The songs I selected for my 6-10 a.m. shift on this day 21 years ago:
1. As Time Goes By-Natalie Cole
2. Moon River-Vince Guaraldi Trio
(For some listeners, the tune might be incomplete without its lyrics. Guaraldi more than makes up for this with his thoughtful piano playing, I think.)
3. Lush Life-Nat King Cole
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4. It's Only A Paper Moon-Ella Fitzgerald
5. The Way We Were-Les Brown
6. I Concentrate On You-Johnny Mathis
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7. I Only Have Eyes For You-Ray Anthony
8. They Can't Take That Away From Me-Frank Sinatra
9. These Foolish Things-Chet Baker
10. Ebb Tide-Frank Chacksfield
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11. Stormy Weather-Lena Horne
12. Dream A Little Dream Of Me-Mama Cass
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13. Star Dust-Artie Shaw and his orchestra
14. What's New-Linda Ronstadt
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15. So Near And Yet So Far-Mary Cleere Haran
16. Do You Want To Dance?-Bette Midler
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17. Up On The Roof-The Drifters
18. Groovy People-Lou Rawls
(I always looked forward to playing this when I wanted an uptempo segue. Rawls sings an upbeat tribute to "groovy, down home people.")
19. Easy Money-Count Basie
20. I've Got The World On A String-Tony Bennett
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21. Satin Doll-Duke Ellington
22. I Got The Sun In The Morning-Les Brown and his orchestra with Doris Day
23. All That Jazz-Sammy Davis, Jr.
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24. I Get A Kick Out Of You-Dionne Warwick
(Not just any vocalist can sing a Great American Songbook tune and an of-the-moment pop hit such as "Take The Short Way Home" with equal ease. Warwick, however, has been equally adept in both arenas for decades.)
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25. Come Rain Or Come Shine-Michele Shaheen
26. Summertime-Sam Cooke
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27. If I Could Give You More-Harry Connick, Jr.
28. This Could Be The Start Of Something-Jack Jones
29. Lady Be Good-Melissa Manchester
30. Stop Leading Me On-Joey DeFrancesco
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31. Jessica's Day-Antonio Hart
32. All Of Me-Louis Armstrong
33. The Song Is You-Keely Smith
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34. I've Got You Under My Skin-Renee Rosnes trio with string orchestra
35. After You've Gone-Kay Starr
36. September Song-Django Reinhardt
(To many listeners, this is thought of as a vocal number first; this rendition for guitar and clarinet shows that it works just as well as an instrumental.)
37. Sleepy Time Gal-Dean Martin
38. Last Date-Floyd Cramer
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39. From The Bottom Of My Heart-Harry James & his orchestra with Frank Sinatra
40. Coquette-John Pizzarelli
(Of all the CDs I brought in from home, Pizzarelli's "After Hours" elicited the most frequent positive feedback from listeners. The album is loaded with well-known melodies and smooth vocals ideal for the station's format.)
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41. That's Amore-Dean Martin (*)
42. My Funny Valentine-Dinah Shore
43. Bewitched-Charlie Watts Quintet with Bernard Fowler
(This is the best version of the tune I've heard. Fowler really sells the concept of being enamored with someone on this track. I wouldn't question anyone who sings about being smitten with this much feeling and conviction.)
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44. Trickle Trickle-The Manhattan Transfer
(When you start off a set with such energetic vocals, you can't segue them with a ballad. A leadoff track with such pep necessitates building an uptempo music set around it.)
45. Begin The Beguine-Doc Severinsen & The Tonight Show Band
46. John Brown's Body-Si Zentner & his orchestra
47. I Got Rhythm-The Metronome All-Stars
48. Bounce Me Brother With A Solid Four-The Andrews Sisters
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49. Canadian Sunset-Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra
50. Blue Tango-Leroy Anderson
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51. Lazy River-Bobby Darin
52. Moondance-Michael Feinstein
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53. Rosetta-Nat King Cole
54. (CLOSING THEME) Closing Time-Tom Waits
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(*) indicates a listener's request.
--- indicates a short break for a slogan and time check or a longer break for back announcing the music.
