Register and Cadence Gesture (2): Gershwin’s “Embraceable You” David Neumeyer Professor Emeritus of Music The University of Texas at Austin June 2021 Abstract: This is a companion piece to an essay on Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are,” where an alternative ending with a rising melodic gesture is written into the published sheet music. The survey of Gershwin’s “Embraceable You” here was inspired by a similar figure in an early recorded performance by Sarah Vaughan. 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 (2), p. 2 Register and Cadence Gesture (2): Gershwin’s “Embraceable You” This is a companion piece to an essay on Jerome Kern’s “All the Things You Are,” where an alternative ending with a rising melodic gesture is written into the published sheet music. The survey of Gershwin’s “Embraceable You” here was inspired by a similar figure in an early recorded performance by Sarah Vaughan. I have sampled several dozen from among the many recordings readily available through The Internet Archive and YouTube, and I report on those here. The tune is a modified binary form, divided into halves with the same beginning but where the trailing segments are different, so ABAC, not ABAB. This is of particular interest because what we might call expressive or dramatic attention overall focuses on C, the final segment: it doesn’t “round off” the design as a simple binary form might; it is really the dramatic center. The ^b6 in the cadence is a bit of a surprise, given the diatonic character of the melody, but it’s an inspired expressive moment for the last iteration of “embraceable you.” A rising line from this note would seem impossible, or at least very unlikely—it would be ^5–^b6–^#7–^8.*1 (Notes appear on page 7.) FIGURE.“Embraceable You” chorus, ending As the table on the next page shows, however, 15 performers or arrangers manage an upper-register ending anyway, 10 of them by settling on ^5, 5 by rising to ^8. The three examples below show how the ascent is managed. At (a) and at (c), G: iiø7 becomes ii. At (b), the same thing happens but in context (that is, a fully chromatic line from D5 to G5) Eb acts as a passing chromatic note D# and the underlying chord is ii7. Register and the Cadence (2) , p. 3 TABLE. Below find a table listing the 44 recordings I surveyed. The majority (34) are 78’s digitized and presented on The Internet Archive. The others are recordings presented as YouTube videos.*2 Of the 44, 10 have endings above ^1 but not to ^8; 5 end with a rising line to ^8. At >10%, these five are generally in line with what I have found in some other repertoires, but high for all repertoires, where the average is about 5%. With the 10 upper-register endings other than ^8, the number is 34%, also a much higher than usual number and quite surprising for a song that ends with ^b6–down to ^7–^1. ——————————————————————————————————————— Internet Archive search “Embraceable You” restricted to 78 RPM recordings 1929–1954, plus 10 items from a YouTube search. The grand total is 44. In the column “√”: √ = rising or upper-register close to ^8 __ = close in the lower register as in the published music —* = upper-register close to ^5 or including ^5 Year Company Side √ Performers 1929 Columbia B — Teddy Wilson and his orch.; Helen Ward 1930 ? ? — Victor Arden; Phil Ohman orch. 1938 Jay A — Bobby Hackett 1938 Commodore A — Jackson Teagarden et al 1939 Decca A — Judy Garland; Victor Young 1940 Decca B —* Bob Crosby and his orch. 1941 Columbia A — Eddy Duchin 1941 Decca A — Jimmy Dorsey and his orch.; Helen O'Connell 1941 Columbia ? — Kate Smith; Jack Miller 1941 Victor A √ Tommy Dorsey; Jo Stafford and The Pied Pipers Decca A —* Hazel Scott (piano) 1942 Victor B — Linda Keene; Henry Levine and his band 1944 Columbia B — Frank Sinatra 1944 (radio) -- —* Doris Day (Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands) (YouTube) 1944 Decca B — Percy Faith and his orch. 1945 Columbia A — Andre Kostelanetz and his orch.; 1945 Dial B — Charlie Parker; Quintet 1945? Super Disc B — Don Byas Quartet; John Guarnieri; Sid Catlett; Al Hall 1945 Mercury B √ Errol Garner 1945 Decca B —* Roy Eldridge and his orch. 1946 Black & White A √ Al Sack and his orch. 1946 Capitol -- —* The Pied Pipers; Paul Weston and his orch. 1947 Commodore B —* Billie Holiday; Eddie Heywood and his orch. 1947 ? B? —* Jean Robert and his orch. 1947 Decca B — Jimmy Dorsey and his orch.; Helen O'Connell (table continues on the next page) Register and the Cadence (2), p. 4 1947 Harmonia A √ Ted Meyn (organ); B. Maltin (piano) 1947 Dial — Charlie Parker (YouTube) 1948 Columbia -- — Marion Morgan; Ben Pollack 1949 Verve — Charlie Parker; Live At Carnegie Hall (YouTube) 1949? Tempo B √ Ben Light; Herb Kern; Lloyd Sloop 1952 Prestige -- — Bennie Green 1952 Jubilee -- — Buddy Lucas and his band of tomorrow; 1952 Capitol Album s. 4 — Jane Froman with orch. 1953 Capitol -- — The King Cole Trio; Nat "King" Cole 1954 King -- —* Earl Bostic and his orch. 1954 EmArcy __* Sarah Vaughan; Ernie Wilkins and band (YouTube) 1955 UMG — Clifford Brown; re-released on S’Paradise (YouTube) 1957 Verve —* Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra (YouTube) 1959 ? — Ella Fitzgerald; Nelson Riddle (YouTube) 1962 Columbia — Andy Williams (YouTube) 2004 (live) — Dianne Reeves; Russell Malone (YouTube) 2004 (live) — Jane Monheit (YouTube) ——————————————————————————————————————— Beginning on the next page find sections: (1) “The five recordings with rising lines to ^8”; (2) “The ten recordings with upper-register endings not going up to ^8; most often they center on ^5.” Register and the Cadence (2) , p. 5 The five recordings with rising lines to ^8: NB: The entry format: performer(s), record company & year, length, and design. Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra, soloist Jo Stafford, vocal group The Pied Pipers (Victor, 1941). 3:01. Slow ballad style. Soloist takes freedoms with the melody notes—pitches and metric placements—throughout. Introduction very loosely based on the final phrase of the verse, with vocal group and band; complete chorus with vocal soloist, in final phrases of B and C add vocal group; A & C repeated with vocal group and soloist. The cadence of C uses D5–Eb5–F5–Eb–D5, but is repeated and the soloist goes up in a diatonic line from D5 to G5 to end.*3 Errol Garner (Mercury, 1945). 3:11. Brief intro with opening motive;*4 ballad or slow foxtrot style, full texture and lots of figuration (B speeds up with tense figures, then A & C relax again). Second chorus blends into the first. Ending is complex with very full chords, apparently ^3–^4–^5–^n6– ^7–^8 an octave higher, with reiteration of ^8/^1 after that. Al Sack and his orchestra (Black & White, 1946). 3:10. String-heavy “smooth orchestra” sound and very slow. No introduction; complete chorus with B as flute then clarinet solo then strings to finish. Reprise of A starts with flute again, closes with strings and some brass underneath. Cadence as in the published music. Mood suddenly picks up for the second chorus, and so does the tempo but not by that much—string pizzicato figures are short notes; melody in winds, B soloist is trombone. Reprise of A is full strings, though final cadence emphasizes brasses, which reach Eb5 in an accent but strings continue on through E5–F#5–G, which is long-held (the rising line is even repeated below it). Ted Meyn (organ); B. Maltin (piano) (Harmonia, 1947). 2:56. “Left-hand” rhythms suggest an upbeat foxtrot. Very brief intro; in first chorus organ forward with piano behind; reversed in B. Second chorus piano forward with organ behind except at B and again at C; the two are equal in the cadence. Third chorus organ forward again in a staccato “stuttering” style, and reversed in B again. Piano also forward at the beginning of C. The cadence is a simple line from ^5 up to ^8) but I’m afraid I can’t tell if ^6 is Eb5 or E5. Ben Light; Herb Kern; Lloyd Sloop (Tempo, 1949?). 2:58. Introduction on the Hammond organ or Novachord (or both?). Complete piano chorus in stride piano style with understated accompaniment. A second chorus with the melody in organ/Novachord and elaborate piano figuration around it, occasionally joining in the tune briefly; ascent in the piano at the end. A & C repeated, quite deliberate chromatic ascent from D5 to G5 to close. Register and the Cadence (2), p. 6 The ten recordings with upper-register endings not going up to ^8; most often they center on ^5. NB: The entry format is a list: performer(s), record company & year, length, and design. Bob Crosby and his orchestra (Decca, 1940). 3:19. Brief introduction; trumpet solo through the first chorus; in the second chorus, piano soloist in A, alto sax in B, tenor sax in A & C; in the third chorus, full band throughout.