Great Film Scores of 1939

Great Film Scores of 1939

with jazz vocalist Miles Griffith and pianist/composer/arranger Kirk Nurock

A delightful array of songs from the film scores of 1939-a year replete with florid melodies and entertaining lyrics. Miles Griffith and Kirk Nurock offer jazz-inflected impressions, putting a contemporary spin on such classics as Somewhere over the Rainbow, from The Wizard of Oz (Arlen/Harburg)

Performance playlist:

Where or When
The Lady Is a Tramp
Ja-Da
I'm Sorry I Made You Cry
Piano Solo
Darktown Strutters Ball
I'll See You in My Dreams
My Man
 Toot, Toot, Tootsie!
Ding, Dong the Witch Is Dead
Somewhere over the Rainbow
I'm Just Wild About Harry

Vocalist Miles Griffith has been a member of ensembles led by Max Roach, Reggie Workman, and Jon Hendricks. In 1994, he played the lead role of "Jesse" in Wynton Marsalis' celebrated Blood on the Fields, which premiered at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. Griffith also participated on the Sony recording of this Pulitzer Prize and GRAMMY Award-winning work. He has performed with the T.S. Monk Septet, James Williams' ICU, and Jack Walrath's Masters of Suspense. A native of Brooklyn, Griffith's musical roots emanate from the Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, A.M.E., and Yoruba ministries. He holds a Master's degree in Jazz Vocal Performance from Queens College, and a BFA from Long Island University. He is Vocal Jazz Instructor at Columbia University and teaches privately. His own compositions and lyrics are featured on his five CDs as a leader. According to Village Voice critic Jim Macnie, "The vocalist has a wail that's able to shake a room, a visceral blues sensibility, and gregarious sense of humor."

Composer/pianist Kirk Nurock is refreshingly hard to pin down. He orchestrated for both Dizzy Gillespie and Leonard Bernstein; composed a work for 20 voices and three canines, which he conducted at Carnegie Hall; and won a scholarship at age 16, awarded by Duke Ellington. A veteran of some 30 years in the music world, he has arranged for James Taylor, Nat Adderley, a Woody Allen film, five Broadway musicals, and the Israel Philharmonic. Over 100 of his compositions have been released on CD or LP. A video documentary, Animalsong, chronicles his compositions for human chorus and the animals of the Bronx Zoo. Keyboard Magazine called him "joyously iconoclastic," and Dizzy Gillespie wrote, "Kirk-wow, you gas me!" A graduate of the Juilliard School, Nurock currently teaches composition and orchestration at the New School Jazz Program. He and Miles Griffith have performed and recorded together on a wide variety of projects and are delighted to be visiting 1939 with Laura Kaminsky and Symphony Space!