Pennies From Heaven

Rosetta

1 Rosetta 3.22  Earl Hines
2 Exactly Like You 2.29  Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields
3 Prelude To A Kiss 3.19  Duke Ellington, Irving Gordon and Irving Mills.
4 It’s Only A Paper Moon 2.26  Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg and Billy Rose.
5 There Is No Greater Love 3.03  Isham Jones and Marty Symes.
6 Sweet Lorraine 4.56  Cliff Burwell and Mitchell Parish
7 Lady Be Good 1.39  George and Ira Gershwin
8 Pennies From Heaven 2.49  Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke.
9 Do Nothing Till You Here From Me 4.14  Duke Ellington and lyrics by Bob Russell.
10 Blue Room 2.51 Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart
11 Heartbeat Blues 2.10  Chris Hodgkins and Lenore Raphael
Total Time 33.18

CHRIS HODGKINS AND LENORE RAPHAEL

PENNIES FROM HEAVEN

Lenore Raphael is an American pianist well-known for her interpretations of mainstream standards. She acknowledges the influences of Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell, and the great Bill Evans. She has played at major clubs and festivals in the US and abroad, and has been recognised as a Steinway ambassador along with Ahmad Jamal and Abdullah Ibrahim. She and trumpeter Hodgkins recorded their first  album, in 2017, live at the Pizza Express London, with American guitar player Wayne Wilkinson.

Trumpeter Chris Hodgkins is a stalwart of the UK jazz scene. He has for many years regularly performed in London and the UK both with his own quartet and as part of various mainstream ensembles. His recent projects have included touring with the Pete Allen Band and a 17-date tribute tour leading to an album, A Salute to Humphrey Lyttelton. He is also a sterling promoter of jazz in the UK.

This project was agreed rapidly last time they met, put together in record time between engagements, for just the two of them along with sound engineer Luc Saint-Martin.  It has resulted in this relaxed set of early standards in which Hodgkins and Raphael joyfully acknowledge some of the great songwriters of the twentieth century. “We just selected some tunes that you don’t hear very often these days” said Chris.

Accordingly, Rosetta is a tribute to pianist Earl Hines, who first recorded it in the 1933 classic jazz dance period. Later recordings by Fats Waller and Benny Goodman gave it the swing treatment that tends to have been attached to it since, though in the hands of several pianists it has become a romanticised ballad. Hodgkins and Raphael prefer the swing version.

Exactly Like You is a popular song with music written by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields for the 1930 Broadway show “Lew Leslie’s International Revue”. It has been recorded and performed since by countless luminaries including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Django Reinhardt and Frank Sinatra. The beautiful Prelude To A Kiss, is a classic Ellington composition written during a time that he began to explore presenting jazz tunes with a wider melodic reach than the Tin Pan Alley tunes of the day. Raphael is featured solo on this number, exploring an extensive harmonic range, incorporating the beauty of the melody.

There Is No Greater Love is a 1936 jazz standard composed by Isham Jones, with lyrics by Marty Symes. It was the last hit song for Jones’s orchestra before he turned the orchestra over to Woody Herman, beginning Herman’s 50-year bandleading career. It has also notably been recorded by Bille Holiday, Nat King Cole and Duke Ellington, as has Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me. It’s Only A Paper Moon has been immortalised by Nat King Cole, Benny Goodman, and the great Ella Fitzgerald. There are indeed few recent recordings, though it appears on a jolly set of standards released by Paul McCartney 14 years ago.

Sweet Lorraine dates from 1928 but is still familiar as a standard in all kinds of genres. Gershwin’s Lady Be Good is so well known as not to require comment, likewise Pennies From Heaven written by Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke. The 1936 film of the same name starred Louis Armstrong  and Bing Crosby.  Blue Room  is a show tune from the Rodgers and Hart musical The Girl Friend, written, incredibly, almost a century ago. While the title may be unfamiliar, the tune is hummable by almost everyone.

In their unpretentious but enjoyable rendering of these tunes, Hodgkins and Raphael have paid tribute to American songwriting, classic performances, and the longevity of the jazz standard.  They also, as Chris says, “got back in time for afternoon tea.” So, though Tea For Two was not on this set list, maybe it ought to have been.

Victoria Kingham

Recorded 1st November 2024 World Heart BeatSound Engineer: Luc Saint-Martin

CD design: Jane.C.Reid

Photo: Joel Raphael

Bell CD 523