Stella by Starlight

Stella by Starlight is a composition of Victor Young , emerged in 1944 as the theme song for the film The eerie guest (The Uninvited).

history

The song is a "harmoniously rich, almost impressionistic piece" and its rhapsodic nature is reminiscent of Sergei Rachmaninoff . The composition in G major has a clear major character. The structural design is unusual with its 32-bar A1-BC-A2 form, with the A2 part having very independent features.

The song was initially a purely instrumental piece. Ned Washington wrote the lyrics in 1946; he took over the original title in the text, which explains its unusual placement; the title only appears after three quarters of the song. The recording of trumpeter Harry James and his orchestra, made in May 1947, reached # 21 on the pop charts of that time. Two months later, "Stella By Starlight" was recorded by Frank Sinatra ; his version also came in at position 21.

Stella by Starlight has become one of the most successful standards in popular music and jazz alike; at jazzstandards.com it is the tenth most popular standard. In jazz, Charlie Parker was the first to play the song in his Verve Sessions in January 1952 , shortly thereafter Stan Getz (December 1952), then there was a piano version by Bud Powell and a big band recording by Stan Kenton's orchestra. Miles Davis later recorded the piece several times; at his Plugged Nickel sessions in Chicago in 1965 he played it in abstract form. Also, John Abercrombie , Dexter Gordon , Bill Evans , Jim Hall , Keith Jarrett , Joe Pass , Art Pepper , Joe Lovano and many others took instrumental versions of Stella on; Vowel versions stem u. a. by Chet Baker , Ella Fitzgerald , Dick Haymes , Ray Charles and Tony Bennett .

literature

Ken Bloom: The American Songbook - The Singers, the Songwriters, and the Songs . New York City, Black Dog & Leventhal, 2005 ISBN 1-57912-448-8 )
Bielefeld Jazz Catalog, 1988 and 2002
Hans-Jürgen Schaal (Ed.): Jazz standards. The encyclopedia. 3rd, revised edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1414-3 .

Web links

jazzstandards.com (English)
Information, harmonies, lyrics of the song
Harmonic analysis of the song (Engl.)

Remarks

↑ It was recorded for the film by Victor Young and his orchestra; At a central moment in the film, the lead actor Rod ( Ray Milland ) tells Stella ( Gail Russell ) that he will play a serenade for her , To Stella by Starlight . The song was later used in other films, such as The Nutty Professor (1963) (where Jerry Lewis sings it to Stella Stevens ) and in the film Sabrina (as part of The Party Sequence ).

[1] It was recorded for the film by Victor Young and his orchestra; At a central moment in the film, the lead actor Rod ( Ray Milland ) tells Stella ( Gail Russell ) that he will play a serenade for her , To Stella by Starlight . The song was later used in other films, such as The Nutty Professor (1963) (where Jerry Lewis sings it to Stella Stevens ) and in the film Sabrina (as part of The Party Sequence ).