Hoagy Carmichael

Howard Hoagland Carmichael
BORN: November 11, 1899, Bloomington, IN
DIED: December 27, 1981, Palm Springs, CA

One of the great composers of the American popular song, Hoagy Carmichael differed from most of the others (with the obvious exception of Duke Ellington) in that he was also a fine performer. Such Carmichael songs as "Stardust," "Georgia on My Mind," "Up the Lazy River," "Rockin' Chair," "The Nearness of You," "Heart and Soul," "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," "Skylark," and "New Orleans" have long been standards, each flexible enough to receive definitive treatment numerous times. Carmichael, who was briefly a lawyer, loved jazz almost from the start, and particularly the cornet playing of Bix Beiderbecke. His first composition, "Riverboat Shuffle," was recorded by Bix and the Wolverines in 1924, and became a Dixieland standard. Carmichael, as a pianist, vocalist, and occasional trumpeter, eventually abandoned law to concentrate on jazz, particularly after recording "Washboard Blues" with Paul Whiteman in 1927. He led a few jazz sessions of his own in the late '20s (including one that interpreted "Stardust" as an up-tempo stomp), but became more popular as a skilled songwriter. By 1935, he was working in Hollywood and became an occasional character actor, appearing in 14 films including To Have and Have Not and The Best Years of Our Lives, generally playing a philosophical and world weary pianist/vocalist. In the 1940s, Carmichael recorded some trio versions of his hits, and in 1956, he cut a full set of vocals while backed by a modern jazz group that included Art Pepper. After that, he drifted into semi-retirement, dissatisfied with how the music business had changed. His two autobiographies (1946's The Stardust Road and 1965's Sometimes I Wonder) are worth picking up. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Actor/singer/composer Hoagy Carmichael was taught piano by his mother in his native Bloomington, Indiana. Carmichael worked his way through the University of Indiana law school by performing with his own three-piece band. His first published song, written while he was in college, was "Riverboard Shuffle." Even while trying to set up a law practice in Florida, Carmichael's composition "Riverboat Shuffle" was being turned into a modest hit by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Finally giving in to the inevitable, Carmichael began making records as an orchestra leader; among his musicians were the Dorsey brothers, Benny Goodman, and Carmichael's personal hero and closest friend, jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke. In 1931, Hoagy and lyricist Michael Parish cooked up a little something called "Stardust," which soon became a standard and made Carmichael a millionaire. He followed this with a steady stream of easygoing hit tunes, including "Up the Lazy River," "Lazybones" and "Rocking Chair." His first movie work occurred in 1936's Anything Goes; one year later he played an unbilled cameo in Topper, for which he wrote an original number, "Old Man Moon." His first "dramatic" role was in To Have and Have Not (1944), followed by laid-back character parts in such films as The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Night Song (1947), Young Man with a Horn (1951) (an a clef version of Bix Beiderbecke's life story) and Belles on Their Toes (1952). His bony, angular on-screen presence made quite an impression on author Ian Fleming, who in his first James Bond novel Casino Royale described Bond as closely resembling Hoagy. In 1946, Carmichael received an Academy Award nomination for his song "Old Buttermilk Sky" (from the 1946 western Canyon Passage), and in 1952 won an Oscar for "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" (from Here Comes the Groom). Carmichael's TV work included a regular role on the TV western Laramie (1959-63), and a pen-and-ink "guest" appearance on a 1961 episode of the cartoon series The Flintstones, for which he contributed a song titled (what else?) "Yabba Dabba Doo." Though he wrote his last hits in the 1950s, Hoagy Carmichael lived in comfortable retirement thanks to his song royalties and wise real estate investments. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide