Harold Arlen and His Songs

Walter Frisch recently published Harold Arlen and His Songs (Oxford University Press), the first comprehensive book about the music of one of the great song composers of the 20th century.

Arlen wrote many standards of the American Songbook—including “Get Happy,” “Over the Rainbow,” “Stormy Weather,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” and “The Man That Got Away”—which today rank among the best known and loved. Frisch places these and other songs in the context of a long career that took Arlen from Buffalo, New York, to Harlem’s Cotton Club, Broadway stages, and Hollywood film studios. Even with their complex melodies, harmonies, and formal structures, Arlen’s tunes remain accessible and memorable. As Frisch shows, he blended influences from his father’s Jewish cantorial tradition, his experience as a jazz arranger and performer, and peers like George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Irving Berlin. Arlen always emphasized the collaborative nature of songwriting, and he worked with the top lyricists of his day, including Ted Koehler, Yip Harburg, Johnny Mercer, and Ira Gershwin.

Read more here.