In a revealing anecdote about Shaw’s notorious perfectionism, Ms. [Daryl] Sherman recalled his telling her after a performance that it was “divine,” and at first thinking he had paid her an undeserved compliment. She was right. It was criticism of her pronunciation of a word in a song: it should be “divine,” not “dee-vine,” he told her sharply.
We like to talk about music--mostly of the folk and acoustic variety--from our home bases in Urbana, Illinois; South Hadley, Massachusetts; Minneapolis, Minnesota; New York, New York; and Portland, Oregon. The name of the blog comes from a lyric written by Tracy Grammer, from her song "The Verdant Mile."
Friday, May 28, 2010
Artie Shaw as Pronunciation Police Officer
Stephen Holden's review of a Tuesday evening tribute concert to the great jazz bandleader Artie Shaw (whose 100th birth anniversary was last Sunday) concluded with this terrific little anecdote:
don't suppose the title typo was on purpose?
ReplyDeleteAlas, no... But it's nice to be busted by the anonymous typo police!
ReplyDelete