The July 4th weekend is the summer personified, especially
when the weather cooperates. The smell of burgers and corn on a charcoal grill, the sound of kids laughing and splashing, and a nostalgic tugging for the music of our youth are all part of the classic scene.
Case in point: For nine weeks in the spring of 1960, Theme From a Summer Place was No. 1 on Billboard's Top Pop
Singles chart. The Beatles' Hey Jude and Elvis' All Shook Up also have the distinction of hanging in at the top spot for nine weeks. But to me, no other song sounds more like summer and the July 4th weekend than the innocent Percy Faith instrumental. And no pop summer song is more addictive.
So, without further ado, sit back, put your feet up and dig this. By the way, I asked pianist Dick Hyman about the clip. He said none of the players are New York studio musicians and that's not him at the celeste toward the end. So I used the first name of the host ("Ed") and "1960" and discovered it's Ed Prentiss who hosted a show in Los Angeles called Music of the '60s (for more, go here)...
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Marc Myers writes frequently on music and the arts for the Wall Street Journal. He is author of "Why Jazz Happened" (University of California Press). In 2012, JazzWax was named the Jazz Journalists Association's "Blog of the Year."
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