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A number of standards come to mind, especially "Body and Soul" which was song enough to cause jazz critic Gary Giddens to once write that "...it would be hard to imagine there even being jazz without the song "Body and Soul." Good point. I love this one and "My Funny Valentine" which was a lost tune by the late forties, having been recorded by only a handfull of artists with Margaret Whiting being the best known, when Gerry Mulligan featured the very young Chet Baker breaking hearts aplenty with a 1952 (or so) record. A few months later Sinatra added his take on "Valentine" for his new label, Capitol, and the rest is history...as they say.

But, "Star Dust" is certainly the most recorded standard in music history and a favorite of mine, no question. And, everyone probably knows the popular version of the creation of the song but, in his book Stardust Melodies, Will Friedwald tells a different one. Hoagy apparently wasn't "hit" with inspiration while a student at University of Indiana as I'd always believed. No, he didn't even race back to the closed, for the night, student union to use the piano. Looks as if he wrote it over a period of a couple of years...but who cares.

Thinking about the history of the song "Star Dust" has gotten me to thinking about the greatest recordings of that song that come to my memory...at least the recordings I know from my own collection or experiences.

"Star Dust" was at one time, not so long ago, the most recorded song in music history. There were over 500 different versions in the Schwann catalogue and I'm certain that the list wasn't complete. (The melody that beat it out for number one was..."Yesterday" by Paul McCartney and John Lennon.) This song, for me anyway, is the most perfect number in the Great American Songbook. It's got a ton of stories surrounding it, famous recordings and naturally millions of memories for many of us.

Written by Hoagy Carmichael circa 1927 (I think) it was originally a small hit by some instrumental groups...and some great ones at that. But it wasn't until Mitchell Parrish added the now historic lyrics that the song really took hold of the music world. Hoagy originally recorded it as a kind of medium tempo piece but "Star Dust" was always considered an exceptionally beautiful ballad. Some of the finest versions of this masterpiece that come to mind for me are:

Ted Heath and His Orch., featuring Bobby Pratt & Bert Ezzard on a trumpet duet. Bobby states the famous melody. Bert slips in to weave obligatto notes around the second eight bars and it smokes. They play off one another until Bobby takes it home in his wonderfulf upper-register. A great "Star Dust." (London Records, available on the web with another LP included).

Lionel Hampton made "Star Dust" a regular feature in all of his famous groups, bands and pick-ups. I treasure the one done at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium early one morning (as in 1:30 a.m.) in the late forties featuring Hamp on vibes, Charlie Shavers on trumpet, Corky Corcoran on tenor, Willie Smith on alto, Barney Kessel on guitar, Slam Stewart on bass and Lee Young (Lester's brother) on drums. These guys really smoke. Willie bends the fourth note to the max causing the crowd to ooh and ahh bringing chills to the arms of all. Shavers plays a fabulous solo that displays both his excellent upper-register and his lower-lower-and lower register as well. Slam does what Slam does so well, singing along with his bass lines while the rest just blow me away. But, then...then, Hamp takes off for several choruses in double time that still leave me breathless. I'd loved to have been there. Lionel Hampton and the Just Jazz All-Stars originally on Decca 10-inch. Man!

Nat Cole did what is probably the finest version of "Star Dust" ever for Capitol in the fifties. I think he was teamed with Nelson Riddle but don't hold me to that. Nonetheless it's a perfect record.

A trumpet player named Randy Brooks who had just a little more than fifteen minutes of fame chose "Star Dust" as his theme song and his RCA recording of it is simply beautiful. Randy had a great tone and upper register. It's worth buying. Randy Brooks and His Orchestra.

I worked for free as a disc jockey at a FM station in Santa Ana, California about 1960. The owner, Gus Malpee, was a sound engineer at KABC-TV in Los Angeles and his dream had been to own a radio station. Gus was a nice man but he didn't have a lot of money and knew that a lot of we young guys would work for free just to be on the air. Yeah, buddy! (This really is still in the "Star Dust" theme...stick with it) I did a show from 8:00 to Midnight called, fittingly, "'round Midnight." "Beetle" by The Leith Stevens All-Stars (on Decca, now on Bear Family) was the opening theme. It came from the great jazz sound track for the film, "The Wild One." It swung. The closing theme though was "'round Midnight" by The Hampton Hawes Trio" on Contemporary. I wish I had made a career of radio as I've always loved it and people have told me countless times that I have a radio voice. And, I did work as a professional DJ on the #1 Soft Rock station in San Diego for a couple of years, KYXY...I hated the music but readin' the news and sports and talkin' about the tunes is a dream thing...really. But I was in law school at the time and radio didn't pay that well. But, I have seriously digressed...it's the medication my doctor has me on. Forgive me. In any event, in those early days on old KFIL, Santa Ana, California I did a Saturday morning program as well. One such morning I decided to play four hours of different versions of "Star Dust." And, it worked better than I ever would have dreamed. From 8:00 a.m. till Noon, I played the song by everyone you can think of, and probably a few none of us remember. Sinatra, Dorsey, Hampton, Ella, Anita, Keely Smith (a great version on Capitol/EMI), Coleman Hawkins, Ted Heath, Hoagy with West Coast Jazz Cats including Art Pepper, Perry Como, Dinah Shore, Nat Cole, and on and on. Four hours. I got several phone calls thanking me for the program and even a couple of letters. (They used to figure that for every call you received there were a hundred listeners and for every letter a thousand) A song can certainly put you into, or back into, a place of true warmth and love. "Star Dust" is one of those.

Now, back to classic versions. How about Artie Shaw? Yeah, how about Artie Shaw/? His "Star Dust" has been called the definitive big band version by many people including some at Billboard magazine and at Rolling Stone. I won't argue. The more I listen to Artie, the more I appreciate him and the more I love his music. He truly was the genius they claimed he was. And, he could sure play "purty."

Then, there's Benny Goodman. Benny made three or four great recordings of this beauty of a song. The quartet did it for me...no, wait. It was the quintet, I think. Anyway, Benny knew his "Star Dust."

Harry James had a singer named Frank Sinatra and no collection of "Star Dust" would be complete without mentioning their version. It's about as great as great can get. That tone of Harry's and that tone of Frank's. Wow!

The Mills Brothers got into the act in about 1939 with a real keeper of a record...worth finding and hearing.

But, for my money...I saw Mel Torme on a PBS special a few years back and it absolutely immortalized "Star Dust." I've tried to find a video of it or an audio but no luck thus far. When Torment got to the part of the lyric that goes..."...though I dream in vein," he held out the note on "dream" for several seconds and I almost passed out in ecstasy. Mel's my favorite male jazz singer of all time. His recordings of the song with George Shearing and others are certainly wonderful, but that PBS version was beyond sublime. If anyone has it I'll pay anything for a copy...please.

"Star Dust" has popped up in the strangest places...as for instance, the film, "Sleepless In Seattle" as background music by Nat Cole as Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks fall in love.

Louis Armstrong's classic early recording of "Star Dust" is not only a classic but also a challenge to all instumentalists who came later. Louis "killed" it. He defined it. His version is essential. Louis was a genius and he proved in on this record...yet again.

My favorite story about the song is alleged to have happened at a cocktail party in New York some years ago. The pianist was playing "Star Dust" and a party-goer turned to a lady and said: "I adore Hoagy Carmichael's "Star Dust." To which the lady, Mrs. Mitchell Parish responded: "Oh no! Hoagy didn't write "Star Dust." My husband did." ...and ya' know what? She was partly right as absent the lyrics of Mitchell it had been only a small, instrumental hit...the lyrics made everyone wealthy.

So, I'll stop with the "Star Dust" but I hope some will add their favorite versions as well and also give us some other songs that we all know and cherish.


Oh, and some additional thoughts:

Certainly one of the most unusual teaming of soloist and orchestra provided us with one of the most...different?..but nonetheless fine takes on "Star Dust."

Check this out. In 1966 a strangely surprising album was released...Johnny Hodges featured with Lawrence Welk and His Orchestra. Weird. Johnny is arguably the greatest altoist of all-time so we can only wonder as to his thoughts as he approached this session with the king of polkas and bubbles (champagne or other). The liner notes quote Johnny as having said, "I never played "Staar Dust" before in my life." True enough (check discographies yourself, yuk, yuk). The Lawerence Welk-Johnny Hodges album is more a curiousity than a mediocrity. Welk must have known better than to team Hodges with his famous "champagne music makers" orchestra so it's Welk conducting a ho-hum studio orchestra playing charts by the anything but ho-hum Benny Carter and Pete King (Pete did the "Star Dust" arrangement).

The album cover promoted Johnny playing ballads with strings and gave Welk a huge plug as well which could only have served to sell more LPs due to Welk's popularity at the time (in pop music that is). This of course benefited Hodges. The album isn't especially inspired but it's a long way from being bad. Check it out for fun and to have an oddity in your collection...impress your friends. :-)


By the way, I say Johnny Hodges is arguably the greatest altoist of all-time even though I've often stated my passion for The Big Three: Art Pepper, Paul Desmond and Lee Konitz. Paul recorded a number of versions of "Star Dust" with my choice for finest being from the "Duet" reunion LP in the seventies. Art did a couple with my favorite being on Artist House, the fine label from A & M, with Hank Jones on piano and Charlie Haden (greatest bass player who ever lived) on bass. I can't think of a Lee Konitz version although he must have recorded it. Or did he? Off to the discography...

Joe