Album Notes

Friends with Pleasure Liner Notes

Welcome, Dear listener, to our third Ivory and Gold trio album. We have music of great variety on this edition and hope that there will be something for everyone. We usually dedicate each project to someone and this time we are going to dedicate the CD to ourselves! Anne, Danny and I are the best of friends; really we are family. There is nothing nicer than traveling the world and sharing our lives and music with each other and with you. We are indeed friends with the greatest pleasure!

First up, it’s time for “elevenses” with When I Take My Sugar to Tea. This Depression era song juxtaposes the common man with the hoi-polloi in a tone best described as tongue-in-cheek; a sprightly opening number which sets the stage for the fun to come.
Ivory and Gold performs so much ragtime that it is somewhat bewildering that we waited this long to get around to The Entertainer. We wanted our arrangement to bring something new to this most popular of rags. We traded the melody back and forth quite a bit and hope you find it as entertaining as we did!
Our next number seemed a bit of a risk to me as it was conceived for soprano saxophone by composer Sidney Bechet and is now played by virtually every existing clarinet player. Once Anne played through Si Tu Vois Ma Mere she found it so exciting to play that she insisted we make it part of our repertoire. The result here shows that she was right (again!!).
The elision of the familiar I’ll Be a Friend With Pleasure and the obscure My Dreams was actually banjoist/singer Jimmy Mazzy’s idea from an album about twenty years back. The tunes when combined tell a pensive story and showcase the great music that was being written as the wild 1920’s gave way to the more challenging 1930’s. These are songs created from the heart and we make sure to play them that way.
Gentle Rain is a track we just tried on the spur of the moment in the studio. We had toyed with it previously, and while the melody is perfect for Anne’s beautiful tone in the low register we had not quite found the right “feel.” We opted to just keep it simple and settle into a groove, helped greatly by the mood created by our special guest, Jack Miller, who came into the recording room to play the evocative rain-stick. This one is Danny’s favorite track from our entire week of recording. Thanks for joining us, Jack!
As a teaser, we began with the rare verse to A Foggy Day. We had a great time swinging this one. Credit goes to Jack Miller for suggesting the broadening feel at the turning point in the vocal chorus. His idea made the tune!
Rags composed by women have a special iconoclastic quality to them. Pickles and Peppers was the most popular rag written by a member of the fairer sex. This is a romping, stomping rag with a strange calypso section (not original, we inserted it) that was inspired when I heard Anne practicing the melody without the piano and drum accompaniment. Alone, the melody sounds like something Harry Belafonte might sing.
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child was originally intended for our “On Wings of Song” recording (JACD1019) but there was no room on that CD. It came out so well that we knew we’d have to release it. We kept it simple, allowing the space and simplicity of the melody to guide us.
I went into the studio during a break and improvised Devin’s Tango. The name arose as soon as I came out of the recording room not sure whether I was satisfied with what I had done. Jack Miller’s assistant Alexis’ 11-year-old son, Devin, was visiting and said he liked it. Good enough for me and since he spoke up, I named it after him. He may be the only kid in AZ who has a tango named for him. Let me know if you are aware of another!
Our connection with For All We Know is unique in that Danny is composer J. Fred Coots’ grand-nephew. At his suggestion Anne and I recorded it as a duo; ironic that Danny would not be included on his relative’s tune, but hearing it back I think he made the right choice. It is a quiet, empty sound suggesting intimacy, temporality and the possibility of loss, loneliness and regret that lurks behind every beautiful relationship.
Our second rag by a woman is The Diablo Rag, a fiery rag loaded with pyrotechnics! Anne might play more notes on this rag then she does on all the other tracks of the CD put together! As always, Danny’s drumming fits seamlessly and helps keep us from running away out of control. After this one, I needed a beer.
Part of my research is done by playing through fake books to see what interesting tunes might surface. This is how we found Blackberry Winter, which quickly became one of Anne’s favorites. It is so quiet, pretty and actually sounds like snow falling. North Carolinian pianist Loonis McGlohon was well-known decades ago as a radio personality. Hopefully his beautiful compositions will continue to gain mainstream popularity, garnering him some appropriate, though posthumous, praise as a melodist.
On this next tune, Anne rocks out! Bluesy flute licks abound in our rendition of Swinging Shepherd Blues. Danny digs in with some rollicking rhythms, I boogie on down and we just throw caution to the sheep. The original recording from the 1950’s actually featured flute, so this wasn’t much of a stretch. This one is for Louis from Eureka!
One of my top 5 favorite-ever songs? My Foolish Heart. My favorite versions? Of course, the greats by Sassy, Ella, and the classic warblers. Add to that Holly Cole’s dreamy rendition. And now, at the risk of self-praise, ours. Anne plays as beautifully as I have ever heard her play. I feel that this is her and my song. It was worth the long journey and wait to find the love of my life. How blessed I am.
We’re coming into the home stretch with Everybody Loves My Baby! This one features Danny’s hot drumming, my shouting vocal and perhaps the first digitally-recorded Dixieland flute solo. As Fats would say, we took this one “Tempo de Tear-Ass” so be careful when you dance.
Irving Berlin was the master of capturing the purest of sentiments in his simple songs. The lullaby quality found in Count Your Blessings slows the heart, quiets the mind and centers the soul. Let’s all spend a little time each day taking stock of the beauty of our lives and of those lives we share. Thanks for listening once again. We’ll keep exploring great songs, taking our music to new corners of the earth, making new friends and cherishing our old ones as long as we have you on the journey.
Jeff Barnhart—April 23, 2008