Blue Moons And Other Infrequent Events

Blue Moon over Mobile Bay

Something that happens “Once in a Blue Moon” is an extremely rare occurrence. This makes such an occurrence only slightly more frequent than my new blog posts… Ha!

Actually there are a several prevalent misconceptions about “Blue Moons.” They are not blue and they are not the second full moon in a month as has been misreported since the 1940′s. According to Wikipedia, there are normally three moons per quarter—but, every 2.7 years (approximately) there are four moons in a quarter. The “blue” moon is the third full moon in a quarter that has four full moons.

This post features two (2) arrangements of the Lorenz Hart / Richard Rodgers popular-song: “Blue Moon.” Both of the arrangements are by artists who have been very influential to me. Both pieces were recorded using Synthogy Ivory’s (Yamaha) 7ft. virtual-grand piano using jazz-club reverberation. I hope it sounds as if you have the best seat in the house.

Many years after his departure from this earth, Art Tatum remains a “piano god” to several generations of classical and jazz pianists. His influence on pianists including the also-now-departed, Oscar Peterson, is well known. A famous story recounts that Oscar as a young, teen-aged piano student became so discouraged after first hearing Art Tatum and learning that Art’s recorded performance was one, not two persons—that he (Oscar) quit his piano studies for some time. This arrangement by Mr. Tatum of “Blue Moon” is in Volume One of his “Improvisations” Series that I recently acquired—strangely enough from an online seller of used, rare, and collectible books named “Moon Books Online.” I have had Volume Two of the series for more than twenty (20) years, but only recently acquired Volume One. This is the first piece that I have performed and recorded from the new / old volume.

During the early 1980’s I was privileged to hear George Shearing in concert in Huntsville, AL (US). Before the recital/concert and since I have spent valued time studying and performing a number of his compositions. George Shearing is best known for a blocked-chord style that is barely hinted in this arrangement of “Blue Moon.”

I hesitate to mention Mr. Shearing’s blindness because he did much to challenge perceptions and expectations about persons with physical limitations. And, I know that he disliked being called a “blind pianist.” However, during one well-known and document interchange with a not-too-sensitive interviewer, Mr. Shearing was asked: “Mr. Shearing, have you been blind all your life?” To this he responded: “Not yet…”

I hope that you enjoy my performances of these two arrangements by two pianists / artists I admire greatly.