Are You Having Any Fun?: A Celebration of Sammy Fain

by Harry Allen

Overview

The dueling titles of this fine recording of classic jazz are a good deal more cumbersome than the lyrics of any song co-written with Sammy Fain. That would have to be the only aspect of this 1980 tribute that doesn't live up to its inspiration, a prolific and memorable tunesmith whose induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame took place a bit less than a decade before this was recorded. Having warmed up their chops on similar projects such as a multi-volume homage to pianist, composer, and Duke Ellington collaborator Billy Strayhorn, second-generation swinger Harry Allen, Jr. and British pianist Keith Ingham hold forth on no less than 17 Fain strains. John Pizzarelli is the superb guitarist, harmonizing with Ingham as if turning the key in a series of small treasure chests. Rounding out the rhythm section, drummer Oliver Jackson proves his affinity for both pianists and saxophonists while bassist Dennis Irwin counts his chord changes like tour revenue. The songs are given compact performances, "Something I Dreamed Last Night" suggesting that only a subject related to sleep would inspire this combo to head toward the five-minute mark on a recorded track. Ingham's career began in Hong Kong, where Tin Pan Alley standards such as the deceptively amorous "Secret Love" and the darkly gentle "Tender Is the Night" were no doubt standard fodder in piano lounges. The saxophonist, son of big-band drummer Harry Allen, Sr., plays the melodies of this program as if familiar with the words, all of them, even the ludicrous "A High Hat, a Piccolo and a Cane" -- perhaps following the advice of one of the great instrumentalists, tenor saxophonist Lester Young. ~ Eugene Chadbourne

Product Details

Release Date:	08/11/1994
Label:	Audiophile Records
UPC:	0762247226123
Rank:	180558

Tracks

1. Are You Having Any Fun?
2. I Can Dream, Can't I?
3. When I Take My Sugar to Tea
4. Tender Is the Night
5. You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me
6. Here's to Your Illusions
7. A High Hat, a Piccolo and a Cane
8. A Very Precious Love
9. That Old Feeling
10. Something I Dreamed Last Night
11. Alice in Wonderland
12. By a Waterfall
13. I Left My Sugar Standing in the Rain
14. Secret Love
15. I Just Can't Do Enough for You, Baby
16. Hummin' to Myself
17. I'll Be Seeing You

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Harry Allen   Primary Artist,Sax (Tenor)
Harry Allen-Keith Ingham Quintet   Primary Artist
Keith Ingham   Piano
John Pizzarelli   Guitar
Dennis Irwin   Bass
Oliver Jackson   Drums

Technical Credits

Keith Ingham   Arranger,Producer
Jack Yellen   Composer
Lew Brown   Composer
Harry Akst   Composer
Peter Norman   Composer
Harry Allen   Producer
Paul Francis Webster   Composer
Mack Gordon   Composer
E.Y. "Yip" Harburg   Composer
Sammy Fain   Composer
Herbert Magidson   Composer
George H. Buck, Jr.   Executive Producer
Ken Franckling   Cover Photo
Siegel Magidson   Composer
Monty Siegel   Composer
Wendell Echols   Production Coordination
Drew Milano   Engineer
Irving Kahal   Composer
Bob Hilliard   Composer