The Nearness Of You by Daniel Michael (P.52.S)

published on 2013-04-23T19:30:51Z

Week #15: The Nearness of You was written by Hoagy Carmichael (music) with Ned Washington (lyric). Hoagy Carmichael was a multi-talented jazz pianist, singer, actor (quite successful in his time), and, of course, composer. He is among the few jazz musicians who were able to write many timeless standards (most of the standard writers were not from the world of jazz, per se, even though their songs found the most success when interpreted by jazz musicians). Among Carmichael's most loved works are Heart and Soul, Stardust, I Get Along Without You Very Well, and Georgia On My Mind. Ned Washington's best known works include When You Wish Upon A Star, Rawhide (yes, the Rawhide theme song!), and Stella By Starlight. The Nearness of You has been recorded by an amazing number of performers. It first became a hit with Glenn Miller's 1940 recording, featuring a vocal by Ray Eberle (listen <a href="http://youtu.be/f8rd0xjiTW8">here</a>). From what I can tell, there has been a fairly consistent stream of recordings since then. One of my personal favorites comes from the Brad Mehldau Trio album Anything Goes (listen <a href="http://youtu.be/WCER1Qfd9z8">here</a>). In addition, a diverse group of more contemporary vocalists and groups have also recorded it with varying degrees of success - James Taylor, Norah Jones, The Rolling Stones, Rod Steward, and James Brown. My version is probably closest to Glenn Miller's. I thought the melody worked well with Miller's sort of tight harmonization.