Cole Porter Archives - Lisa Hilton Music

lisa hilton sitting behind a black and gold piano

New Growth 🌱

March 11, 2021 by Lisa Hilton

Cole Porter, Composing Season, Creativity, Miles Davis

Some musical experiences I find pretty tricky to describe, so I try to convey them through similar experiences that we all can share. Take riding a bike down a hill – that feeling of flying – whoosh! Or roller skating on just the right kind of smooth pavement, or skiing down a lovely hill fresh in the morning with just a little powder and no bumps. These experiences describe a sense of freedom and joy, and a type of beauty too I suppose. You didn’t get to see Ricky, my little 11 lb Italian greyhound run on the beach, but anyone who did witnessed his unbridled physical expression of sheer joy and freedom, bringing smiles to everyone who did see it. When I’d see him all fast, sleek and tireless – I’d think to myself that is how I aspire to play the piano
someday! When I watch the great pianists Yuja Wang or Lang Lang, I think they play like Ricky ran – with a lot of joy and a lot of speed. The effort it takes to play well is more than repaid for in the freedom it bestows on a pianist.

Even tricker perhaps to describe is composing. When I mention that it feels like a vacation to me, most people conjure visions of swimming pools with umbrella drinks, and that is not at all what I mean. The essence of a vacation or travel is new experiences and a sense of surprise: Where will we go today? What will we do? The sense of curiosity that flavors vacation travel is a very similar feeling to what I experience when I compose: Where will I go today musically? What will I create? There is a sense of unfolding, new growth and discovery along with wonderment too. If I were a film composer, the director would tell me what was happening when, and how long it would last, but artists don’t really know where they will end up – the path/map/destination is unknown: we only have a vague direction of where we will go on any given day. But composing is also like laying the railroad tracks or building the car for that journey – it’s an incredible amount of time and work, but I can imagine that if you really liked cars it would be fun to build your own, and I bet that Steve Jobs kept persisting with his
computer creations because it was, at its core, a thrilling and creative adventure for him.

I’ve come to affectionately call springtime my “Composing Season” and it does seem to get started every year right about the time I plant my veggie garden. Every spring, I begin again – for the exploration, curiosity, excitement, challenge, discoveries and new musical growth it always brings, not because I need a new album, or have to create material for a tour, or a TV show. It’s always fun to head off without knowing where you will go, right? The virtual back seat on my composing excursions is filled with all my favorite artists along for the ride – Miles, Monk, Chopin, Jobim, Cole Porter, (the life of the party), Duke and Lady Day of course. Once again, it’s about time for me to wave bon voyage, as I head to my beloved Steinway in my breakfast
nook – time to sit in one place and travel through musical ideas: I wonder what I’ll create today? I wonder where this new path will take me?

Wishing everyone spring-around-the-corner weather, and a joyful start to new creations,

Lisa

A few of my favorite things: My Steinway, bike riding, the pianist Yuja Wang, new lettuce growing, Ricky, and being in the countryside. With the pianist Lang Lang, sunset in the Mojave desert, and composing. Top photo by Ricky Chavez.

Isn’t It Romantic? 💗

February 12, 2021 by Lisa Hilton

Antonio Carlos, Bill Evans, Cole Porter, Holidays

Performing with my band last year in Santa Cruz, California, at the cool Kuumbwa Jazz Club, I mentioned to the audience that I didn’t think we’ve been romantic since the 60’s, and I got a big warm laugh in response. What I really meant was that I don’t think music has been very romantic for decades.

Consider this: the 1963 hit by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Close To You, as well as the John Lennon & Paul McCartney tune I Want To Hold Your Hand… also written in 1963, are maybe the last tunes of the romantic song era that began about 1930. What happened? No more Dancing Cheek to Cheek (Irving Berlin/1935), Misty (Errol Garner/1955), or Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling In Love (1961). Romantic songs began to fade when folk music brought social issues into lyrics like Bob Dylan’s 1962 Blowin’ In The Wind. Dylan, along with artists like Pete Seeger, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, began writing lyrics with a completely different tone – no more Three Coins in a Fountain (Jule Styne & Sammy Cahn/1955). Times changed, and music changed as well. Today’s love songs should, and do sound different.

Now when we listen to jazz standards from the 30’s to the early 60’s they do sound almost overly romantic in a warm nostalgic way – they are of another era and time.

In 2005 I was talking with actor Tony Danza at our local gym and he suggested that I should “play standards.” This was a smart idea, but being a composer, I really prefer to write my own, so instead I decided to compose a tune in the general form of a romantic standard, which I called, So This Is Love. For years we’ve enjoyed playing it as a band, so last February when I got the urge to write another romantic song for Valentine’s Day, I figured it would be pretty simple, right? I loved delving into a bunch of romantic tunes – especially Cole (I’ve Got You Under My Skin) Porter, and Antonio Carlos (Girl From Ipanema) Jobim as well as the intimate playing style of composer/pianist Bill (Waltz for Debby) Evans. Well, I was wrong!

Romantic songs may sound very simple, but they proved to be trickier than I thought. I consider the tunes I hoped would be romantic – No Sleep Until… and Today I Looked At Love off our latest album, to be more in the ballad range, just a bit short of romantic. So what makes the perfect love song? After a couple months I just gave up on romance, and recorded a new version of So This Is Love!

Whatever you play or do this week, wishing you a sense of joy and hopefully romance too!

Take care,

Lisa

Valentine’s Day Favorites: roses, lattes, hydrangeas, beautiful Malibu sunsets, pastries from Dominique Ansel Bakery, the film Top Hat featuring Irving Berlin’s Cheek to Cheek, the sheet music for So This is Love, which you can buy on my website, and my beloved piano.