Recordings of the Bob January's SONGS

SONGS
written or co-written by
Bob January

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Each of the rectangles below is a link to a sound recording Also, the picture of Bob at the top of the page is a link to our 54-second version of his two-hour-long video demo.
We're working on these pages.
Come back in a day or so, and it will be better. --- tech

.IN THE RAINBOW ROOM - We played this tune three times each night while we were in the Rainbow Room. If you listen carefully, you might hear traces of 'Love is Here to Stay'.

This recording is at a good tempo to listen to, but a terrible tempo for ballroom-style dancing. (This is the fastest we ever played it, and only that one day in the recording studio.
If we play it as a slow two-beat tune, all the dancers are happy.
Barbara Lea is the vocalist.

.SATIN SWING. - Our sound is smooth Satin Swing. This song is about our sound.

.SPEED-LISTENER'S GUIDE TO THE SWING ERA -If you know the theme songs of the Big Band Era, and are somewhat put off by condensations of the classics, having no beginning, middle, or end, and if you don't see the necessity to speed-read books, you might understand why I wrote and recorded this piece.
On the other hand, if you think speed-reading, speed-driving, and speed-talking is fine, you probably shouldn't take the time necessary to download this piece.
We recorded it in one straight-through take, after we had spent about an hour of rehearsing it.
It might have been easier to create this using old sound bytes. On the other hand, this was more fun to do.
I wrote this to be recorded before it was played in public. When I first brought it into the studio, it sounded horrible, and still does, until the band understands what this is all about. Even so, we've tried. but it never has 'worked' in a 'live' performance. I suppose that's because the tune is over before anyone gets settled in their listening ears - probably the same reason the classical composers often placed an introduction before their symphonies.

.PARDON ME, MISTER LISZT. - This tune is kinda patterned on Tex Beneke's singing Chattanooga Choo-choo with Glenn Miller and the Modernaires. Barbara and I finished writing all the lyrics, but we couldn't come up with the final rhyme. I looked in the rhyming dictionary, and found 'RHAPSODIST'. It fits perfectly!
One might think that the name 'Liszt' was chosen because it rhymes with 'rhapsodist'. But, like Stephen Foster chose 'Swanee' (not Suwannee) as the name for his River because it was a southern river with two sylables, we chose 'Liszt' because it is the only name of a classical composer which has one syllable. which enunciates nicely (Bach and Strauss don't)

Who would have thought in the 80's that I would be the conductor of the New York Strauss Festival??
Certainly not myself! I was in complete denial of my Teutonic heritage.
The picture you will see on this video is of us at Studio 54.
The lyrics were sung by the three ladies who are sitting beside the trombones on the second stage level. They are wearing hats, and dressed as if heading for having a swell night out. Beside them sits Big Al Cohen with his gee-tar and wearing a black fedora.
Of course, with this combination of individuals, and all the foolishness , we couldn't have sounded as good at Studio 54 as we do on this recording. First of all, the vocal group on the recording had five members - three girls and two boys. They are all professional New York jingle singers. One of the boys was overdubbed twice. Also, the orchestration is very difficult for the musicians, and is never played as cleanly on the job as we did (after several run-throughs) in the recording studio.
And this version - edited for the internet - does not include the verse about Eric Satie and John Wilson (New York Times music critic). Also, Lou Waldeck's tuba excerpt from Beethoven;s Fifth Symphony, and Bizet's 'Carman' have been cut. Can you hear where the imperfect cut was made?
The title reference to Franz Liszt is, itself, esoteric to the point that many people misspell his name. Maybe that's why I've been the only person to record this tune.

.THE BETHLEHEM SHUFFLE - This is NOT an recording of the Bob January Orchestra! I wrote this Christmas Carol a long time ago. I took my three daughters (at the time) into a recording studio for which I was the piano tuner, plus a few musicians. I played the tonette; my daughters (and their boyfriends) sang. This is how it sounded.

.THE BETHLEHEM SHUFFLE - While we recorded The Bethlehem Shuffle as done by the Tenth Grade, Jordon Kaplan played guitar on the overdubs. Jordy didn't like may orchestration, and requested permission to record his own version. He sang, and played piano, and then overdubbed the guitar. This is how he heard the same tune. Jordy is still a musician/producer. His web site is___..

.SWING STREET - I love New York. When we were at Roseland, our theme song had the lyrics "We play it sweet, we play it hot. We're on SWING STREET, so why not?"
This song is about SWING STREET. Former title: "AT BARBARA's" - named for the club on West Fourth Street - one block north of the Village Gate -where we started the swing thing on Sunday afternoons.

.WILDFLOWER - This is a very nice song which no one else but me has recorded.

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