500 17th St., NW
Armand Hammer Auditorium capacity: 197
Recordings by Andrew White (1971), Sandra King (1982), Carol Sloane (1982), Pinky Winters (1983).
Great American Songwriters Series
Between 1981 and 1983, producer Joel E. Siegel presented five seasons of a Great American Songwriters series. The first series featured Jackie and Roy singing Stephen Sondheim and Alec Wilder; Dardanelle singing Rodgers and Hart and Hammerstein; Ronny Whyte singing George Gershwin; Susannah McCorkle singing Irving Berlin; and Buddy Barnes singing Cole Porter and Richard Rodney Bennett singing Harold Arlen. The second series featured Mark Murphy singing Dorothy Fields; Charles DeForest singing Harry Warren; Shirley Horn singing Duke Ellington; Dave Frishberg singing Hoagy Carmichael and his own songs; and Jackie and Roy singing songs they introduced by Johnny Mercer, Andre and Dory Previn, Stephen Sondheim, and others. The third series featured Rose Murphy, Jackie and Roy, Sheila Jordan, Blossom Dearie, and Sandra King singing Vernon Duke. The fourth series featured Chris Connor remembering Stan Kenton; Carol Sloane singing Rodgers and Hart; Richard Rodney Bennett singing John Latouche and Carol Fredette singing Cy Coleman; Bob Dorough, and Shirley Horn singing Curtis Lewis. The fifth and final series featured Jackie and Roy; Pinky Winters singing Johnny Mandel; Bobby Scott singing Nat King Cole, and Sheila Jordan presenting a history of jazz song.
Between 1986 and 1988, the University of Maryland, College Park hosted six additional concerts in this series.
In 2001, two related concerts were presented at the Corcoran. The first featured Patti Wicks, Audrey Morris, Richard Rodney Bennett, and Pinky Winters. The second featured Daryl Sherman, Lew Spence, Barbara Lea, Donna Byrne, and Carol Sloane.
Charles DeForest, my uncle, gave a concert for “The Great American Songwriters” Series” at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on 10-4-81 in honor of Harry Warren. This was recorded by a DC radio station, and I have an excellent digital reproduction of this recording. I recently built and launched a website at charlesdeforest.net entitled “Charles DeForest’s Music”. I would love to post excerpts from this concert. Aside from obtaining music publishing rights for the individual songs I might wish to post, do you know whom I would contact to request permission to use the radio broadcast itself? Thanks for your consideration, and best wishes.
Hello Vaughn,
I think this would be the local National Public Radio affiliate, WETA-FM. https://weta.org/contact