DESCRIPTION:
Dorn Younger '64, DePauw University's Men of Note founding director, arranged this version of How High the Moon as a student and conducts here as alumni singers perform with string bass & drums for the opener of their reunion concert on June 14, 2008. Younger conceived bass & drums accompaniment to "jazz up" some Men of Note arrangements, but it was implemented by his successor, Frank Jacobs '66, who also attended and conducted. Jacobs is at the left end of the top row in this video.

How High the Moon first became a hit as performed by Benny Goodman and his orchestra in 1940. Later recordings came from Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Brown, Dave Brubeck, Erroll Garner, Marvin Gaye, Nat King Cole, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry James, Gene Krupa, Oscar Peterson, Johnny Mathis, David Rose, George Shearing, Art Tatum, Emmylou Harris and Manhattan Transfer, among at least two dozen others according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_High_the_Moon
Music for How High the Moon was composed by Morgan Lewis, a University of Michigan graduate who became a Broadway producer. Several sources show his date of birth in 1906 but show no date of death, so he may still be living. Lyrics were by Nancy Hamilton (1908-1985), singer, actor and author educated at the Sorbonne in Paris and Smith College.

2009 COLLABORATION UPDATE:
Dorn Younger and Frank Jacobs worked together succesfully as students during the Men of Note's early days, but they were not close friends. That changed during the reunion concert of 2004, after the two men saw each other for the first time in 40 years. A new friendship resulted in performances of new choral music written by Younger for Jacobs and his wife, Arlene Harlow '66, sung by children's choruses in cathedrals across Europe.

More recently Jacobs commissioned Younger to write a 30-35 minute musical tribute for chorus and orchestra to commemorate, in 2009, the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. While composing Younger said he was "trying musically not to take sides" in remembering those who died on both sides during the Civil War. Lyics for the final of five symphonic songs, "Song of Vision," come from the speeches and writings of Lincoln.

The WORLD PREMIERE of "Lincoln: A Symphonic Tribute" was performed October 24, 2009 by the Summit Choral Society in Akron, OH, with over 300 performers on stage. See excerpt here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Qzjhc5cEq1E
or contact http://www.summitchoralsociety.org/

updated 2-19-2010/jt

(Video by Media and User Services Dept., DePauw University)