Album Notes

Dear Friends and Music Lovers!
As some of you may know, I am a singer and a great fan of America’s
Classical music...Jazz and the Great American Songbook, known and
loved around the world.

Will you help me to endow a Foundation dedicated to
continuing this legacy for future generations?

Our Mission: To preserve our cultural treasure known as the Great
American Songbook by presenting this music to the public at home
and abroad as Ambassadors of Song. Our purpose is to build
an Organization to stand the test of time and continue this body
of work for the next 100 years and beyond for public benefit.

“In a hundred to a hundred and fifty years from now, I believe that
people will recognize the music of Gershwin and Ellington as the
classical music of our time.” Tony Bennett

You can help me achieve this mission with your
generous donation!

We are looking for Donors who believe in this American Cultural
Legacy and want their name or business associated with the
American Songbook Preservation Society Foundation
as we fulfill our mission.

Our Goal is $25 million, which will underwrite our Foundation
in perpetuity. We are asking that concerned individuals help
us make this happen with their support.

The American Songbook Preservation Society is
a California Charitable Corporation, exempt from taxation
under section 501 (C) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code.
As such, your donations are fully tax-deductible
as allowed by law Tax ID #56-241033

Please mail your donation to American Songbook Preservation
Society 9051-A Soquel Drive, Aptos, California 95003
Email us at: info@greatamericansongbook.org
or call us at (831) 687-0278.

Thank you for your support!
Ronald Kaplan, Executive Director
www.GreatAmericanSongbook.org
….Singing the Great American Songbook

What is the Great American Songbook, also known as the
“Popular Standards”?
It is largely composed of songs written between 1920 and 1960 from
the Tin Pan Alley era through the Broadway stages and sets of
Hollywood musicals.

This era represented a unique period in the history of
American popular music.
It was a period that saw the advent of a new type of songwriting,
utterly original in some respects, but grounded in the simple structure
of the Tin Pan Alley era that preceded it, and strongly influenced by
the musical form known as Jazz (and by the precursors of Jazz:
Ragtime and Blues).

The Great American Songbook is a distinct body of works, which
collectively represent one of America’s true cultural treasures, and
exemplify popular songwriting at its best, with vivid, literate
lyrics set to haunting elusive harmonies and gorgeous melodies
that have come to hold an exalted place in American culture and
around the world.

Of the American Songbook Popular Standards, most were
written for specific spots in shows, films, specialty acts, or revues.
They were the product of professional songwriters and lyricists
working at their craft. In the hands of a capable singer like
Ella Fitzgerald or Frank Sinatra, the Standards serve as a sort of
musical thesaurus of the spectrum of human emotions.
Maybe that’s the reason these songs and this body of work
continue to engender such a deep response to this day.

The purpose of the American Songbook Preservation Society
is to keep these songs in the public consciousness, by performing
them in venues around the country and around the world
with the highest musical integrity and interpretation from a cast
of highly capable Singers and Musicians as Ambassadors of
American Song.

Future Projects: include archiving and organizing historical documentation about the composers and lyricists, the personalities, and their works, as an educational resource for future generations for use in the classroom and the university. In addition, we will record and develop new material for presentation to the public as representative of this body of work. Finally, we will work on a permanent display using modern technology to bring the Great American Songbook and it’s inhabitants to life.

Some of the Great American Songbook Composers and Lyricists

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington • Billy Strayhorn • Ted Koehler • James Van Huesen • Jules Styne • Rogers and Hammerstein • Lerner and Loewe • Meredith Wilson and Frank Loesser • Harold Arlen • Irving Berlin • Lew Brown • Johnny Burke •Irving Caeser • Sammy Cahn • Hoagy Carmichael • B.G. DeSylva • Howard Dietz • Walter Donaldson • Al Dubin •Vernon Duke • Dorothy Fields • George Gershwin • Ira Gershwin • Mack Gordon • Johnny Green •Oscar Hammerstein II• Otto Harbach • E.Y. Harburg • Johnny Mercer • Ray Noble • Mitchell Parish • Cole Porter •Ralph Rainger • Andy Razaf • Leo Robin • Richard Rogers • Harry Ruby •
Arthur Schwartz • Mac Gordon • Lorenz Hart • Ray Henderson • Jerornre Kern • Burton Lane • Frank Loesser • Jimmy McHugh •
Gus Kahn • Bert Kalmar • Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller • Harry Warren • Richard Whiting • Spenser Williams • Victor Young • Vincent Youmans • Irving Mills, and many others

S I N G I N G T H E G R E AT A M E R I C A N S O N G B O O K