Harold Arlen, the centenary of whose birth occurred on February 15 this year (2005), has been described as “America’s greatest unknown songwriter.” Many of his compositions have achieved immortality, are among the most revered in the Great American Songbook and are known all over the world. At least 35 of his songs achieved evergreen status, yet only a small percentage of people who enjoy these outstanding melodies know who composed them. Arlen was extremely well served by his lyricists, although they sometimes found the process of putting words to his melodies a challenging one; because Arlen was not bound by the popular song convention of limiting his compositions to 16 or 32 measures. And, as Johnny Mercer once said, “He often uses odd rhythms which make it difficult for the lyric writer. But,” he added, “we have a good feeling about songs….we really have a thing about jazz and blues. I appreciate his work so much that possibly he thinks I get the right words to it.” Mercer also described Arlen’s work as a fusion of classical Jewish music and early Negro jazz. And E. Y. “Yip” Harburg observed, “Arlen’s songs get better all the time – you don’t tire of them as you do with pop songs, but they take a little time to catch on.” The son of a cantor, Harold Arlen, (real name, Hyman Arluck), was born in Buffalo, New York, on February 15, 1905. His father had a fine voice and, very early on, it was clear that Arlen had inherited his musical ear. Arluck Senior was hopeful that, one day, his son would follow in his footsteps as a cantor, or else become a lawyer or a doctor in the best Jewish tradition. But when the young Hyman discovered blues, ragtime and jazz, he was determined to make music his career. He started taking piano lessons and, at 15, began earning money playing in Buffalo’s cafés. He dropped out of school and, initially, worked primarily as an arranger and performer. But, in the late 1920s, he concentrated on composition and, over the next ten years, wrote many songs which were performed at Harlem’s Cotton Club. In the early 1930s he began writing for Broadway and Hollywood musicals and, in 1939, he won an Academy Award for best song with “Over The Rainbow”, written with E. Y. Harburg for the film “Wizard Of Oz”. In March 2001 “Over The Rainbow” topped the list of Songs of the Century compiled by the Record Industry Association of American and the National Endowment for the Arts. And in June 2004, it was voted the best movie song of the century by the American Film Institute. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Harold Arlen contributed scores to more than 20 stage productions; he also wrote songs for 29 films, including “Blues In The Night”, “Casbah” and “A Star Is Born”. He died on April 23, 1986 at the age of 91. Says Paul Kuhn: “In my opinion, Harold Arlen was one of the greatest American composers of the twentieth century. One cannot compare him with any other – except, maybe, Cole Porter. The quality of his work is outstanding and so is his versatility. Just think of ‘It’s Only A Paper Moon’, on the one hand, and ‘Last Night When We Were One’ on the other. “I have played quite a few of his songs over the years and I discovered that, if a musician wants to play Arlen’s music, he should study the scores first – because no faking is possible. I love his work.” When you have such a highly accomplished composer as Harold Arlen, who worked with totally compatible lyricists to produce such memorable songs, then what could be more appropriate than to have those songs performed by a highly accomplished and totally compatible singer? Greetje Kauffeld fills that bill perfectly. The heading on Greetje’s home page reads, “Let me sing and I am happy”. And she has been singing and making herself, and thousands of others, happy for the past four decades. Among the awards she has received over the years are the Dutch Royal Knighthood, The Bird Award and also the Golden Nutcracker, Holland’s most prestigious music prize. Greetje Kauffeld was only six-years-old when she decided she wanted to be a singer. Her primary inspiration was Doris Day, whom she first heard on records, singing with the bands of Les Brown and Harry James. Says Greetje, “Her singing at that time was different from her later work and more to my taste. She was a fantastic artist and I learned a lot from her. Then, later on, I was a big admirer of Nancy Wilson – and other favourites of mine were, of course, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald.” Greetje made her radio début at the tender age of 13 and began her professional career with the Dutch band, the Skymasters, in February 1957. She was then invited by Werner Müller to guest with the RIAS Big Band in Berlin. Some years later she went to the USA to perform in Los Angeles and Las Vegas and worked with Ray Brown, Herb Ellis and Brazilian guitarist, Oscar Castro-Neves. Back in Holland, she married producer Joop de Roo, and, in February 1974, she recorded “And Let The Music Play” with a big band arranged and conducted by Jerry van Rooyen and Rob Pronk. Joop introduced Greetje to Stan Getz, Phil Woods, Thad Jones and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, all of whom played on her 1981 album, “Some Other Spring”. Playing piano on that recording was Rob Pronk, who says of Greetje: “I have had the pleasure of working with Greetje Kauffeld over more than four decades and she is a wonderful singer. She is not just a vocalist; she is the personification of the vocal art at its best. The late Al Cohn once said, ‘You’d better have a pretty damned good reason to alter the melody or the changes of a song’. Well, unlike many other singers, Greetje Kauffeld never did need anything but the melody of a song to display her distinctive personality as a singer – and that is the greatest asset a singer can have.” Greetje has also recorded with Toots Thielemans, Kurt Edelhagen and Svend Asmussen, among many other major artists, including, of course, her long-time friend, Paul Kuhn, who is a great admirer of her vocal artistry. Says Paul: “I first met Greetje in the 1960s when she was with the Dutch band, the Ramblers. I was very impressed by her singing and, since that time, we have worked together very often. “She just gets better and better and she is absolutely perfect for the Harold Arlen repertoire. She is so musical and her warm voice is particularly suited to Arlen’s ballads. “She loves to laugh – especially on record dates – and we have lots of fun working together. I always look forward to the next concert or session with Greetje.” For this recording, the Paul Kuhn Trio was augmented by Kim Barth and Paulo Morello, leaders of the much-acclaimed group, the Bossa Nova Legends, and the combination works perfectly. The accompaniment and solo work of all concerned is of a very high order and the imaginative arrangements are played with great flair and sensitivity. Greetje’s interpretations of these timeless songs, with the impeccable intonation and articulation for which she is so renowned, testify most eloquently to her great affection for the work of Harold Arlen. The medley of four Arlen songs on track four came about because, says Greetje, “I couldn’t do full-length versions of all the songs I wanted to sing.” She sings “Ill Wind”, a song which Paul plays a great deal, with just piano accompaniment and, the vocal on “Let’s Fall In Love” is shared between Greetje and Paul. For “Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe”, “A Sleepin’ Bee”, “My Shining Hour”, Greetje includes the rarely heard verse sections; and the use of Latin rhythms in the arrangements of “Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe”, “Come Rain Or Come Shine”, “Over The Rainbow” and “That Old Black Magic” is most effective. The final track, “One For My Baby”, was written for the 1943 Fred Astaire film, “The Sky’s The Limit”, and was a major hit for Frank Sinatra some 15 years later. The story goes that Johnny Mercer wrote the lyric on a napkin at the bar of P. J. Clarke’s on Third Avenue in New York. The bartender at that time was Tommy Joyce and the following day, Mercer phoned him to apologise for calling him “Joe” in the lyric and explained that he couldn’t find a rhyme for Tommy. I can find no better way to end this note than by quoting Rob Pronk: “Harold Arlen is in very good hands on this recording.” – Mike Hennessey