Register and Cadence Gesture (1): ’s “All the Things You Are”

David Neumeyer Professor Emeritus of Music The University of Texas at Austin

June 2021

Abstract:

Some cadences in European and European-influenced tonal music show a contradiction in direction between registral stasis and linear movement, the example being alternative endings written into a song by Jerome Kern. The topic is explored through analysis of 51 recorded performances.

Unless indicated otherwise by note or citation, nothing in this file has been published previously, with the following exceptions: (1) Material quoted or reproduced from published articles of mine (cited as appropriate); (2) Material from essays of mine published on the Texas ScholarWorks platform. Any figures occasionally drawn from published sources that may still be under copyright are condensed, edited, and/or annotated and conform to Fair Use guidelines. All new material and the compilation copyright David Neumeyer 2021. The license under which this essay is published is: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States. No alterations or commercial uses are allowed without written permission from the author. Register and the Cadence (1), p. 2

Register and Cadence Gesture in Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are”

A point of interest in Jerome Kern’s song “All the Things You Are,” as published, is an alternative ending for the final cadence:*1 (notes begin on page 10)

The basic design of the chorus is the stereotypical AABA. Since the verse has a strikingly different character from the chorus and is tonally closed (a half-step lower, no less),*2 and since the chorus, despite the repeat sign, does not have a second verse of text, it is not at all surprising that many vocal recordings are limited to one chorus followed by a reprise of the bridge and the final A, for an overall design of AA’BA’’BA’’. I have marked the repeats of A here because they differ from the first statement: A’ has the same melody and harmony but is transposed down a perfect fourth, A” repeats the first four bars but then is altered for the final cadence and is also extended by four bars, so that the total for the entire chorus is 36 rather than the typical 32.*3

I have selected several dozen from among the hundreds of recordings readily available through The Internet Archive, YouTube, and online music stores, plus a few in my own CD collection, and I report on those here.*4

* * *

Recordings. See the list of early recordings in table form on page 3.

“All the Things You Are” was written for the Kern-Hammerstein musical Very Warm for May, which ran on Broadway for less than two months, from November 1939 to early January 1940.*5 The song was the featured first-act ballad, one of four numbers that were reprised and the only one heard three times, once in each act.(*4) Although the production wasn’t successful, the song quickly became a hit thanks in large part to ’s recording, which was #1 on the Your Hit Parade charts twice, in January and February 1940.*6 Register and the Cadence (1) , p. 3

TABLE. Below I have provided a table listing the 36 early recordings I discuss here. All are 78’s digitized and presented on The Internet Archive platform. In what follows, I will no longer provide links, as the items can easily be found using a search “All the Things You Are” name: for example, “All the Things You Are” Tony Martin, or simply “All the Things You Are” Martin.

———————————————————————————————————————- Internet Archive search “All the Things You Are” restricted to 78 RPM recordings: link. 129 results reduced to 70, then further reduced, mainly through deleting duplicates, to 36.

Year Side Performers 1939-10 A Tommy Dorsey and orch.; Jack Leonard 1939-10 B and orch.; Helen Forrest 1939-11 -- Frankie Masters and orch.; Harlan Rogers 1939-11 -- Mildred Bailey; Frank Worrell 1939-11 A Paul Whiteman and orch.; Bob Hannon 1939-12 A Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians; Mert Curtis 1939-12 B Tony Martin; Ray Sinatra 1939-12? -- Eddy Duchin and orch.; Stanley Worth 1940 (B) Al Goodman and his orch.; Hollace Shaw 1940 A Hildegarde 1941 -- Andre Kostelanetz and orch. 1941 A Carmen Cavallaro 1941 A Irene Dunne; Victor Young and orch. 1942 A Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians; Joan Wheatley 1942 B Radio City Music Hall Glee Club; Earl Lippy; Irving Landau 1944 A Clyde Hart; Denzil Best; Oscar Pettiford; Charlie Shavers; Coleman Hawkins; Ed Hall; Tiny Grimes 1945 -- Sextet 1945 B Helen Forrest; Camarata 1946 B Babe Russin Quartet 1946 B Gaylord Carter 1946 B Johnnie Guarnieri; Cozy Cole; Bob Haggart; Tony Mottoloa 1946 -- Luis Russell and orch.; Lee Richardson 1946 -- Ray Bloch and orch. 1946 B Tony Martin and Al. Sack's Orchestra 1946 -- Willie Smith Six 1947 A Billy Eckstine and orch. 1948 B Ben Light 1949 (A) Andre Previn 1949 A Errol Garner 1950 -- Charlie Barnet and orch.; Maynard Ferguson 1950 -- Clark Dennis; Paul Weston and orch. 1950 -- and orch. 1951 -- Delta Rhythm Boys; Andrew Burmans Band 1952 -- Quartet 1952 -- 1953 B David Rose and orch. ———————————————————————————————————————- Register and the Cadence (1), p. 4

In Very Warm for May, the first-act performance was sung by Hollace Shaw, who played the character Carroll, along with three others: Hiram Sherman (as Ogdon Quiler), Frances Mercer [as Liz Spofford), and Ralph Stuart (as Charles).(*5) Shaw subsequently recorded a 78 RPM side with Al Goodman’s orchestra (Columbia 35759; 1940). The design is curious but typical for the time, as she does very little singing: over a bit more than three minutes, an orchestral intro is followed by a complete orchestral chorus, she then sings a chorus, but drops out as the orchestra reprises the bridge and final A-reprise and adds a leisurely coda. (link to YouTube; link to Internet Archive). In all three segments, what I will call the “first ending” (F5-G4-Ab4) is used to close.*7

Tommy Dorsey’s recording was released in October 1939, before the show opened on Broadway. The design is almost identical to Shaw/Goodman: intro; complete chorus with trombone solo; repeat intro; Jack Leonard sings a chorus; the orchestra reprises bridge and final A, adding a short coda. Leonard uses the first ending, but the orchestra ends the chorus as F5-Eb5-Eb5, then closes the coda with a leap from Eb5 to Ab5. The side is three and a half minutes; link to Internet Archive.

Tony Martin was associated with the song early on: he sang “All the Things You Are” in the 1940 radio production of the musical. (In the same year, Kern accompanied him in a public performance for a special program at the San Francisco World's Fair.)*8 Martin’s recorded song version from December 1939 is quite slow; it has the design now familiar from many later recordings: a brief introduction followed by a complete vocal chorus; then he returns to the bridge and final A, without coda. The orchestra is subdued throughout. In both cadences, however, Martin uses the “first ending” version. (To be honest, it sounds like he reaches the upper limit of his voice with the ^6.) The side is barely three minutes; link to Internet Archive.

Martin recorded the song again in 1946 with Al. Sack’s Orchestra. (In the same year he also sang the song in the Kern biopic Till the Clouds Roll By.) If anything he sings more slowly than in 1940. The orchestra is strings. They play an introduction and he does a complete chorus; the orchestra then plays one 8-bar A (I can’t tell if it’s A or A’)—there is enough clumsiness in the transitions into and out of this segment to make one wonder if it was spliced in. Martin then picks up the bridge and sings to the end. Again, both of his cadences are “first version” endings. 3:20; link to Internet Archive.

Artie Shaw’s recording is another well-known one; it was released by Victor in an unusual format, as the B-side to Dorsey’s. The vocal soloist is Helen Forrest, who joined the band in 1938. The design is intro; orchestral chorus with alto saxophone soloist; vocal chorus; orchestral reprise of A” with altered ending. Both full-chorus cadences are “first version” endings. 3:10; link to Internet Archive.*9 Register and the Cadence (1) , p. 5

From this point on for the remaining early recordings, the format will be a list: performer(s), record company, length, and design.

1939, continued:

Harlan Rogers (tenor) sings with Frankie Masters and his orchestra. Vocalion label. 3:01. As Dorsey’s version rose to #1 in the charts and Artie Shaw’s to #8, Masters achieved #14. Intro; instr. chorus with trumpet solo; interlude; vocal chorus; instrumental A” and vocal “when all the things you are are mine,” text repeated with “you are are mine” as ^1-^3-^5-^8. Main closes are “first ending.”

Mildred Bailey with a 10-piece band (no strings). Vocalion. 2:44. intro; vocal chorus; instrumental AA’ and vocal BA” (no coda). The final A” is curious in that she doesn’t go up to ^6, so that the close is ^3-^3 (sub for ^2)-^1. Unlike earlier vocalists, she is willing to make small changes to the melody throughout.

Paul Whiteman and his orchestra, with Bob Hannon as the vocal soloist. Decca. 2:38. Intro (~20”); instr. chorus with some changes to the melody but A” excised; vocal chorus complete; then “all the things you are are mine” ending on three ^5s.

1940:

Hildegarde [Loretta Sell]. Decca. 3:29. Intro; vocal chorus; instrumental A, then vocal A’BA’’. Both cadences are “first version” endings.

1941: Andre Kostelanetz and orch. Columbia. 3:22. At a medium fox-trot tempo (that is, a bit faster than earlier recordings). Intro (30”); first instrumental chorus; second instrumental chorus, where A” is stretched out considerably with slowed tempo. The ending is upper-register because of a move beyond ^8 to ^9, then stepwise: ^9-^8-^7 and ^8 to close.

Carmen Cavallaro. Decca. 2:53. Piano solo, with barely heard backing from guitar and drums. Brief intro; chorus 1; chorus 2. Ending for the first rises, elaborating ^7 with an upward line, so ^7-^8-^9 and ^8 to close. Second chorus ending is quite elaborate but achieves a rising conclusion overall.

Irene Dunne; Victor Young and orch. Decca. 2:46. Intro (15”); vocal chorus; bridge reprise (orchestra); A” reprise (voice). Both chorus cadences are “first version” endings. Register and the Cadence (1), p. 6

1942: Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians. Decca. 3:18. Unaccompanied. No intro. AA’BA” A” with “. . . mine” stretched to ~45 seconds!

Radio City Music Hall [male] Glee Club; Earl Lippy. Victor. 3:48. Intro (18”); chorus 1 A A’ (group), B (vocal), A” (group); new section, or perhaps verse from the show?; group A”; chorus 2 AA’ (vocal; different singer), B has chorus underneath, A” is group with sharp fade-out coda. Ending is ^6-^5 (subbing for ^7)-^8.

1944: Coleman Hawkins with Clyde Hart, Denzil Best, Oscar Pettiford, Charlie Shavers, Ed Hall, Tiny Grimes. Regis. 3:05. Bebop style from the outset, but melody is still quite recognizable, especially in the first chorus. Intro; sax chorus AA’BA”; 2d chorus sax with more elaborate figures. Sudden ending on the final melody note. Both cadences are “first endings.”

1945: Dizzy Gillespie Sextet. Musicraft. 2:54. Intro almost 20” (first time I’ve heard the familiar minor-key ^6-^5-^1 figure. Chorus 1: AA’ trumpet, B sax A’’ bass + __?; chorus 2: AA’ piano, B guitar, A” trumpet; repeat intro.

Helen Forrest; Camarata. Decca. 3:10. Traditional orchestra, string- heavy. Intro (12”); vocal chorus AA’BA”; instr. AA’, vocal BA”. A much more impressive performance by Forrest than with Shaw in 1939, though my opinion might be influenced by much better quality recording of the voice. Closes are “first endings.”

See next section, p. 8, for (Columbia).

1946: Babe Russin Quartet. Keynote. 2:51. Very “jazzy,” bebop-like sound, swung and much faster than anything earlier. Intro; sax AA’BA”; piano AA’BA”; sax AA’BA” with piano at the end. Cuts off suddenly. Cadences give no clear impression of rising.

Gaylord Carter. Organ. Black and White. 2:59. Intro (20”); chorus 1; interlude; chorus 2; short coda. Closes are “first endings.”

Johnnie Guarnieri; Cozy Cole; Bob Haggart; Tony Mottoloa. Majestic. 2:51. Intro (piano, 18”); piano chorus in very fast Baroque style (!!); jazz style piano chorus 1; piano chorus 2, but at B breaks into Baroque again, at A” grander, almost concert style. Despite all this, closes are “first endings.” Register and the Cadence (1) , p. 7

(1946, continued) Luis Russell and orch.; Lee Richardson. Apollo. 3:02. Intro (13”); vocal chorus; instr. AA’ then vocal A”. Closes are “first endings.”

Ray Bloch and orch. Signature. 3:33. Orchestra, string-heavy. Intro (18”); chorus 1 A A’, winds B, tutti A”; intro again; chorus 2 winds A, strings A’, piano (harp?) B, high violin then violins end with ascending ^6-^7-^8 A”.

Tony Martin and Al. Sack's Orchestra. Mercury. 3:19. Intro; vocal chorus; instr. chorus strings A, no A’ (odd stop here), vocal B, A”. Closes are “first endings.”

Willie Smith Six. Sunset. 3:02. Intro (20”); chorus 1 sax A A’, group B and A”; chorus 2 piano A A’, trumpet B, sax A”. Chorus 1 is “first ending,” 2 is ^5 ^5.

1947: Billy Eckstine and orch. National. 2:45. Intro (25”); chorus; coda 12”. ^6 down to ^7. A single chorus—but the side is relatively short and he sings quite slowly.

1948: Ben Light (piano); Herb Kern (organ). Tempo. 3:23. Intro a couple seconds organ with song motive; piano chorus (big and concert-style with “Tatum- size flourishes”); chorus 2 with organ underneath (barely audible). Despite all the flying around the keyboard, there are no rising cadences.

1949: Andre Previn. Modern Hollywood. Recorded live. 3:43. Intro; chorus 1; chorus 2—short coda. Closes are “first endings.”

Errol Garner. Savoy. 3:30. Intro (14”); one chorus, quite slow tempo with much elaboration of figures; very short coda.

1950: Charlie Barnet and orch.; Maynard Ferguson. Capitol. 3:14. Intro (26”); trumpet A”; orch. A? then A again? BA” all with sharp trumpet descant; interlude (source?); A” from the beginning; then 30” wild coda. No point in hunting for rising cadence lines in all this, since Ferguson is up there all the time. . . .

Clark Dennis; Paul Weston and orch. Capitol. 2:59. intro; vocal chorus then B A” with rising cadence. This is the first of many straightforward rising cadences sung by a tenor voice (but see Sinatra 1945 on the next page). Register and the Cadence (1), p. 8

(1950, continued) Jerry Gray and orch. Decca. 2:46. Instrumentation changes by phrase. Intro (12”); chorus 1; chorus 2. Second chorus direct rising line ^6-^7-^8.

1951: Delta Rhythm Boys; Andrew Burmans Band. Metronome. 2:55. Chorus 1 is soloist with singers and band backing; instrumental A”; chorus 2 singers with soloist interpolating. Chorus ending is on ^5; coda sends up to ^9.

1952: Dave Brubeck Quartet. Fantasy. 3:25. Rapid tempo. No intro; chorus 1 and 2 sax; choruses 3 and 4 piano; chorus 5 sax, extended but I can’ tell just how (reprise of B and A” perhaps?). No rising cadences.

Modern Jazz Quartet. Prestige. 3:17. Intro (11”—drum and bass figure continues under chorus 1); “intro” chorus vibes (Milt Jackson) as AA’; then start over with chorus 1 piano and vibes; chorus 2 vibes; chorus 3 vibes A, piano A’, both BA”; coda. Last A” ends ^6-^5-^8.

Also see below for Mario Lanza (1951-52) and (year?)

1953: David Rose and orch. MGM. 3:33. Full orchestra—very exaggerated Hollywood widescreen-spectacle sound!! Intro (10”; bells); chorus 1 shifts between orchestral groups (strangely dark A” like the intro); interlude; chorus 2; coda 15”. Cadences “first endings” type despite the style of the arrangement.

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Fifteen others, including recent ones, from YouTube. The list format continues, that is, in the order performer(s), record company (or date of performance or album title), length, and design. Because I am taking information from the postings, I can’t vouch for accuracy in all cases.

Frank Sinatra (Columbia, 1945). 3:03. Traditional orchestra (with wordless female choir). Slow. Intro (10”); chorus 1; interlude; choir B1, Sinatra B2, A” with a strong direct ascent and a long-held ^8 (~10”).

Mario Lanza (album My Romance, recordings made 1951-52). Live performance. No intro; chorus 1; interlude; chorus 2 orch. AA’ voice BA”. A wide-open dramatic tenor’s rising cadence! Register and the Cadence (1) , p. 9

Charlie Parker (All that Jazz, Vol. 24: From Bop to Sweet – Charlie Parker, Vol. 3; original side or album?, year?). 3:08. The “Parker intro”; chorus 1 sax; chorus 2 trumpet AA’, piano B, trumpet A”; intro repeated. No rising cadences.

Jo Stafford (album Make Love to Me, 1954). 2:57. Slow fox-trot arrangement. Orchestral intro; chorus; interlude; vocal A” reprise; coda 10”. No rising cadences.

101 Strings (album, year?). Intro; chorus 1 strings AA’ but trumpet B (!), then strings A”; chorus 2, then BA” reprise (trumpet in briefly at A”); long coda. No rising cadences.

Tony Bennett (album Live at Carnegie Hall, 1962). 3:08. With orchestra. Very slow tempo. Complete verse; one chorus.

Ella Fitzgerald (Best of the Song Books: The Collection, 1996; original recording from the later 1950s?). 3:15. Big band. Intro; chorus 1; intro, chorus 2 orch AA’ voice BA”; fade-out coda. No rising cadences.

Beverly Sills (television, 1973). 3:07. With orchestra. No intro. Chorus 1; interlude; voice BA” reprise. A wide-open soprano’s rising cadence with a long held ^8.

Jessye Norman (with Boston Pops, 1984). 4:04. Oddly Baroque-style arrangement for intro through A’; then large orchestra sound. Short intro.; chorus 1; complete verse; chorus 2. No rising cadences, surprisingly.

Plácido Domingo (album The Broadway I Love, year?). 3:54. Orchestral intro with beginning of verse; voice verse complete; chorus 1; chorus 2 instr. A, voice (wordless) A’, (with text) BA”. A wide-open tenor’s rising cadence with emphasis on ^6 and a long held ^8.

Carly Simon (album , 2005). 3:50. Mid-tempo fox-trot arrangement. Complete verse; chorus 1; chorus 2 instr. (trumpet) AA’ vocal BA”; long fade-out coda with her singing “da da da” “are mine.” No rising cadences.

Kristin Chenoweth (Concord Records, 2014; recording of a live performance). Piano accompaniment. 2:20. Musical theater voice. Complete verse; one chorus. A wide-open soprano’s rising cadence with attention to ^7.

Nordic Choir (Luther College) (in concert, 2015). 3:12. Very brief intro; chorus 1; chorus 2. A strong rising cadence with a long held ^8. Register and the Cadence (1), p. 10

Joyce DiDonato, with Antonio Pappano (Parlophone [Warner], 2015; recording of a live performance). 3:46. Musical theater voice? Complete verse; chorus 1; chorus 2 piano AA’ voice BA”. Ending with ^5s.

Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap (album A Silver Lining, 2015). 4:37. Very slow tempo. Complete verse; chorus 1; chorus 2 piano; voice BA” reprise. No rising cadences.

* * *

Discussion of results. Of the 51 recordings (36 from digitized 78 RPM sides plus 15 others from YouTube videos), 13 have upper-register endings. Of those 13, 9 are direct ascents ^6-^7-^8 in the main closing cadence. At 18%, 9 out of 51 is higher than the roughly 5% I have informally assumed to be the norm in many repertoires I have studied, but what has surprised me is that there are not more, given the upper-register ossia that appears in the published sheet music. I would have supposed the alternative might have caught the attention of performers and arrangers from early on. But, instead, most of the simple ascending cadences are from 1950 or later and seem to be the result of familiar vocal clichés established many decades before by soprano and tenor soloists.

In the context of my project looking for ascending and upper-register structural cadences, then, the one addition to what is already known is that the repertoire here is all recorded—that is, not 20 polkas published in the year 1874, to cite an example, but 51 recorded performances of one song, 20 of them from 1950 or later —and yet the results are roughly the same as I would have expected from the rich score repertories of the early 17th century Italian instrumental canzona, the 19th century waltz, and the polka.

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Notes

*1 This annotated example is drawn from my personal copy, as republished in Album of Jerome Kern Songs (New York: Harms, n.d. [1945 or 1946?]).

*2 “Over the years, the song has been sung almost exclusively as a solo and the show lyrics, which have a verse constructed for the quartet, is replaced . . . by the verse so familiar to subsequent listeners, beginning ‘Time and again I've longed for adventure / Something to make my heart beat the faster’.” This text appears on the website greatamericansongbook.net as a quote from Alec Wilder’s American Popular Song (1972), but the quote marks are inconsistent and at this time I don’t have access to a print copy of Wilder’s book. As I have Register and the Cadence (1) , p. 11

said in a number of previous essays published on the Texas ScholarWorks platform since fall 2015, I apologize for the use of mostly online, publicly available resources. When I retired, I gave almost all of my library to graduate students, faculty colleagues, or the university’s fine arts library, and we then moved to an area where access to research-level holdings proved to be unexpectedly difficult. I still have online access to Oxford Music Online, articles through JSTOR, and of course snippets and citations through Google Scholar, and I draw on them occasionally as seems appropriate.

*3 For readers who might need it, a lead sheet for “All the Things You Are” can be found on page 18 in The RealBook, volume 1, which can be downloaded from The Internet Archive.

*4 To forestall criticism of my choices, I will emphasize that this is a sampling, not an attempt to cover the repertoire comprehensively or to work my way through anyone’s list of “greats.” It will be obvious that I favor vocal performances as better suiting the goals of the essay and equally obvious that there is a substantial gap in the chronology (relatively few entries between roughly 1960 and 2000).

*5 Sources: Website Preserve Old Broadway. Link. Website Playbill Vault: link. I have no idea whether any of the statements in the Broadway version use the upper-register ending, as I do not have access to the score and there is no original recording. The version issued in 1984 is from a radio production, not from the stage play, and as of this writing I do not have access to it. In any case, it is clear that the stage play is a very minor part of the history of “All the Things You Are.”

*6 Wikipedia “List of Your Hit Parade number-one songs” — link; information there was taken from Leonidas Fragias, “Your Hit Parade Charts 1935–1940,” posted to The Internet Archive—link. Dorsey’s recording was released even before the show opened in New York (Marvin Paymer and Don Post, Sentimental Journey: Intimate Portraits of America's Great Popular Songs, 1920–1945 [1999, 369]).

*7 For sake of convenience, I will refer to all versions as if in Ab major, the key of the published sheet music.

*8 Gerald Bordman, Jerome Kern: His Life and Music (1980), 387.

*9 Victor also released this performance on its Bluebird label, again on the B side; on the A side is another song from Very Warm for May: “All in Fun.” Link to Internet Archive.