In 2010, the enterprising Anderson brothers, Peter and Will, co-produced and directed a two-week off-Broadway tribute to Artie Shaw. Two years later, they presented a salute to Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey that ran for 30 consecutive sold-out shows. Since then, they have created, produced and starred in eight sold-out off-Broadway productions. More recently, they have added audio visuals and narration to the shows that pay tribute to the featured legendary musicians and composers. This month, for example, they have the Artie Shaw program scheduled for New York City’s Birdland Theater.
Will Anderson does the research for the commentary that intersperses the tunes associated with the musician or composer being featured in the themed concerts. He has taken much of that material and put it in a delightful 118-page book titled: Songbook Summit that explores the life stories and driving forces behind 15 American musical pioneers, which he selected because they “distinguished themselves with a unique voice within American culture.”
The list includes Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, the Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael, Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen, Jimmy Van Heusen, and Henry Mancini. The book’s introduction is a brief overview and history of jazz that includes Yogi Berra’s profound observation that “90% of all jazz is half improvisation.”
Will raises the question of “how did these figures influence each other” and what other factors had an impact on their lives. He then quotes Irving Berlin saying, “Our attitudes control our lives.” In the Berlin chapter, the legendary composer expanded that thought, saying: “Attitudes are a secret power working 24 hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.”
Gems from Will’s Book
Duke Ellington wrote that “Jazz is like a tree. It has many branches that reach out in many directions. At the end of each branch is a twig, and at the end of each twig there are many different shaped leaves, and many varied colored leaves. And wherever it goes, it picks up a certain influence.”
Louis Armstrong credits his upbringing in New Orleans as having given him “something to live for.”
Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey’s father was a strict music teacher who was determined to get his sons out of the Irish coal mining community in which they grew up in Pennsylvania. To keep the boys indoors practicing their instruments, he hid their shoes.
Benny Goodman was a man of strict discipline and uncompromising standards: he was all about the music.
Artie Shaw recalled when he first met Goodman “He would only talk about clarinets, mouthpieces and reeds. When I tried to change the subject, he said, ‘But that’s what we have in common. We both play the clarinet.’ I said, ‘No, Benny, that’s where we’re different. You play the clarinet—I play music.’”
A quote by Barbara Sinatra, Frank’s last wife, tells us that “A big part of Frank’s thrill was the sense of danger he exuded, an underlying, ever-present tension only those closest to him knew could be defused with humor.” Throughout his life, Sinatra had mood swings that sometimes turned violent, aimed at people he thought had crossed him. It was said that he only slept an average of four hours a night and had occasional bouts of mild to severe depression.
Anderson points out that the great Broadway composers in his book display a wide range of personalities. George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Hoagy Carmichel were outgoing, charismatic and glamorous. But Richard Rodgers and Irving Berlin were introverts.
Throughout his career, Jerome Kern hated hearing his songs reinterpreted in vaudeville shows, on the radio, on records, and in jazz clubs. He stipulated in his theater contracts that any performance of individual songs be prohibited, which limited their exposure. He did not want the details and context of his songs to be lost.
Cole Porter, unlike other Broadway composers of the era, did not care where his songs were inserted into a musical. Each of his songs was a story in its own right, not just situational. His rhymes were daring and unexpected. He singlehandedly brought sophisticated modern 20th Century music to the Broadway stage.
George Gershwin referred to his Rhapsody in Blue composition as “a musical kaleidoscope of America—of our vast melting pot, of our unduplicated national pep, of our blues, our metropolitan madness.”
Throughout his career, Hoagy Carmichael composed nearly 500 songs, including 50 that achieved hit-record status. In contrast to the clever, urbane sounds of Gershwin and Porter, Carmichael joined the sounds of the Midwest with the glamour of Hollywood. Americans loved his nostalgic, down-home lyrics and original jazzy melodies.
Many contend that Richard Rodgers is the most played composer of any kind of music. He composed over 900 songs and contributed to 41 Broadway musicals. Rodgers distinguished himself because of his remarkable sense of melody. Jazz instrumentalists, without lyrics to express themselves—and were therefore melody-obsessed—have taken a special liking to Rodger’s songs.
Harold Arlen is considered the most successful early songbook composer at incorporating the Black musical aesthetic into popular music. Many believe that Arlen found himself as a composer when he started working with lyricist Johnny Mercer.
Jimmy Van Heusen was heavily influenced by the original master of melody, Jerome Kern. His songs expressed the feelings of post-World War II Americans. He was able to maintain an old-fashioned commitment to sophistication, and Frank Sinatra was his perfect mouthpiece. His catalog of 800 songs has been used in 220 films, and 50 songs have become standards.
Henry Mancini was a pioneer in incorporating jazz elements in the prevailing romantic orchestral style of film scoring. His style symbolized the bright, confident, idealistic Kennedy Era of the 1960s. Mancini’s music crossed boundaries between pop, rock, classical, easy listening, and jazz.
To get a copy of Songbook Summit: 15 Pioneers of American Sound by William Reardon-Anderson personally autographed by Will for $25, the email address is songbooksummit@gmail.com. A Kindle edition is available at Amazon for $9.99.
Andersons’ Background
Originally from, Bethesda, Maryland, Pete and Will Anderson grew up in a non-musical family, although they describe their grandfather as a “jazz fanatic” who had a large record collection. They took up the saxophone and clarinet at the age of nine and were initially classically trained.
Dave Robinson, an early mentor, recalls that the twins joined his Capital Focus youth band in Washington, D.C., when they were 13 and toured the United Kingdom with the group playing classic jazz associated with Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, and Louis Armstrong. In 2005, the band attended the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz/AGitpenSnowmass and was selected to play in the North Sea Jazz Festival.
“We used to feature them on a two-clarinet arrangement of I Wish I Were Twins,” Robinson said. “They have a wide stylistic reach, which is a valuable commodity in the jazz world. I’m thrilled that they are making names for themselves in the Big Apple, representing the next generation of top-shelf young players who will keep this music alive.”
The twins received their Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Julliard School’s jazz studies program. In 2011, they debuted their own Big Band at Manhattan’s Symphony Space, offering their interpretations of the music of Quincy Jones, which evoked a response from Jones: “You dudes are the future! You made the soul of a 78-year-old ex-bopper smile . . . smile like a fox eatin’ sauerkraut.” In 2016, Peter and Will were selected by Jazz at Lincoln Center to be featured performers in a concert honoring the music and life of clarinetist Benny Goodman.
The Andersons have performed in 40 states as well as Brazil, Japan and the UK and headlined at Carnegie Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, major jazz clubs like the Blue Note, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, and on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. They teach and lecture at schools, workshops and clinics and appeared with Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks in HBO’s 2012 Grammy Award-winning Boardwalk Empire. The veteran Nighthawks leader calls them “excellent, versatile jazz and classical musicians who have great spirit and attitude.”
In the classical field, the twins have performed clarinet solo works by Debussy, Mozart, Brahms, and Copeland with several symphonic groups. Dan Levinson included them in his “Three Benny Opera” presentation, a three-clarinet salute to Benny Goodman.
The inevitable question is: How do you tell the twins apart? Pete is older (by 10 minutes), and Will is one inch taller than his brother. Both are married and have growing families. They have similar personalities and often dress alike. They have always been competitive, but in a friendly, supportive way.
Will plays the alto sax and cites his influences as Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, and Jimmy Dorsey. He also plays the flute in the style associated with James Moody and Frank Wess. Pete mentions Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Harry Allen, Ken Peplowski, Sidney Bechet, and Ben Webster among the many great tenor saxophonists he admires.
Pete plays the tenor sax in a more contemporary vein, while Will on alto leans more toward the traditional style of jazz. Both include the soprano and baritone saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, and piccolo among the instruments they play. The Washington Post called their music “imaginatively unfolding in ways that consistently bring a fresh perspective to classic jazz.” One critic wrote “The Andersons are naturals who play the music like it’s in a constant state of creation and reinvention.” To which Will and Pete respond: “Jazz is too good a music to die. It’s still a relatively young music compared to the classics.”
Longtime friend and fellow musician Dan Levinson summed it all up when he was asked about Pete and Will, saying “Success in the music business is measured on multiple levels and entails much more than just being able to play one’s instrument well. Woody Allen said that 80% of success is showing up.
“The Andersons are without doubt exceptionally talented musicians. They show up—and on time. They care about making the music sound good. They always look professional and come to work with a positive attitude that pervades the atmosphere and makes for an enjoyable musical experience all around. While most musicians acquire these traits after years of trial-and-error, the Andersons have been exemplars of success from the time I first met them when they were in their early 20s.”
Lew Shaw started writing about music as the publicist for the famous Berkshire Music Barn in the 1960s. He joined the West Coast Rag in 1989 and has been a guiding light to this paper through the two name changes since then as we grew to become The Syncopated Times. 47 of his profiles of today's top musicians are collected in Jazz Beat: Notes on Classic Jazz.Volume two, Jazz Beat Encore: More Notes on Classic Jazz contains 43 more! Lew taps his extensive network of connections and friends throughout the traditional jazz world to bring us his Jazz Jottings column every month.
