[Dixielandjazz] Woody Allen - Redux

[Steve Barbone]

You just never know the full measure of a man until you dig a little deeper.
Here is a note I received off list about Woody Allen. It has been excerpted
to protect the identity of the writer.

Woody Allen not only loves the music but sure as hell, does a lot more for
OKOM than most folks.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

--start excerpt

". . . terrific compilation. Although I'm sure that you know, but I haven't
seen it surface anywhere, that most, if not all of the tune selection for
Woody is done by Dick Hyman. He also arranges many of the charts used in the
movies, selects the musicians, conducts the music, plays on many tunes,
etc., etc., etc. Guys like Vince (Giordano) can attest to the whole rundown.
Pretty amazing for someone to be so prolific!!! I've always marvelled at the
amount of output from this man. I'm told he doesn't require much sleep, but
even so..... 

A few years ago, I asked him about some . . . tunes . . . a few days later,
there arrived in the mail 4 or 5 scores he had done for tunes he recorded on
a then recent album. . . . Talk about Swing Dance music!!!

He does retain a private secretary, usually a musician in the making. I know
that a pianist from NJ was his secretary in NYC for many years before he
moved to Venice, FL. He (Woody) bought two adjacent homes there - one for
his residence and the other for his office.

Enough already. Thanks for the list of tunes."

--end excerpt