After her marriage to Jimmy McPartland in February 1945, she resided in the USA when not traveling throughout the world to perform. In 1969 she founded Halcyon Records, a recording company that produced albums for ten years. In 2000 she was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. In 2004 she was given a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. In 2007 she was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Known mostly for jazz, nonetheless, she composed other types of music as well, performing her own symphonic work A Portrait of Rachel Carson with the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra in 2007. In 2010 she was named a member of the Order of the British Empire.
Margaret Marian Turner was a musical prodigy from the time she could sit at the piano, about the age of three. She studied classical music and the violin, in addition to the piano.
She pursued classical studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Much to the dismay of her family, she developed a love for American jazz and musicians such as Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams, and many others. In 1938, despite her family's efforts to keep her at Guildhall, Marian left to join Billy Mayerl's Claviers, a four-piano vaudeville act, performing under the stage name of Marian Page. The group toured throughout Europe during World War II, entertaining Allied troops.
While touring with USO shows in Belgium, she met and began performing with Chicago cornetist Jimmy McPartland in 1944. The couple soon married, playing at their own military base wedding in Germany. After the war, they moved to Chicago to be near Jimmy's family. Then, in 1949, the McPartlands settled in Manhattan, living in an apartment in the same building as the Nordstrom Sisters. With Jimmy's help and encouragement, Marian started her own trio, which performed at The Embers from 1950, and subsequently enjoyed a long residency at a New York City jazz club, the Hickory House, during 1952–60. The drummer Joe Morello was a member of the group until he departed to join Dave Brubeck's Quartet.
In the 1953–54 season, she appeared as a regular on NBC's Judge for Yourself quiz program emceed by Fred Allen.
In 1958 a black and white group portrait of 57 notable jazz musicians, including McPartland, was photographed in front of a brownstone in Harlem, New York City. Art Kane, a freelance photographer working for Esquire magazine, took the photo, which was called, "A Great Day in Harlem", and it became a well-known image of New York's jazz musicians of the time. Immediately preceding her death in August 2013, she was one of only four of the 57 participating musicians who were still alive. After many years of recording for labels such as Capitol, Savoy, Argo, Sesac, Time, and Dot, in 1969 she founded her own record label, Halcyon Records, before having a long association with the Concord label. Marian and Jimmy divorced in 1972, but they remained close, and remarried in 1991, shortly before Jimmy's death.
In 1964, Marian McPartland launched a new venture on WBAI-FM (New York City), conducting a weekly radio program that featured recordings and interviews with guests. Pacifica Radio's West Coast stations also carried this series, which paved the way for Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, a National Public Radio series that began on 4 June 1978. It was the longest-running cultural program on NPR, as well as one of the longest-running jazz programs ever produced on public radio. The program featured McPartland at the keyboard with guest performers, usually pianists, but also singers, guitarists, other musicians, and even the non-musician Studs Terkel. Several Piano Jazz programs have been released on CD by Concord Records. She celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the NPR series with a live taping at the Kennedy Center for which Peter Cincotti was the guest. After not having recorded a new show since September 2010, on 10 November 2011, NPR announced that McPartland was stepping down as host of Piano Jazz. She then asked her long-time friend, jazz pianist Jon Weber, to carry on with the show. As a result, Piano Jazz: Rising Stars, an NPR series hosted by Weber, began broadcast on 3 January 2012. Piano Jazz soon returned to the air in repeat broadcasts.
Marian was awarded a Grammy in 2004, a Trustees' Lifetime Achievement Award, for her work as an educator, writer, and host of NPR Radio's long-running Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz. Although a master at adapting to her guest's musical styles and having a well-known affinity for beautiful and harmonically-rich ballads, she also recorded many tunes of her own. Her compositions included "Ambiance," "There'll Be Other Times," "With You In Mind," "Twilight World," and "In the Days of Our Love."
Just before her 90th birthday, she composed and performed a symphonic piece, A Portrait of Rachel Carson, to mark the centennial of the environmental pioneer.
McPartland was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours, "For services to jazz and to aspiring young musicians in the USA".
McPartland's encyclopedic knowledge of jazz standards, highly musical ear, involvement in over 60 years of evolving jazz styles, and rich experience blending with radio guests led to a musical style that was described as "flexible and complex, and almost impossible to pigeonhole." She was known as a harmonically and rhythmically complex and inventive improviser. "She was never content to be in one place, and always kept improving. She has great ears and great harmonics. Because of her ear, she can go into two or three different keys in a tune and shift with no problem."
She was also a synesthete, associating different musical keys with colors, stating that "The key of D is daffodil yellow, B major is maroon, and B flat is blue."
McPartland died on 20 August 2013 of natural causes at her home in Long Island, New York. She was 95 years old.
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
Marian McPartland Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The night we met
There was magic abroad in the air
There were angels dining at the Ritz
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley square
I may be right I may be wrong
But I'm perfectly willing to swear
A nightingale sang in Berkeley square
The moon that lingered over London town
Poor puzzled moon he wore a frown
How could he know we two were so in love
The whole damned world seemed upside down
The streets of town were paved with stars
It was such a romantic affair
And as we kissed and said goodnight
A nightingale sang in Berkeley square
How strange it was
How sweet and strange
There was never a dream to compare
To those hazy crazy nights we met
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley square
Ah this heart of mine
Loud and fast
Like a merry-go-round in a fair
We would dance cheek to cheek
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley square
The dawn came stealing up
All gold and blue
To interrupt our rendez-vous
I still remember how you smiled and said
Was that a dream or was it true?
Our homeward step was just as light
As the dancing feet of Astaire
And like an echo far away
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley square
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley square
That night in Berkeley square.
The lyrics in this song tell a story of a magical, unforgettable night in Berkeley Square where two lovers first met. The first verse sets the scene of the night, describing the magic and wonder that filled the air, with angels dining at the Ritz and a nightingale singing in the square. The second verse describes the intense moment when the two lovers first locked eyes, with the singer willing to swear that the nightingale began to sing just as they saw each other. The third verse shows how the whole world seemed to shift as the two lovers fell deeper in love, with the moon itself puzzled as to how two people could be so enamored with each other.
The following verse describes the streets of town as though they were paved with stars, and the romantic affair culminated in a kiss and the return of the nightingale's beautiful song. The fifth verse reflects on the surreal nature of the night, describing it as hazy and crazy in comparison to all other dreams. The sixth verse describes the beautiful dancing that occurred between the lovers, with the nightingale's song accompanying them every step of the way. The final verse presages the end of the night, with the dawn interrupting their rendezvous, and the lovers wondering if it was all just a beautiful dream. However, even as they walked home, they could still hear the echo of the nightingale's song in the distance, reminding them of the beautiful and unforgettable night they had shared.
Line by Line Meaning
That certain night
On that particular night
The night we met
The night when we first encountered each other
There was magic abroad in the air
The atmosphere was filled with enchantment
There were angels dining at the Ritz
The opulence of the Ritz Hotel made it seem as if angels were feasting there
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley square
The beauty of that night was capped off by the singing of a nightingale in Berkeley square
I may be right I may be wrong
I am not entirely certain of my claim
But I'm perfectly willing to swear
However, I am ready to make an oath
That when you turned and smiled at me
At the moment when you smiled upon me
A nightingale sang in Berkeley square
I heard the beautiful sound of a nightingale singing in Berkeley square
The moon that lingered over London town
The moon was hovering over London town
Poor puzzled moon he wore a frown
The moon appeared perplexed and troubled
How could he know we two were so in love
How could the moon possibly be aware of our affection for each other
The whole damned world seemed upside down
The world itself appeared to be topsy-turvy
The streets of town were paved with stars
The roads of the city appeared to be covered in a starry sky
It was such a romantic affair
The whole evening was very romantic
And as we kissed and said goodnight
As we parted with a kiss and said farewell
A nightingale sang in Berkeley square
The nightingale once again graced us with its song in Berkeley square
How strange it was
It was very peculiar
How sweet and strange
Yet, it was also lovely
There was never a dream to compare
I had no dream to which I could liken this experience
To those hazy crazy nights we met
To those indistinct yet memorable nights when we first met
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley square
And once again we were visited by the sweet song of a nightingale in Berkeley square
Ah this heart of mine
This heart of mine
Loud and fast
Was beating quickly and audibly
Like a merry-go-round in a fair
Like a carousel at a carnival
We would dance cheek to cheek
We would dance in a very intimate way
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley square
All the while, the beautiful sound of a nightingale filled Berkeley square
The dawn came stealing up
The sunrise slowly approached
All gold and blue
Shining with golden and blue hues
To interrupt our rendez-vous
To bring our meeting to an end
I still remember how you smiled and said
I can recall vividly how you smiled and spoke
Was that a dream or was it true?
Was that experience a dream or did it really happen?
Our homeward step was just as light
We walked home with a buoyant step
As the dancing feet of Astaire
As gracefully as the feet of the famous dancer Fred Astaire
And like an echo far away
As if from a faraway echo
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley square
The memory of the nightingale's singing remained with us even after we had left Berkeley square
And a nightingale sang in Berkeley square
Again, we were serenaded by the lovely sound of a nightingale in Berkeley square
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: Eric Maschwitz, Manning Sherwin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@libbykandall4414
Adoring this song!
@bennyjazzful
WOW WOW WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
From a mad keen 76yo Aussie fan.