Among the leading figures who shaped the American popular song, Hoagy Carmichael stood apart from nearly all his peers, save Duke Ellington, because he also excelled as a performer. Tunes such 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” became enduring standards, each supple enough to support numerous definitive interpretations over the decades. Although he practiced law for a time, Carmichael had felt drawn to jazz almost from its beginnings, above all the cornet work of Bix Beiderbecke. His debut piece, “Riverboat Shuffle,” was committed to disc by Bix and the Wolverines in 1924 and soon turned into a Dixieland staple. Working as pianist, vocalist, and occasional trumpeter, Carmichael left the legal profession to devote himself to jazz, a decision hastened by his 1927 recording of “Washboard Blues” with Paul Whiteman. He directed several jazz dates of his own in the late 1920s, among them a session that recast “Stardust” as an up-tempo stomp, yet he gained wider recognition as a gifted songwriter. By 1935 he had moved to Hollywood, where he appeared as a character actor in fourteen films, including To Have and Have Not and The Best Years of Our Lives, most often portraying a philosophical, world-weary pianist-vocalist. During the 1940s he made several trio recordings of his own hits, and in 1956 he waxed a complete album of vocals accompanied by a modern jazz ensemble that featured Art Pepper. Thereafter he slipped into semi-retirement, disenchanted with the direction the music industry had taken. His two memoirs, 1946’s The Stardust Road and 1965’s Sometimes I Wonder, remain rewarding reading.
