Steve Tyrell Brings New Standards To McCallum Theatre

Celebrated artist, singer and producer, Steve Tyrell is coming to the McCallum Theatre to perform his critically acclaimed renditions of American standards on Saturday, February 10 at 8pm, in the continuing series, Fitz's Jazz Cafe at the McCallum.

Many music fans, of course, were introduced to Steve Tyrell via the movies, specifically, the 1991 Steve Martin hit "Father of the Bride," in which he appeared and performed "The Way You Look Tonight" on the soundtrack, and its 1995 sequel "Father of the Bride Part II," which contained his soundtrack recordings of "Give Me the Simple Life" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street."

Tyrell's performance of "The Way You Look Tonight" in the movie bowled over its stars Steve Martin and Diane Keaton, its director, and preview audiences such that it was replayed over the end credits. "It became the ultimate wedding song, and will keep me up with a 20 year-old audience forever because everybody who gets married rents the movie!" Tyrell said. "But what ended up happening was that the studio got tons of letters asking where they could buy my recordings, and people started saying to me that I should record a standards album."

So Tyrell began studying the standards - and fell in love with them. "I didn't want to just pay tribute to the Great American Songbook," he said. "I also wanted to tip the hat to the wonderful musicians who made this music in the first place." So his debut album, "A New Standard," then, featured the late trumpet master Harry "Sweets" Edison, who had played with Count Basie, Sinatra, and Billie Holiday, as well as Clark Terry, who had played for Basie and Duke Ellington and mentored Quincy Jones.

"These guys were in their eighties, and I got to know them and feature them as soloists," Tyrell said. "They brought an elegance and dignity and authenticity to this music that modern musicians don't have."
But Tyrell takes pride, too, that other artists have shown a new respect for the music that Tyrell has done so much to bring back to the foreground. "There's a whole new wave of artists recording this music again," he relates, citing Rod Stewart, who recorded most of his best-selling standards album in Tyrell's studio and also his old friends Linda Rondstadt and Aaron Neville, who are both recording standards albums. "I also understand Bette Midler has recorded 'A Tribute To Rosemary Clooney.' Rosemary heard me sing in 'Father Of The Bride' and was one of the first people to encourage me to record my own standards albums! And of course, let's not forget to mention the great Boz Scaggs, who has an album of standards out now doing quite well, too." But Tyrell also makes note of such well-received newcomers as Michael Buble, who recorded "The Way You Look Tonight" on his acclaimed debut album.

Tyrell still works on select movie projects. "I couldn't resist working with Jack Nicholson on his new Christmas release, especially when I heard he wanted me to produce a track of him singing a standard," he says, having also just completed producing the entire soundtrack for a new John Grisham film entitled "Mickey," which stars Harry Connick, Jr. "Nothing makes me happier than to see this music coming back," concludes Tyrell on the eve of "This Guy's In Love" release. "It's the greatest contribution that America has made to the arts."

Steve Tyrell's recent works, "This Guy's in Love" and his latest album, "Disney Standards" features the artist performing traditional jazz standards such as, "I've Got A Crush On You," "Georgia On My Mind" and the title track, "This Guy's in Love" and all-time Disney favorites such as "When You Wish Upon A Star," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Once Upon A Dream," capturing the art and beauty of all your favorites.

Tyrell songs have since been recorded by the likes of Ray Charles, Diana Ross, and Elvis Presley. His song "How Do You Talk To An Angel," written and produced for Aaron Spelling's Fox television series "The Heights," was a No. 1 pop hit in 1992 and earned Tyrell one of his two Emmy nominations.
As for producing, Tyrell has worked with such diverse artists as Bonnie Raitt, Blood Sweat and Tears, Linda Ronstadt, Woody Allen, Alice Cooper, and LL Cool J., and even produced a Grammy-winning gospel album in 1998 for Andy Griffith.

He quickly found success with Mann, half of the legendary Brill Building songwriting husband-and-wife team Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill. After the couple wrote "Somewhere Out There" with James Horner for Steven Spielberg's animated film "An American Tail," Tyrell suggested the song be reprised for the end credits. Sure enough, his co-production of the song, as performed by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram, rocketed to No. 1 and won Grammy's for "Song Of The Year" and "Best Song From A Motion Picture," and also earned an Academy Award nomination. End-credits in animated features have showcased great pop tunes ever since.

Desert Lexus, Pacific Western Bank, La Quinta Resort, Millennium Mortgage, Time Warner Cable Media Sales and KJJZ 102.3-FM sponsor Fitz's Jazz Café at the McCallum's presentation of Steve Tyrell. Tickets for Steve Tyrell, on Saturday, February 10 at 8pm, are on sale now. Ticket prices are $85/75/55/45. -- www.mccallumtheatre.com