MUSIC CLIP - OSCAR PETERSON, "MOONGLOW"

Welcome to Afterglow, I’m your host, Mark Chilla.

The songwriter Vernon Duke has one of the most interesting stories in American Popular Music. He started his life and career as a very serious—and successful—Russian classical music composer, before emigrating to America and taking this advice from George Gershwin: “Don’t be scared about going low-brow.” If anything, Duke elevated the craft of songwriting in America, and we have him to thank for such gems as “April In Paris,” “Autumn In New York,” and “I Can’t Get Started.” Coming up this hour, I’ll explore both the familiar and unfamiliar in the varied songbook of Vernon Duke.

It’s Vernon Duke: Taking A Chance On Love, coming up next on Afterglow

FRANK SINATRA, "I CAN'T GET STARTED"

Frank Sinatra on the 1959 album No One Cares, with Vernon Duke and Ira Gershwin’s “I Can’t Get Started.” I don’t know if you caught this, but Sinatra updated the original list of achievements in the 1936 lyrics to fit the year 1959. So now, his timely accomplishment is “designing the latest IBM brain” instead of the 1936 accomplishment of “settling revolutions in Spain.”

MUSIC CLIP - BILLIE HOLIDAY, "I CAN'T GET STARTED (TAKE 1)"

MUSIC CLIP - ALAN MANDEL, PIANO, "SONATA: "SOUVENIR DE VENICE" (IN ONE MOVEMENT)"

Mark Chilla here on Afterglow. What you’re hearing in the background right now is the piano sonata “Souvenir De Venise,” written by the Russian classical composer Vladimir Dukelsky, and he is our spotlight this week. Or at least, his alter ego “Vernon Duke” is.

You see, Vernon Duke lived dual lives. He was born Vladimir Dukelsky in Russia in 1903, where classical music became his passion. He studied at the Kiev Conservatory with Reinhold Gliere, an important Russian composer, and he began to write big romantic ballets, symphonies, and piano works.

MUSIC CLIP - ANDRÉ PREVIN, "I CAN'T GET STARTED"

But then when he was a teenager, Dukelsky’s family escaped the Russian Civil War and moved to Constantinople. There, he learned about Irving Berlin and George Gershwin, sparking a love for American Popular music.

In the 1920s, these two passions lived side-by-side. On the one hand, Dukelsky composed Parisian ballets alongside composer Igor Stravinsky, as well as piano sonatas for pianist Arthur Rubinstein, and Symphonies for conductor Serge Koussevitzky. On the other hand, he spent time in New York, befriending George Gershwin, writing songs and adopting the American pen name of Vernon Duke.

MUSIC CLIP - ANDRÉ PREVIN, "APRIL IN PARIS"

By 1930, he mostly put his classical life behind him to focus solely on writing for the American stage. His early songs were mostly flops, forgotten tunes like “”For Goodness Sake” or “I Am Only Human After All.”

But his first big hit came in 1932 in the Broadway musical Walk A Little Faster. During a springtime rehearsal, one of the actors mentioned Paris, which got Duke reminiscing about his time there. That memory spun out into a song which he called “April In Paris.” Lyricist Yip Harburg (who had never been to Paris) completed the lyrics, and it became part of the show. The show didn’t last long, but soon after, “April In Paris” was being performed in night clubs all around New York, cementing Vernon Duke’s legacy.

Let’s hear a version of that tune now, performed by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. This is “April In Paris,” on Afterglow. 

MUSIC - ELLA FITZGERALD AND LOUIS ARMSTRONG, "APRIL IN PARIS"

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong with Vernon Duke and Yip Harburg’s “April in Paris,” a song written in 1932.

It took Vernon Duke a few more years to find another hit after “April In Paris,” but he stuck with it as a songwriter, creating individual songs and trying to get them in shows. One of those songs called “This Is Romance,” went through a few iterations before finally being recorded in 1933, by a couple different artists, including Al Bowlly, with Ray Noble and his Orchestra. 

After 1933, the song lingered in obscurity before being revived briefly by singer June Christy in 1946. I’ll play that recording now.

This is June Christy in 1946 with the Vernon Duke and Edward Heyman song “This Is Romance,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - JUNE CHRISTY, "THIS IS ROMANCE"

“This Is Romance,” by Vernon Duke and lyricist Edward Heyman, written in 1933. That was June Christy singing, with Bob Cooper on tenor sax, Kai Winding on trombone and Dave Barbour on guitar.

Vernon Duke rarely worked with Edward Heyman again, but he and lyricist Yip Harburg did collaborate several more times, trying to get lighting to strike twice. The two teamed up on several songs for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934, the first show produced after its founder Ziegfeld had passed away. Several notable performers starred in this review, including Jane Froman, Buddy Ebsen, and Fanny Brice. And a few of Harburg and Duke’s songs became standards.

I’ll play two now. First, here again is Ella Fitzgerald, this time with pianist Ellis Larkins in 1954, with the tune “What Is There To Say?” on Afterglow

MUSIC - ELLA FITZGERALD, "WHAT IS THERE TO SAY?"

MUSIC - JERI SOUTHERN, "I LIKE THE LIKES OF YOU"

Two songs by Vernon Duke and Yip Harburg from the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934. We just heard singer Jeri Southern off of her 1958 album Southern Breeze performing “I Like The Likes Of You.” Before that, Ella Fitzgerald from her 1954 album Songs In A Mellow Mood with “What Is There to Say.”

Later that year (1934), Vernon Duke wrote a kind of follow-up to his song “April In Paris” for the Broadway musical Thumbs Up. It was called “Autumn In New York,” another season and place song, but this time Duke wrote his own lyrics. The lyrics are quite elegant, especially given that English was Duke’s second language and that he had only permanently settled down in the Big Apple five years earlier.

This song has been performed by a number of jazz singers over the years, including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra, who turned it into a hit in 1949.

I’ll play a version from Mel Torme from his 1963 album Songs Of New York. This is Vernon Duke’s “Autumn In New York,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - MEL TORMÉ, "AUTUMN IN NEW YORK"

Vernon Duke’s “Autumn in New York,” written in 1934 and sung there by Mel Torme in 1963.

Coming up after a short break, we’ll hear more from the songwriter Vernon Duke, stay with us.

I’m Mark Chilla, and you’re listening to Afterglow

MUSIC CLIP - DEXTER GORDON, "AUTUMN IN NEW YORK"

MUSIC CLIP - COUNT BASIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA, "APRIL IN PARIS"

MUSIC CLIP - CHET BAKER, "I CAN'T GET STARTED"

Welcome back to Afterglow, I’m Mark Chilla. We’ve been exploring the songbook of Vernon Duke this hour, an American songwriter who moonlighted as a Russian classical composer (or the other way around, depending on your perspective). 

In 1936, Duke was featured again as a composer in the famed Ziegfeld Follies, following up on his success with them from two years earlier. For the 1936 Follies, he contributed a couple of songs, like “Island In The West Indies,” “Words and Music,” and a song that’s now become one of his most famous, “I Can’t Get Started.”

MUSIC CLIP - THE LESTER YOUNG/TEDDY WILSON QUARTET, "TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE"

He kept writing throughout the late 1930s, contributing songs to the Broadway review The Show Is On and The Goldwyn Follies of 1938. In that latter show, he was actually completing the songs of his friend George Gershwin, who had suddenly passed away in 1937.

But Duke’s biggest success came in 1940, on a show he worked on with lyricist John LaTouche called Cabin In The Sky. The show was based on the same play that later inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel,  but this show was set in the south, featuring an all-black cast and choreography by George Balanchine.

The showstopping number from Cabin In The Sky was a tune Duke had worked on with lyricist Ted Fetter, before having it punched up by John LaTouche. It was called “Taking A Chance on Love,” and the star Ethel Waters gave the song about a dozen encores on opening night.

Here’s a swinging version of that well-known tune now, performed by Frank Sinatra. This is Vernon Duke’s “Taking A Chance on Love,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA, "TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE"

MUSIC - ELLA FITZGERALD, "CABIN IN THE SKY"

Ella Fitzgerald in 1940 with “Cabin In The Sky,” the title song from the Vernon Duke/John LaTouche musical Cabin In The Sky. Before that, we heard Frank Sinatra in 1955 with the showstopper from that musical, “Taking A Chance On Love.”

Cabin In The Sky produced more hits beyond these two, although neither have had as much success as “Taking A Chance On Love.” Nonetheless, I’ll play a few of those songs for you now. First, here’s singer Barbara Lea in 1956 with the Vernon Duke and John LaTouche song “Honey In The Honeycomb,” on Afterglow

MUSIC - BARBARA LEA, "HONEY IN THE HONEYCOMB"

MUSIC - DIAHANN CARROLL, "DO WHAT YOU WANNA DO"

Two lesser known songs from the Vernon Duke/John LaTouche musical Cabin In The Sky. We just heard Diahann Carroll in 1961 with “Do What You Wanna Do” and Barbara Lea in 1956 with “Honey In The Honeycomb.” 

Vernon Duke never quite matched the success of Cabin In The Sky, but he continued to write for Broadway musicals through the 1940s and 50s, even into the 1960s. His follow-up musical was called Banjo Eyes starring singer and comedian Eddie Cantor (who often went by the nickname “Banjo Eyes.”) Cantor introduced one of his signature tunes “We’re Having A Baby” in this musical, with lyrics by Harold Adamson. But I’m going to feature a different song from the musical instead.

This song comes again from lyricist John LaTouche alongside Vernon Duke, and it’s called “Not A Care In The World.” It was recorded in 1941, the same year the musical opened, by Benny Goodman’s orchestra featuring his brand new singer at the time, a 21-year old woman by the name of Peggy Lee.

Here’s Benny Goodman and Peggy Lee with Vernon Duke’s “Not A Care in The World,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - BENNY GOODMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA, WITH PEGGY LEE, "NOT A CARE IN THE WORLD"

MUSIC - VAUGHN MONROE, "THE LOVE I LONG FOR"

Singer Vaughn Monroe in 1944 with “The Love I Long For,” a Vernon Duke and Howard Dietz tune from the 1944 musical Sadie Thompson. 

Before that, we heard Vernon Duke and John LaTouche’s song “Not A Care In The World,” performed by Benny Goodman’s Orchestra with singer Peggy Lee in 1941, just a few months after she joined the band.

During World War II, Vernon Duke enlisted in the Coast Guard to fight for the Americans—having been born in Russia, Duke had a strong connection to the Allied Powers. He composed music for the war effort, including music for a Coast Guard revue show, and songs for Glenn Miller’s Army-Air Force Band

MUSIC CLIP - GLENN MILLER AND THE ARMY AIR FORCE BAND, "THERE ARE YANKS (FROM THE BANKS OF THE WABASH)"

After the war, Duke’s life slowed down significantly. He continued to compose classical music under his given name of “Vladimir Dukelsky.” He had a ballet performed in San Francisco and his Third Symphony premiered in Boston. That’s in addition to his concertos that he had performed by big name classical musicians in the 1930s and 40s.

He got married and settled down in the 1950s, and later passed away in 1969. But Vernon Duke also wrote a few more musicals in these decades, with a small amount of success. One of his last musicals came in 1952, the musical Two’s Company, which he wrote with lyricist Ogden Nash.

I’ll close off this tribute to Vernon Duke with a song from that show now. This is Chris Connor and Ralph Burns’s orchestra in 1956 with the Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash song “Round About,” on Afterglow

MUSIC - CHRIS CONNOR, "ROUND ABOUT"

Chris Connor in 1956, with the Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash song “Round About,” written for their 1952 musical Two’s company.

Thanks for tuning in to this Vernon Duke edition of Afterglow.

MUSIC CLIP - ANDRÉ PREVIN, "THE LOVE I LONG FOR"

Afterglow is part of the educational mission of Indiana University, and produced by WFIU Public Radio in beautiful Bloomington, Indiana. The executive producer is John Bailey.

Playlists for this and other Afterglow programs are available on our website. That’s at indianapublicmedia.org/afterglow.

I’m Mark Chilla, and join me next week for our mix of Vocal Jazz and popular song from the Great American Songbook, here on Afterglow