In a Sentimental Mood

Happy music can cheer you up and sad music can bring you down.  But some of my favorite recordings suggest a mood that isn’t sad or depressed but wistful, bittersweet–sentimental.  A lot of them, but not all, are jazz.  I’m also a sucker for the glockenspiel or the accordion (or especially both) to complement a mood just this side of melancholy.

A list.

1. “In a Sentimental Mood” recorded by the song’s composer Duke Ellington at the piano and John Coltrane on sax.  Perfect title to match the song, and the most perfectly sentimental recording of it.
2. “Pannonica” by Thelonious Monk  In the version on Brilliant Corners, Monk plays the celeste.  Bingo: jazz and bells!  It’s an absolutely beautiful arrangement of a little-recorded song.
3. “The Story of a Soldier,” written by Ennio Morricone for the soundtrack to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  It’s got the eccentric instrumentation, including whistling, that many of Morricone’s spaghetti western soundtrack tunes have.  But it’s very delicate and wistful.  It even “quotes” part of the tune of “Lullaby and Good Night.”
4. The closing theme of The Rifleman  I don’t know who composed the theme and/or other music used in this classic TV western, but the music was always outstanding.  Luke McCain was a tough guy, but he had a tender side, brought out by his not-so-tough son Mark.  This eight-bar passage that would be brought in just as Mark, with a tear in his eye, got a tough-guy hug from his pa at the end of the show, is sublime.  I’m getting a tear just thinking about it now.
5. “Goodbye,” written by Gordon Jenkins  The version recorded by Cannonball Adderley and his band in the early sixties is wonderfully bittersweet, from beginning to end.  Cannonball’s horn never sounded so plaintive.
6. “This is All I Ask,” written by Gordon Jenkins  Two, yes, two compositions by composer/musical director Gordon Jenkins.  Most of his other stuff isn’t so memorable, but this song and the previous one are gems.  My favorite rendition is Jimmy Durante’s, full of pathos.  It’s a song about aging gracefully, and Durante’s an ideal singer to put that across.  Almost as wonderful is Mabel Mercer’s version, also full of nostalgia.
7. “Tom Traubert’s Blues” by Tom Waits  In an earlier post, I declared that Tom could leave the singing of his songs to others.  There are indeed some singers I’d love to hear deliver this bittersweet ballad, but Tom wrings it for every drop of emotion it’s got.  (A lot.)
8. “Poses” by Rufus Wainwright  I’m not sure what this song is about; I just love to hear it, and when it soars into each chorus I sing along with a lump in my throat.
9. Fahrenheit 451 soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann  The slower passages of this moody strings-only piece are achingly beautiful, and are nicely offset by the unsettled rhythmic passages.  The best soundtrack by one of my top two movie composers.  (The other is Nino Rota, of course.)
10. “On the Road to Fairfax County” by The Roches  The Roches generally do funny better than they do bittersweet, but this classic-style ballad has always grabbed me and sent me to another place.  Wistful, yeah.  The sisters’ vocals are gorgeous.

An honorable mention should go to the Bulgarian Girls–the choirs that sing some of the splendid slow numbers on the Voix Mystere du Bulgares albums.   But they veer over into the truly sad if they catch me at the wrong time.

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