September 2017

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
by Cynthia MacGregor
The Great American
Songbook Lives On
To many people, The Great
American Songbook encompasses
much of the popular music from
the 1920s through 1950s, not
including rock ’n‘ roll.
But Wayne Hosford, a local
entertainer and exponent of the
Songbook, takes a broader view
and includes some more recent songs
by newer songwriters, written after those
four decades. “We may never have as
great an output as we had in that era, but
I am always disappointed when someone
construes it as limited to those four
decades,” he said.
Many of the songs that constitute the
by Palmer Peters
Songbook come from Broadway and
Hollywood. “In the ’20 and ’30s, more
musicals were being written. Also in the
’20s there was no radio. Songwriters
wrote for Tin Pan Alley, for sheet music
publishers, or for the Broadway stage. In
1929, Harry Warren, Johnny Mercer, and
others went to Hollywood to write for the
musicals that were being produced for
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the new ‘soundies,’ as well as writing for
Broadway. When radio came along and
started to play hits, musicals became a
great source of songs,” Hosford said.
Asked to name some of the great
songwriters of this genre, Hosford named
Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin,
Cole Porter, Harry Warren, Rodgers and
Hart, Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael,
Irving Berlin, Jimmy van Heusen, Sammy
Cahn, Dietz and Schwartz, and Harold
Arlen, whom he referred to as among
the “founding fathers.” To these greats,
he added the more recent Cy Coleman,
Dorothy Fields, Lerner & Loewe, and
Stephen Sondheim.
When asked why the music of the
Songbook is so enduring, Hosford said
it’s because of the actual craft inherent in
the writing.
“There was much more emphasis
on craft then. In the best of the
Songbook, the music stands
alone with or without the lyrics,
and the lyrics stand alone just as
wonderfully.”
“The music of the Songbook was crafted
so well, it can be recorded in any style
– jazz or even country – and it will work.
[Much of the Songbook] is old and has
been recorded by many people, but
someone new can still bring something
new to it,” he said.
Although the majority of the audiences at
Hosford’s shows are age 50 and older,
he does get millenials, too. Asked to
account for the Songbook’s popularity
SEPTEMBER 2017
among younger people, he said, “The
songs are crafted so well that people like
Amy Winehouse, Harry Connick, Michael
Bublé, and Lady Gaga have all performed
them.”
On the local scene, South Floridians who
perform the Songbook include Rich and
Jill Switzer, who used to play in Palm
Beach until they became radio hosts.
They still play occasional gigs at the
Pelican Café in North Palm Beach, as
well as at special events, as does Avery
Sommers, Carol Woods, Sandy Stewart,
Bill Mays (a jazz pianist), and occasional
concerts by Vic Damone. On the radio,
WLML “Legends radio” (100.3 FM) is
devoted to the Songbook. The Palm
(95.9 FM) plays some of the Songbook,
mostly the later songs.
Wayne Hosford himself plays and sings
the Songbook in a private club, Club
Colette in Palm Beach, during season
(November through May), where he
is the house musician. He has played
five engagements at the prestigious
Royal Room at the Colony Hotel, and in
2014 played Carnegie Hall and Lincoln
Center in New York. He has also played
Royal Albert Hall in London. His shows
are usually a mix of piano, vocals, and
comedy. He recently did a Johnny Mercer
show at the Delray Beach Public Library
and does other shows around the area,
though none is scheduled at press time.
To find out where you can catch Wayne,
follow him on Facebook (Wayne Hosford)
or check out www.waynehosford.com. P