Sarah Connolly sings Jazz (1991): 2/3 - "I'll be Around" by Alec Wilder

I'LL BE AROUND - by Alec Wilder
Sung, played and arranged by Sarah Connolly (recorded 1991)
For two other sings recorded at the same time, see playlist at: http://tinyurl.com/Sarah-Connolly-Jazz-1991
The superb British mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly studied piano and singing at London's Royal College of Music; she always had a love of jazz as well as of classical music, and she writes on her website that in her final college recital she included her own arrangement of a Gershwin song (an historical first!)

After she graduated from the RCM, Sarah joined the BBC Singers and sang with the Monteverdi Choir and The Sixteen; she was then encouraged to pursue a solo career as a classical singer. Her first solo auditions were disheartening, and as she had also sung and played as part of a jazz trio, she toyed with the idea of becoming a jazz singer/pianist. In 1991 she went into a recording studio on Windmill Street in London, and recorded a number of jazz standards, singing and playing what were mostly her own arrangements.

However, Sarah writes that the "desire to sing Ravel's "Shéhérazade" was stronger" than her desire to sing jazz, and instead she joined the Glyndebourne chorus.

The rest is history -- with her beautiful voice and superb acting skills, her persistence in pursuing a solo classical career began to pay off, and now Sarah Connolly is recognized as one of the world's leading mezzo-sopranos, equally sought after as an opera and a lieder singer.

Nevertheless, Sarah still retains her love of jazz, as she demonstrated in her 2009 "Last Night of the Proms" performance (with trumpeter Alison Balsom) of George Gershwin's "They can't tale that away from me", as well as in a concert which she gave with jazz pianist John Horler at the 2010 Edinburgh International Festival, singing British and American songs from the 1930s and 40s.

Some other songs from her 1991 recording session can be heard on my playlist: "Sarah Connolly sings Jazz (1991). Enjoy!

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