Rainbow Room
My wife and I were planning to celebrate my fiftieth birthday with a big party, inviting all of our friends. But this party never happened; my father died a few months before my 50th birthday, so we were in no mood for a party. We decided, then, not to spend that day in São Paulo and went to New York. And decided to commemorate it by dining and dancing at the Rainbow Room.
I remember the Rainbow Room as a beautiful space, located on the 65th floor of one of the Rockefeller Center buildings. The view of the city, from its many windows, was really something. I was told that for many years it was the highest restaurant in the United States. A few years after our dinner it was closed. But in 2012 it was declared a New York City landmark, and this led to its reopening in 2014. I have not returned there, but maybe I will be able to do it one of these days.
I do not remember what we ate there, I only remember that both my wife and I found the food excellent.
But we will never forget the music. There was a small ensemble conducted by Sy Oliver.
Sy Oliver was a great musician. He arranged and conducted many songs for such singers as Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. He joined Jimmie Lunceford's band in 1933 and in 1939 joined Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra and his arrangements were as fundamental to the success of Dorsey’s band as the presence of Frank Sinatra and Jo Stafford as vocalists. His arrangement of “On the Sunny Side of the Street” was a big hit, and he also contributed his own compositions, of which “Opus no. 1” is my favorite.
All of the songs that we heard that night were beautiful songs, beautifully played. Sy Oliver alternated between his trumpet and a xylophone. I distinctly remember him playing a version of his arrangement for “Swanee River”, one of his most extraordinary arrangements, a jazz rendition of an old song written in 1851 by one of the first American composers, Stephen Collins Foster.
And we danced and danced.
And, every time the music stopped, everybody applauded. Although the music was being played to be danced, it was definitely worth listening to, and it was nice to see that all of the people present were expressing their appreciation.
I have heard that our lives are a collection of moments. To my wife and I, our dinner at the Rainbow Room was certainly one of our many, many special moments.
Maybe you would like to listen to Tommy Dorsey’s recordings of Swanee River and Opus no. 1. Just follow the links to YouTube.
Swanee River Opus no. 1
I remember the Rainbow Room as a beautiful space, located on the 65th floor of one of the Rockefeller Center buildings. The view of the city, from its many windows, was really something. I was told that for many years it was the highest restaurant in the United States. A few years after our dinner it was closed. But in 2012 it was declared a New York City landmark, and this led to its reopening in 2014. I have not returned there, but maybe I will be able to do it one of these days.
I do not remember what we ate there, I only remember that both my wife and I found the food excellent.
But we will never forget the music. There was a small ensemble conducted by Sy Oliver.
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| Sy Oliver in New York, 1946, by William P. Gottlieb Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons |
Sy Oliver was a great musician. He arranged and conducted many songs for such singers as Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. He joined Jimmie Lunceford's band in 1933 and in 1939 joined Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra and his arrangements were as fundamental to the success of Dorsey’s band as the presence of Frank Sinatra and Jo Stafford as vocalists. His arrangement of “On the Sunny Side of the Street” was a big hit, and he also contributed his own compositions, of which “Opus no. 1” is my favorite.
All of the songs that we heard that night were beautiful songs, beautifully played. Sy Oliver alternated between his trumpet and a xylophone. I distinctly remember him playing a version of his arrangement for “Swanee River”, one of his most extraordinary arrangements, a jazz rendition of an old song written in 1851 by one of the first American composers, Stephen Collins Foster.
And we danced and danced.
And, every time the music stopped, everybody applauded. Although the music was being played to be danced, it was definitely worth listening to, and it was nice to see that all of the people present were expressing their appreciation.
I have heard that our lives are a collection of moments. To my wife and I, our dinner at the Rainbow Room was certainly one of our many, many special moments.
Maybe you would like to listen to Tommy Dorsey’s recordings of Swanee River and Opus no. 1. Just follow the links to YouTube.
Swanee River Opus no. 1
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