User talk:No Swan So Fine/Astaire Story

Excellent idea for an article. Just thought I'd mention Oscar Peterson's account of these sessions, from his autobiography: A Jazz Odyssey - The Life of Oscar Peterson

"Norman had studied carefully all the songs likely to be used including obscure and forgotten verses and had canvassed Fred's opinion of them in considerable detail. The groundwork had been well and truly laid, and as I waited for Fred I started toying with a few phrases I thought unusual or difficult ('Top Hat' for example) to quiet my own unease.

"As I sat there engrossed, I became aware of a presence nearby, and looked up into the smiling face of Astaire himself. He wore a tweed sports jacket, a pair of brown slacks engagingly held up by a man's tie, and a hat set at an almost rakish angle. He was at once immensely likeable and awe-inspiring: sensing my diffidence he said kindly "Sounds awfully good to me Oscar."

"The initial rehearsal and talk-through went very well--although Fred voiced some doubts about his competence as a vocalist--he was very clear about the feel and treatment he wanted on most of the songs but on others he was less sure and would wonder aloud, 'I've never understood why he wrote that kind of lyric for this particular tune'. Norman was invaluable in these latter instances: he'd outline the kind of background Fred would receive while offering productive suggestions as to how he might treat the lyric with the overall group-meld in mind. .........

"It would be idle to pretend that the sessions passed without a hitch. For all his rhythmic feel, Fred was not naturally attuned to jazz phrasing, and it was at times perilously easy to throw him, via the wrong intro or a misplaced fill.

"We learned to gauge our ad lib lines around and behind him very carefully, giving him enough time to hear his place of re-entry coming up. We also stuck firmly to the normal harmonic clusters, as any kind of 'modern' dissonance could faze him, or make him worried about his own intonation.

"I found it fascinating to discover how different were Fred's senses of time as a vocalist and as a dancer: Dancing, his time was so strict that he could make an accompaniment sound early or late; his vocal time however, was VERY loose, uninhibited, and unmeasured.

"I found the best way to accompany him was to give him a long harmonic chord cushion and let him take his natural liberties with metronomic time. It was also riveting to watch him on some of the slow ballads. His normal posture was to hold one hand cupped over his ear as he sang, but on some tunes he would he would lower his hand and instinctively fall into a semi-swirl, so familiar from his gliding ballroom performances. And we were all touched by his boyish anxiety: he'd rush to the piano after almost every take, asking 'How was that?' He invariably left the final judgement to Norman and he was equally humble in asking for practice or allowing us to rewrite the arrangements. .......

"One or two surprises remained. We found out that he LOVED playing drums (he had a full set in his living room) and we cajoled him into sitting-in during a rehearsal! It was a riot! To hear his time, in conjunction with Ray Brown's vast sound was quite an event--and the look of rapt attention on his face was a joy to behold!"

At the end of the final session Fred presented each member of the group with a beautiful gold identification braclet which he'd autographed. ......I have worn mine ever since. "I have worn mine ever since; years later, when I met Fred Astaire at a party Frank Sinatra was giving for me, he told me he'd seen me on television a few nights before and had been 'thrilled' to see I was wearing his bracelet!.....and every time I turn my wrist and see the words, 'With thanks, Fred A', I feel it is I who should be saying thank you."

D7240 (talk) 21:03, 1 September 2008 (UTC)