I play recordings of Jazz and Popular Standards on Breathing Room®. The hour is most often vocal music, but I include instrumentals here and there. I sprinkle informational tidbits about the music between the tunes – and all sorts of observations as they occur to me.
Every so often, I also try to expand the boundaries of what we traditionally think of as a standard. Breathing Room® and More, if you will.
The words and music of Cole Porter, George & Ira Gershwin, Rodgers & Hart, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Jimmy Van Heusen, Sammy Cahn, Carolyn Leigh, Cy Coleman, and Stephen Sondheim are a staple of Breathing Room®.
Frank Sinatra, Nat Cole, Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Blossom Dearie, Samara Joy, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Peggy Lee, Stacey Kent, and Mildred Bailey are all artists you’ll hear frequently on the program.
Max Morath writes in “The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards” (Penguin Putnam, 2002; Page 2): “The Standards are, simply put, excellent pieces of work. Their harmonies are rich, colorful, complex; their lyrics are sophisticated, their rhymes fresh. They display an inventiveness of rhythm and often of form.”
Listen live to Breathing Room® at noon on Saturdays. Or, if you prefer to listen right now – just scroll down. You’ll find the audio for the last two programs.
Email: Fred@BreathingRoomRadio.com
About Fred: airmedia.org/talent/fred-wasser
Breathing Room® is a Registered Trademark of Fred Wasser