Jazz pianist Beegie Adair releases 'An Affair to Remember'

NEW YORK (Village Square) The theater darkened and a four-color wide-screen CinemaScope motion picture appeared with stereophonic sound. It was the 1950s and there were countless films about romance with all its entanglements, while the memorable moments on-screen were underscored with sweeping music scores and poignant songs. Now all that lush musical grandeur has been recaptured on a new instrumental album, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (Village Square Music), featuring acclaimed jazz pianist Beegie Adair backed by her regular rhythm section and The Jeff Steinberg Orchestra.

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER and other recordings by Beegie Adair can be purchased at her website (www.beegieadair.com) or the Village Square Music record company website (www.villagesquare.com) as well as in specialty stores throughout the United States (a list is available at the Village Square site or by calling 888-337-1333 tollfree).

Generation after generation of movie lovers have thrilled to tear-jerking plotlines and scenes like Cary Grant spotting Deborah Kerr's wheelchair and realizing she's crippled in "An Affair to Remember," Burt Lancaster and Kerr passionately embracing in the surf and sand in "From Here To Eternity," William Holden stealing Kim Novak from his old buddy Cliff Robertson in "Picnic," Dorothy McGuire wishing for love in Rome in "Three Coins in the Fountain," Hong Kong doctor Jennifer Jones falling for war correspondent Holden in "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing," or swamp-kitten Jones marrying Karl Malden to spite her real love Charlton Heston in "Ruby Gentry." The main musical themes from each of these classic films are included on Adair's new recording.

"But I chose some other types of tunes that left their mark on me when I first watched those films in the Fifties," explains Adair, who has become known as one of the premier instrumental interpreters of music from the first half of the 20th Century. "The song 'Pete Kelly's Blues' is my favorite because it not only was used as the main orchestral title theme, but in the movie Ella Fitzgerald also sings it in a roadhouse nightclub. 'Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White' has become a standard, but a lot of people don't know it came from the film 'Underwater.' The movie was mostly an excuse for Gilbert Roland and Jane Russell to run around in bathing suits, although when they danced at a nightclub to this song it helped start the cha-cha craze. Another film with a nightclub scene performance was 'Blue Gardenia' which had Nat King Cole singing the title tune. The tune 'Fascination' from 'Love in the Afternoon' was performed in the film by a small French group hired by Gary Cooper to try to woo Audrey Hepburn. On our recording it was Jeff Steinberg's idea to incorporate an accordion and solo violin to capture that Parisian sidewalk cafe feel."

In the early 1950s, Beegie was in high school in the small town of Cave City, Kentucky (population 1,400) where the main entertainment in town was going to the movies. She continued to enjoy films later in the decade while attending Western State University in Bowling Green. "All during the Fifties I was studying music so when I would see a spectacular or emotion-filled scene in a movie I was very aware of the music they used to heighten the mood. These are some of the melodies that stuck with me from those films."

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER, produced by Jack Jezzro (a best-selling recording artist in his own right), features The Beegie Adair Trio (Roger Spencer on bass and Chris Brown on drums) in conjunction with The Jeff Steinberg Orchestra, a mid-sized string-woodwind-horn section. Steinberg, who is also a jazz pianist, wrote and conducted all the orchestrations. A few special guests appear � Jezzro performs Latin-styled acoustic guitar on "Cherry Pink�," Denis Solee adds sax on "Pete Kelly's Blues" and George Tidwell plays trumpet on "Blue Gardenia." This project reunites Adair, her trio, Steinberg's orchestra and producer Jezzro, who all previously recorded the CD I'LL TAKE ROMANCE. On both recordings, the orchestra almost serves as another member of the band as it takes the lead melody line on occasion and often is featured in close-knit interplay with Adair's piano-playing. As always, Beegie keeps the melody forefront while keeping to the spirit of jazz with some improvisation.

According to Adair, she and Steinberg share some of the same musical influences including arrangers Nelson Riddle, Billy May and Johnny Mandel. In addition, Jezzro started his career in symphony orchestras. Beegie herself was ideally suited to the project because she has built a strong reputation with her series of albums featuring her jazz piano trio renditions of standards � THE FRANK SINATRA COLLECTION (named "Jazz Album of the Year" at the Nashville Music Awards), THE NAT KING COLE COLLECTION, LOVE, ELVIS (the romantic Presley repertoire), DREAM DANCING: SONGS OF COLE PORTER (also featuring saxophonist Denis Solee), and DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (songs by Johnny Mercer). She also has recorded three holiday CDs � JAZZ PIANO CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS JAZZ (with guest stars) and QUIET CHRISTMAS (solo piano). Her most ambitious project is the CENTENNIAL COMPOSERS six-CD box set (also available individually) featuring her instrumental interpretations of some of the most famous songs from the early part of the last century written by Irving Berlin, Hoagy Carmichael, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Duke Ellington and Richard Rodgers.

"Some of my favorite music of all time, but especially from the Fifties, are those great albums by Frank Sinatra with the orchestrations arranged by either Riddle or May like SONGS FOR YOUNG LOVERS or IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS," Beegie remembers. "Riddle also arranged for Nat King Cole. On the more jazzy, instrumental side, there were those fantastic recordings, like BLACK SATIN/WHITE SATIN, by George Shearing with his quintet and a big Hollywood orchestra. There also were other popular, lushly-arranged albums that I like from that time by Peggy Lee, Stan Kenton and the Jackie Gleason Orchestra. On AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER we tried to capture some of the spirit and feeling of those classic recordings plus add a cinematic feeling because of where the tunes originated."

When Beegie first moved to Nashville, she was a staff pianist at WSM (radio and television) for a decade. That led to being the in-house pianist for "The Johnny Cash Show" on ABC-TV for three years where she performed for millions of viewers not only with Cash, but also guests such as Neil Diamond, Mama Cass Elliot and Peggy Lee. Adair, who has been chosen as a "Steinway Artist," also has served an adjunct professor in jazz studies at Vanderbilt University and has taught vocal jazz at the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Beegie also played on various movie soundtracks such as Burt Reynolds' "Smokey and the Bandit," Clint Eastwood's "Every Which Way But Loose" and Kevin Costner's "Perfect World." She has recorded and performed in concert with Chet Atkins, Henry Mancini, Wayne Newton and Perry Como. Beegie also has played on recordings by Sonny Curtis, Johnny Cash, Al Hirt, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, J.J. Cale, Englebert Humperdink, Jerry Reed, Melba Moore, Hank Snow, Little River Band, John Stewart, Connie Francis, Ronnie Milsap, John Loudermilk and many more. On stage, Adair has played with jazz artists such as Nat Adderly, Urbie Green, Bill Watrous, Red Rodney, Lou Tabackin, Jim Ferguson, Terry Clark, Conte Candoli, Michael Moore, Slide Hampton, Kai Winding, Bernard Purdie and Nick Brignola; plus long stints with Ray Stevens, Lorrie Morgan, Hank Garland Quintet and Andy Goodrich Quintet.

The Beegie Adair Trio's drummer Chris Brown graduated from the renowned music program at North Texas State University and has toured with Maynard Ferguson, Lorrie Morgan and Sam Bush. Bassist Roger Spencer has played with the Les Brown Band, Ray Conniff, the Page Cavanaugh Trio and Pete Jolly, and is the co-director of the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Jeff Steinberg, also a recording artist, has composed, arranged or produced Count Basie, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, Michel Legrand, Crystal Gayle, Reba McEntire and others.

"I have always prided myself on being able to make a strong jazz tune out of any good melody," Beegie says. "My credo is to remain as true as possible to the original intent of the composer which means I don't mess around with the melody much. I want my audience to recognize the tunes and, especially in the case of AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER, I hope they will join me in remembering all these great old classic movies and those romantic scenes that had us all pulling out our hankies to dab our eyes."