Diane Taraz
Let's Misbehave!

© 2017 Diane Taraz, Raisin Pie Music (BMI)

Let's Misbehave!   Cole Porter, 1927 (WB Music Corp.)
This delightfully suggestive work was written for Porter's first major Broadway production, Paris, but was replaced with another of Cole's suggestive works, "Let's Do It!". Billy Novick and Mike Duke trade suggestive solos.

Georgia On My Mind   Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, 1930 (Peermusic Lii Ltd.)
Partly about the state, and partly about Hoagy's sister. Larry plays the daylights out of Wellspring Sound's splendid grand piano.

Hello! Ma Baby / I Want to Be Happy   Joseph Howard and Ida Emerson, 1899; Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar, 1925 (Wb Music Corp. and Warner Bros. Music)
Joe and Ida heard a black train porter talking to his sweetie on a new-fangled invention and promptly turned the moment into the first song ever to mention the telephone. It leads beautifully into an irresistibly happy tune that wove its way through the many plot twists of the Broadway hit No, No Nanette! in the Roaring Twenties.

Something to Love   Diane Taraz, 2017
At my advancing age I feel entitled to start dispensing advice. Listen up!

Million-Dollar Baby   Harry Warren, Billy Rose, and Mort Dixon, 1931 (Warner Bros. Inc. and Olde Clover Leaf Music)
This tribute to serendipity was first warbled by Fanny Brice in the Broadway show Billy Rose's Crazy Quilt. The loquacious lyrics are by Gus Arnheim and his Cocoanut Grove Orchestra.

God Bless the Child   Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog, Jr., 1939 (Edward B. Marks Music Co.)
Truer words were never sung. Billy Novick's sax is pure sticky molasses!

The Coffee Song   Bob Hilliard and Dick Miles, 1946 (Bourne Co. and Cromwell Music)
Positively stuffed with rhythm and rhymes, and sparked by Eric Kilburn's caffeinated mandolin. For most of my life I drank only tea, but for the past decade I have been a slave to the juice of the bean. There's nearly always a jar of cold-brew on my kitchen counter.

Why, Oh Why, Are There Mosquitoes?   Diane Taraz, 2015
One of the unsolvable mysteries of life. I had a ridiculous amount of fun soloing as a mosquito.

Wonderful World / Cupid / Johnnie B. Goode   Sam Cooke, 1961 / Sam Cooke, 1961 / Chuck Berry, 1958 (Abkco Music Inc. / Isalee Music Co.)
Three wonderful classics, featuring my Appalachian lap dulcimer, always the first choice for rock & roll!

Quel-qu'un Pour Me Protéger   George and Ira Gershwin, 1926 (Wb Music Corp. and Wb Music Corp. O/B/O Ira Gershwin Music)
"Someone to Watch Over Me" is twice as nice en Français.

Angel From Montgomery   John Prine, 1971 (Wb Music Corp. O/B/O Walden Music, Inc.)
I've been singing Mr. Prine's masterpiece for decades with guitar, but it sounds great with piano and sax. Dedicated to all those who wish they could just fly away.

Ain't Misbehavin'   Thomas "Fats" Waller, Harry Brooks, and Andy Razaf, 1929 (Anne-Rachel Music, EMI Music Inc. and BMG Rights Management)
Fats assures us he's staying out of trouble, but, as he loved to say, "One never knows, do one!" Many thanks to the superb musicians who misbehaved with me!