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“Roberta
starred Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott,
Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers
and once again was well received
on the strength of the Kern-Harbach
score* as well as the Astaire-Rogers
dance routines.” |
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- JW
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On
November 18, 1933, “Yesterdays”
was introduced to a New Amsterdam
Theater audience. The song was included
in the score of Roberta,
a Broadway musical that would enjoy
a successful run of 295 performances.
“Yesterdays” was an instant hit,
appearing on the recording charts
a week after the show opened. The
recording by Leo Reisman and His
Orchestra (Frank Luther, vocal)
would climb all the way to third
place.
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Roberta, based on Alice
Duer Miller’s novel, Gowns by
Roberta, told the story of a
college football player who inherits
a dress shop in Paris. The plot
was panned as overly romantic and
just plain ridiculous; however,
the songs purportedly saved what
was to be Jerome Kern’s last successful
Broadway show. Along with “Yesterdays”
the score included such notable
songs as “I’ll Be Hard to Handle,”
“Let’s Begin,” and “Smoke
Gets In Your Eyes.” The Herald
Tribune reported that there
was a “sudden outburst of public
whistling, humming, and crooning
of its score.”
Hot on the heels of its Broadway
success,
Roberta found new life as
a 1935 Hollywood musical. The film
starred Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott,
Fred Astaire, and
Ginger Rogers and once again
was well received on the strength
of the Kern-Harbach score* as well
as the Astaire-Rogers dance routines.
The 1952 remake,
Lovely to Look At, was not
as well reviewed.
Another major strength of the
original Broadway run was a stellar
cast that included Tamara, Lyda
Roberti, Sydney Greenstreet, George
Murphy,
Bob Hope and Fred MacMurray.
Fay Templeton was given the
honor of performing the lovely “Yesterdays”
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Jerome Kern was slow to embrace
new styles, and there is considerable
discussion about his 1930’s melodies
clinging to the qualities of an
operetta. Author-editor-publicist
Eric Myers says, “Jerome Kern had
planned Roberta as a semi-operetta
along the lines of his previous
hits, The Cat and the Fiddle
and Music in the Air. What
finally emerged was closer to traditional
musical comedy, although the refulgent
melodies of “Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes,” “The Touch
of Your Hand” and “Yesterdays” definitely
have their roots in the florid ground
of operetta.”
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*According to Clive
Hirschhorn’s book Hollywood Musicals
the film
Roberta retained four of
the show’s original numbers,
“Let’s Begin,” “Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes,” “Yesterdays,” and “I'll
Be Hard to Handle,” the latter
with new lyrics by Bernard
Dougall. Three more were used as
background music and two were
commissioned from Kern and
lyricist
Dorothy Fields: “Lovely to Look At”
and “I Won’t Dance” which was
originally written by Kern and
Oscar Hammerstein II for a London
show called Three Sisters.
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Written without a verse, “Yesterdays” is not
as well known in the pop world as the other Roberta
hit “Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes.” As a jazz standard, however,
it has been recorded by nearly twice as many instrumentalists
and vocalists, due in part to its chord progressions.
Operetta qualities, beyond Kern’s melody, come
through in such Otto Harbach lyrics as “Joyous free
and flaming life” “Forsooth was mine.” His message
is not one of lost love, as with “Smoke
Gets in Your Eyes,” but of lost youth. The lines,
“Sad am I,” “Glad am I,” speak of the mixture of
pain and joy in remembering “mad romance” and “gay
youth.” -JW
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Musical analysis of
“Yesterdays”
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| Original
Key |
C minor |
| Form |
A – B – A
– B |
| Tonality |
Minor throughout |
| Movement |
Slow; sustained
pitches in the lower range, followed by
an eight-note ascending scale and more sustained
pitches in the upper range |
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Comments
(assumed
background)
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This is a dark and haunting tune. The melody
has little substance, but the chord progression
– similar to “Alone
Together” in the first four bars (i
– vi – ii7 – V7) and the chromatic descent
of “My
Funny Valentine” in the second four
(in the present key, Cm – G7/B – Eb/Bb –
Am7(b5) – has proven popular among jazz
improvisers. A cycle-of-fifths progression
in mm. 9-12, leading to Ab and Db, surprises
the ear as it moves up a half-step to ii7
and then descends chromatically back to
the tonic. |
K. J. McElrath - Musicologist for JazzStandards.com
Check out K. J. McElrath's book of Jazz Standards Guide Tone Lines at his web site (www.bardicle.com). |
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“Yesterdays” is a great jazz standard penned by
one of the most prolific of the American Songbook’s
writers, Jerome Kern. The melody is strong and easily
played or sung, and the tune works at any tempo.
The changes consist of a simple minor turnaround
that’s repeated, a middle section with a cycle of
dominant chords, and a quick resolution to a major.
The progression is fun to play on and lends itself
to endless variations and embellishments. It’s a
little gem.
John
Stowell, jazz guitarist
www.johnstowell.com
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Instrumentalist?
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“Yesterdays”
was included in these films:
- Roberta (1935, Irene Dunne)
- Till The Clouds Roll By (1946,
Chorus)
- Lovely to Look At (1952, Kathryn
Grayson)
And on the small screen:
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Click on a CD for more details
at Amazon.com
Charles Mingus
Mingus Three
1997, Blue Note 57155
Original recording, 1957
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| This album contains a version highlighting
wonderful dialogue between bass player Mingus,
pianist Hampton Hawes, and drummer Dannie
Richmond. |
Elmo Hope
Hope Full
1995, Original Jazz Classics 1872
Original recording, 1961
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| On this arrangement hard bop pianist
Elmo Hope is joined by his wife Bertha in
a great piano duo. |
Buddy Rich/Max Roach
Rich vs. Roach
1991, Polygram 826987
Original recording, 1959
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| What seems like a novelty act actually
means twice the value for the listener.
The Buddy Rich Quintet dukes it out with
the Max Roach Quintet as each group is fed
through opposite channels in the recording. |
John Bishop/Jeff Johnson/Rick Mandyck/John
Stowell
Scenes
2003, Origin Records
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| This quartet of drums, bass,
tenor sax, and guitar makes a new,
freewheeling creation of “Yesterdays”
before returning to the melody. |
Fred Hersch/Bill Frisell
Songs We Know
1998, NoneSuch 79468
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| Spontaneous and intimate, “Yesterdays”
allows guitarist Frisell and pianist Hersch
to showcase their innate sense of camaraderie
and obvious reverence for the music. |
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Clarinetist and bandleader Artie Shaw
had a great disdain for most of the output of Tin Pan Alley, which he
derided on many occasions
as “crap.” But then Shaw pointed out that the
music of the great craftsmen of song---Porter, Kern,
Gershwin, Rodgers---is music worth playing.
Shaw’s approach definitely had a strong impact
on the bebop generation of musicians who tended
to favor Shaw’s playing and his band over his rival,
Benny Goodman. The Shaw discography lists many
tunes that became standards for the next generations.
A case in point is Artie’s recording of “Yesterdays,”
not so much for being innovative but for the excellent
arrangement and musicianship on a song not often
played by swing bands.
Chris Tyle - Jazz Musician and Historian
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This section shows the jazz standards
written by the same writing team. Click on a name
to see all of a writer's jazz standards.
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Additional information on “Yesterdays” may be found in:
4 paragraphs including the following types of information: music analysis.
5 pages including the following types of information: music analysis.
1 paragraph including the following types of information: summary.
Includes the following types of information: song lyrics.
2 paragraphs including the following types of information: lyric analysis and music analysis.
2 paragraphs including the following types of information: history.
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