as a torchbearer of the hard-bop tradition with his latest release Stepping Stones . This album is a testament to the power of collaboration, as Fyfe is joined by the dynamic ensemble of tenor saxophonist Dave O'Higgins, drummer Matt ...