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My Favorite
Things CD $17 |
Don Thompson plays
his favorite arrangements
on his favorite instrument at the
Capri Theatre, Adelaide, Australia *
1. My Favorite Things
2. March – The Thin Red Line
3. Selections from "Kiss Me Kate" (Another Opening, Another Show, Always True to You Dear, Wunderbar, Why Can’t You Behave? So In Love).
4. Breezing Along With The Breeze
5. My Old Flame
6. Love Makes the World Go Round/Change Partners (Reginald Dixon arrangement)
7. Ebb Tide
8. Hot Dog (Sidney Torch arrangement)
9. The Last Time I Saw Paris
10. Marche Lorraine
11. April In Paris
12. Extase
13. Selection from "Babes in Arms" (Where or When, The Lady is a Tramp, My Funny Valentine, Johnny One Note)
14. If
15. I Get a Kick Out of You
16. While We’re Young (George Wright arrangement)
17. Moon River
18. Trio in a Style of Bach (Billy Nalle arrangement)
19. Somewhere Out There
20. Picnic
*Track 1 recorded at the Southward
Museum, Paraparaumu, New Zealand
Track 20 recorded at the San Sylmar Wurlitzer, San Sylmar,
California
All other tracks recorded at the Capri Theater, Adelaide, Australia
THE ORGAN
The Capri Theatre in Adelaide,
Australia belongs to The South Australia Chapter of the Theatre
Organ Society of Australia and it houses what is unquestionably
the finest theatre organ in the Southern hemisphere, and
certainly one of the great instruments of the world. What a
fortunate group to own such a theatre and organ! The theatre is
also a financial success, and shows movies daily, usually with
organ intermissions.
THE MUSIC
Don likes to have a theme for his concerts and the theme of a
recent concert was "A Tale Of Two Cities," the cities
being London and Paris, of course. There are several tracks from
that concert on this CD.
Our artist first heard the march "The Thin Red Line" played by the band of the Grenadier Guards at the Changing of the Guard in London.
Then we go up to the West End of London to see a show, in this case, the first one Don himself saw there, "Kiss Me, Kate."
When Don played a concert at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London’s premiere theatre during a concert tour in 1974 one of the tunes he played was "I’m Just Breezing Along With The Breeze" and that arrangement is re-created here. Jesse Crawford played for a brief time at the Empire, Leicester Square and Don plays "My Old Flame" in a slightly tongue-in cheek version of the Crawford style.
Reginald Dixon, the famous Blackpool organist, also played in London during the winter seasons in the 30s and recorded "Love Makes The World Go Round/ Change Partners" at the Granada, Clapham. That arrangement is re-created here.
"Ebb Tide" is one of Don’s most requested numbers and he first played it on a recording for the BBC in London.
Sidney Torch was one of London’s most popular organists in the 30s, and he played at the Odeon, Marble Arch. "Hot Dog" is one of his most famous arrangements, recorded at the Odeon.
For Paris we begin with the Jerome Kern favorite "The Last Time I Saw Paris" and go on to hear the march which became the theme of the French Resistance during the 2nd world war, Marche Lorraine. "April in Paris", like the Kern song, is a song about Paris written by an American, this time by Vernon Duke.
Louis Ganne, who wrote the March Lorraine played earlier, is also responsible for the gorgeous, lush "Extase" which was in its day salon music, played among the potted palms in fine hotels by string orchestras.
The first show Don saw actually on Broadway was "No! No! Nannette" starring Ruby Keeler! He really enjoyed the show and the music of its composer Vincent Youmans and a selection of that composer’s melodies follows. "If", "Moon River" and "Somewhere Out There" were all very popular requests when Don was playing in Toronto in the late seventies and these tunes are included as a memory of those days. Also from the Toronto days is the "Trio," a tongue in cheek arrangement by organist Billy Nalle which Don played at one of his concerts at the cathedral in Toronto. "While We’re Young" is a memory of both Judy Garland who sang it and George Wright who wrote this arrangement. Finally, "I get a Kick Out of You" and "Picnic" are just two arrangements that Don enjoys playing very much, the latter was recorded in California and features Don at both organ and piano.