My favorite popular music has always been the melodious ballad, with or without words. (Click on my article, The Lost of Ballads of Broadway, for more evidence of my passion.) I believe this genre of music is more essential than ever in these days of chaos and disharmony, where we are constantly assailed with noise and static. Such songs of quiet, introspection, and longing, I believe, can be balm for the mind and the soul.
For this reason, I have put together a collection of 16 ballads that I have written (six instrumental and ten vocal). The collection is published by Eburn Press, and available in PDF download on Sheet Music Plus for $8. Click here.
The pieces have been written over a period of thirty years, some on a whim, others for specific projects. All the songs are presented in lead-sheet format, that is with only the melody and chord symbols.
Lead-Sheet Format example.
The vocal pieces, however, are in addition given in their full original piano arrangements.
Piano Arrangement Example.
Six of the songs are a part of a twenty-song score for my one-person musical about Dorothy Parker, You Might as Well Live. All the lyrics are Dorothy Parker’s poetry. The work, which has appeared at many theatres has starred both Tony-Award-Winner Michele Pawk and Broadway luminary Karen Mason. Most of these songs can be heard on SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/user-240336285/sets/you-might-as-well-live
The final four vocal works were written with acclaimed poet, Patty Seyburn, for a cabaret revue entitled, Somebody Write Me a Song, which featured Tony-Award-Winner Debbie Gravitte and Tony-Nominee Liz Callaway, as well as Broadway baritone Peter Samuel, with Dick Gallagher (Patty LuPone’s former accompanist) as pianist. All of these songs may also be heard on SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/user-240336285/sets/somebody-write-me-a-song
If upon listening to the SoundCloud recordings, you are more interested in one of the many uptempo songs from either You Might as Well Live or Somebody Write Me a Song, these are available free of charge by the composer. They will be sent to you individually because they are not part of a published collection. Simply email me at the address below, requesting which songs you are interested in.
info@normanmathewsauthor.com
Sixteen Jazz Ballads has a cover with a reproduction of a beautiful painting by Todd Lehman (Alcazar, oil on paper).
