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Fred Astaire

Elegance is usually an imposition, a set of mannerisms employed by the swells to cover their emptiness and maintain their distance from us plebeians. Fred Astaire's achievement — no, his glory — was that he made elegance infectious. He democratized and Americanized the word most overused to describe himself. And he did the same thing for dancing. Before the advent of sound movies, dance for most Americans meant tap dancers "laying down iron" in vaudeville. Before Astaire, screen dance was a thundering herd of chorines tapping out a Busby Berkeley abstraction. "I didn't think I had too much of a chance," Astaire would later say — with good reason. To be sure, he and his sister Adele had worked their way from Omaha through small-time vaudeville to stage stardom in New York and London. But Adele had retired, and at 34, Fred was not obvious star material: a skinny fellow with a reedy voice and an unassuming air. In fact, his manner and his voice were basic to his success, creating an illusion of ordinariness. This was not unplanned. Nothing in the use of his only instrument — himself — ever was. A cool calculator of effects, a steely perfectionist in execution, he always affected astonishment over adulation. As Mikhail Baryshnikov said, Astaire often seemed to stand wryly outside himself, observing his work as wonderingly as anyone else. Astaire also observed that it was time for a dancer to exploit the movies' capacity for intimacy rather than spectacle. In the nine films he made with Ginger Rogers between 1933 and 1939, most of their great numbers were not performed on a stage. Shot full figure in long takes, the pair tapped across park bandstands in the rain (Isn't This a Lovely Day?) and on roller skates (Let's Call the Whole Thing Off), and used an entire country club in The Yam number, which for compressed intricacy may have been their most heart- stopping routine. But more than skill and wit informed their partnership. Rogers, as Critic Arlene Croce said, offered Astaire a "genial resistance," bringing out "toughness" and "masculine gallantry" and, one must add, his narrative skill. Their best pas de deux tell full romantic tales: challenge, hesitation, soaring consummation, wistful afterglow. The nostalgia surrounding Rogers-Astaire tends to bleach out other partners. But if Rita Hayworth, Cyd Charisse and Lucille Bremer melted more quickly into his arms, they did so with unsurpassed lyricism.

"Funny Face" 60th Anniversary Celebrated With Deluxe, Expanded Version Of Soundtrack via Verve Records/UMe

Source: Verve Label Group
October 15, 2017

60th ANNIVERSARY OF “FUNNY FACE” CELEBRATED WITH DELUXE, EXPANDED VERSION OF SOUNDTRACK FROM CLASSIC FILM STARRING FRED ASTAIRE AND AUDREY HEPBURN ORIGINAL 13 SELECTIONS ARE FULLY RESTORED AND AUGMENTED BY EIGHT PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACKS To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the classic Audrey Hepburn/Fred Astaire musical film, “Funny Face,” Verve Records/UMe is releasing an expanded version of the colorful soundtrack featuring, for the first time ever, all the songs from the beloved romantic comedy resequenced in the order in ...
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Recording

Fred Astaire's Greatest Jazz Recording "The Astaire Story" Returns As Deluxe 2CD Set For 65th Anniversary On October 20 Via Verve Records/UMe

Source: Verve Label Group
October 14, 2017

FRED ASTAIRE’S GREATEST JAZZ RECORDING, THE ASTAIRE STORY, RETURNS AS DELUXE 2CD SET FOR 65TH ANNIVERSARY ON OCTOBER 20 VIA VERVE RECORDS/UMe ASTAIRE’S ENCOUNTER WITH OSCAR PETERSON AND THE JAZZ AT THE PHILHARMONIC ALL-STARS PRESENTED IN FORM OF SOUNDTRACK, INCLUDES PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED BONUS TRACK In 1952, the famous dancer, singer and film star Fred Astaire teamed up with the brilliant pianist Oscar Peterson and an all- star jazz sextet to record jazz versions of many of the songs that he ...
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Video / DVD

Fred Astaire: Jazz Pianist

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 25, 2013

At his dancing best, Fred Astaire had the grace and cunning of a fencer. His swing-era manner, daring routines and silky steps still captivate. Less well known (or too easily forgotten) was Astaire's ability as a pianist. His keyboard moments in film are easily overlooked because his ballroom moves steal the show. Here are three clips from movies that feature brief interludes of Astaire pounding the ivories—thanks to JazzWax reader John Cooper... From Follow the Fleet (1936)... From Let's ...
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Video / DVD

Count Basie and Fred Astaire

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 15, 2012

In 1960, Fred Astaire hosted Astaire Time, a TV special, during which he danced in several segments to Count Basie's band. Bret Primack sent along a YouTube link to the entire show. If you're solely in the market for Basie-Astaire, however, move the space bar up to 9:49 (the band) and again to 32:08 (the band plus Joe Williams). But don't quit after Williams is done. The show is just getting started. In the next segment, Astaire dances to a ...
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Book / Magazine

The Astaires: Fred & Adele By Kathleen Riley

Source: Michael Ricci
March 6, 2012

Before Fred & Ginger, there was another famous pair... THE ASTAIRES Fred & Adele By Kathleen Riley (Oxford | March 15, 2012 | Hardcover | 272 pages | $27.95 | ISBN: 9780199738410) Advanced Praise: “Riley writes with zest and authoritative expertise, displaying a grace and elegance equal to her subjects. Her scholarly skills are showcased in this effervescent, spirited history..." —Publishers Weekly “A fascinating look at a movie icon and a revealing snapshot of theater history." ...
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167

Music Industry

If Fred Astaire Got Grit and Was Swept up by Cuban Orishas

Source: All About Jazz
January 30, 2009

Dancer and percussionist Max Pollak has performed for Fidel Castro one night and rural Cuban sugar workers the next. He has painstakingly transcribed a Mongo Santamaria timbales solo for six tap dancers and has traded moves (and shoes) with Cubas rumba masters. It all started when Pollak realized he not only wanted to play Afro-Cuban music, he wanted to dance it. Not dance to it; but audibly create the rhythms with his feet and hands. Its as if Fred Astaire ...
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Obituary

Olga San Juan Actress Sang and Danced with Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire Passes

Source: Michael Ricci
January 9, 2009

She was known as the 'Puerto Rican Pepperpot.' Olga San Juan, the actress dubbed the “Puerto Rican Pepperpot" for singing and dancing roles alongside stars that included Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, has died. She was 81.

San Juan died late Saturday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of kidney failure stemming from a long-term illness, said her son-in-law Barry Adelman, executive producer of the Golden Globe Awards.

San Juan was born March 16, 1927, and ...
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Performance / Tour

Andrea Marcovicci Cheek to Cheek with Fred Astaire and Other Hollywood Royalty

Source: Michael Ricci
November 18, 2008

Marcovicci Sings Movies II: Andrea Marcovicci delivers nuggets of movie lore in her new show, which runs through Dec. 27 at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan.

In her Hollywood dreams Andrea Marcovicci is a sweet, old-fashioned princess. Her ultimate romantic fantasy, she confessed on Thursday evening at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel, is to be swept off her feet and onto a dance floor by Fred Astaire. It is not, she emphasized, to be ...
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Performance / Tour

Jazz at the Berrie Center at Ramapo College Presents Singing Astaire: A Fred Astaire Songbook (2/9) + Bird with Strings (2/24)

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
February 7, 2008

Jazz at the Berrie Center at Ramapo College presents Singing Astaire: A Fred Astaire Songbook featuring Hilary Kole, Ronny Whyte and Christopher Gines Saturday, February 9 at 8 pm Tickets: $20-$26 Box Office: 201-684-7844 505 Ramapo Valley Rd, Mahwah, NJ and The Berrie Center at Ramapo College The Hawthorne Symphony presents Reprise: Bird with Strings - The Music of Charlie Parker plus Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet ...
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