Various Artists

“Everyone loves the music of his childhood, and for some reason, it has a disproportionate impact on the person. When I was growing up and I got up in the morning to go to school, I would turn on the radio and it would be Billie Holiday and Coleman Hawkins and Benny Goodman.” Woody Allen

Jazz music has always filled an important part in Woody Allen’s life and work. He developed a passion for music early on and is a jazz clarinetist. What began as a teenage avocation has led to regular public performances at various small venues in his hometown of Manhattan, with occasional appearances at various jazz festivals. Allen’s own clarinet playing is clearly not up to his most beloved idols’ level, and he’s always been the first one to admit that. “I'm not just saying this to be amusing”, he has declared, for instance. “To be even as bad as I am, you do have to practice every day. I'm a strict hobby musician. I don't have a particularly good ear for music. I'm a very poor musician, like a Sunday tennis player”. However, he deserves enormous praise for his effort to disseminate the jazz legacy through his films, by using a wide variety of historical sources in his soundtracks. The music included on this LP was used by Woody Allen in the following films, all of which were written, produced and directed by Allen: Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) / September (1987) / Alice (1990) / Mighty Aphrodite (1995) / Celebrity (1998) / Sweet and Lowdown (1999) / Anything Else (2003) / Whatever Works (2009) / You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) / Midnight in Paris (2011)

Recording data:

A1: SIDNEY BECHET (soprano sax) with Claude Luter (clarinet) & his Orchestra.
Paris, France, January 18, 1952.

A2: RED GARLAND TRIO: Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Art Taylor (drums).
Hackensack, N.J., November 27, 1958.

A3: COUNT BASIE (piano) and His Orchestra.
New York, October 21, 1957.

A4: ART TATUM (piano), BEN WEBSTER (tenor sax), Red Callender (bass) Bill Douglass (drums).
Los Angeles, CA, September 11, 1956.

A5: BENNY GOODMAN (clarinet), with Lou McGarity (tb), Mel Powell (p), Tom Morgan (g),
Sid Weiss (b), Ralph Collier (d).
New York, October 28, 1941.

B1: TEDDY WILSON (piano), Gene Ramey (bass), Jo Jones (drums).
Chicago, March 5, 1956.

B2: DJANGO REINHARDT (guitar soloist), STÉPHANE GRAPPELLI (violin),
Pierre Ferret, Marcel Bianchi (g), Louis Vola (b).
Paris, France, April 26, 1937.

B3: HARRY JAMES (trumpet) & His Orchestra, featuring HELEN FORRES (vocals).
Hollywood, July 20, 1955.

B4: CARMEN CAVALLARO (piano), (bass), (drums).
Hollywood, 1957.

B5: LESTER YOUNG (tenor sax), OSCAR PETERSON (piano), Barney Kessel (g),
Ray Brown (b), J.C. Heard (d).
New York, November 28, 1952.

B6: ERROLL GARNER (piano), Leonard Gaskin (bass), Charlie Smith (drums).
New York, July 20, 1949.

B7: PAUL DESMOND (alto sax), DAVE BRUBECK (piano), Eugene Wright (bass),
Joe Morello (drums). New York, July 1, 1959.

SIDE A:
1 SI TU VOIS MA MÈRE (Sidney Bechet) (from Midnight in Paris) 3:15
2 SPRING WILL BE A LITTLE LATE THIS YEAR (Frank Loesser) (from Whatever Works) 5:43
3 LIL’ DARLIN’ (Neal Hefti) (from Mighty Aphrodite) 4:50
4 MY IDEAL (Leo Robin-Newell Chase-Richard A. Whiting) (from September) 7:16
5 IF I HAD YOU (Jimmy Campbell-Reginald Connelly-Ted Shapiro) (from You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger) 3:03


SIDE B:
1 I GOT RHYTHM (George & Ira Gershwin) (from Celebrity) 3:30
2 LIEBESTRAUM #3 (Franz Liszt) (from Sweet & Lowdown) 3:19
3 I’VE HEARD THAT SONG BEFORE (Jule Styne-Sammy Cahn) (from Hannah and Her Sisters) 2:57
4 MANHATTAN (Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart)(from Mighty Aphrodite) 3:00
5 I CAN’T GET STARTED (Vernon Duke-Ira Gershwin) (from Anything Else) 3:40
6 THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT (Jerome Kern-Dorothy Fields) (from Alice) 3:47
7 TAKE FIVE (Paul Desmond) (from Mighty Aphrodite) 5:26