Cy Walter
Encyclopedia
Cy Walter was an American café society
pianist based in New York City
for four decades. Dubbed the "Art Tatum of Park Avenue," he was praised for his extensive repertoire (with an emphasis on show tunes) and improvisatory skill. His long radio and recording career included both solo and duo performances, and stints as accompanist for such elegant vocal stylists as Greta Keller
, Mabel Mercer
, and Lee Wiley
.
, Walter grew up in a musical family and received early classical training from his mother, a professional piano teacher. In 1934, after a summer job playing piano on the overnight New York to Boston night cruise, he enrolled briefly at New York University but soon accepted an offer to join the Eddie Lane Orchestra on a full-time basis. Four years later, he formed a two-piano team with Gil Bowers and played at Le Ruban Bleu when it opened. Solo engagements followed at upscale bars and supper clubs like the Algonquin, the Blue Angel, and Tony's on West 52nd Street. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Walter explored other musical surroundings: as pit pianist with the Jerome Kern
musical "Very Warm for May
," as accompanist for Mabel Mercer and Greta Keller, and as leader of his own orchestra at the night club La Martinique. He briefly ran his own club, Cy Walter's Night Cap, before being called to a fourteen-month stint in the Maritime Service.
From 1944 to 1952, Walter appeared regularly (as part of a duo piano team with Stan Freeman
, and later with Walter Gross
) on ABC's popular weekly radio series Piano Playhouse. Reaching an international audience over Armed Forces Radio, and with commentary by Milton Cross
, Playhouse featured (in addition to the anchor duo) notable guest pianists from the jazz and classical worlds, teamed up "in all sorts of unusual combinations as duos, trios and quartets."
Walter found an ideal showcase for his talents when he opened the elegant Drake Room of New York's Drake Hotel
on December 21, 1945. The following year, a Metronome
profile noted that "The Cy Walter appeal can be summed up with two t's: taste and the tune. ... Sinatra, Whiting and other bigtimers are constantly dropping by... to pick up on some obscure show tune that he has resurrected from the vast storehouse of his musical mind... obscure little melodies that never made the Hit Parade
and great timeless songs that have been lost in the shuffle." Walter continued at the Drake Room from 1945 until 1951, building a reputation as the "dean of Manhattan's piano professors," according to The New Yorker
(1950).
By then a fixture on the New York music scene, Walter spent the rest of the 1950s performing at various Manhattan venues and recording both as a solo pianist and accompanist—-for example, on Ahmet Ertegun
's fledgling Atlantic
label. While not a prolific songwriter, he also crafted a number of songs in an advanced harmonic style. For example, he composed both words and music for "Some Fine Day" (1953), and collaborated with Alec Wilder
on "Time and Tide" (1961) and Chilton Ryan on "You Are There" (1960) and "See a Ring Around the Moon" (1961).
In 1959, Walter was invited to resume playing solo piano at the Drake Room. This six-nights-a-week engagement would continue until a week before the pianist's death in 1968. "I guess by now I know how to work the Drake Room," he quipped with typical understatement to an interviewer in 1966.
Café Society
Café society was the collective description for the so-called "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafes and restaurants in New York, Paris, and London beginning in the late 19th century...
pianist based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
for four decades. Dubbed the "Art Tatum of Park Avenue," he was praised for his extensive repertoire (with an emphasis on show tunes) and improvisatory skill. His long radio and recording career included both solo and duo performances, and stints as accompanist for such elegant vocal stylists as Greta Keller
Greta Keller
Greta Keller-Bacon was a cabaret singer and Hollywood actress.-Biography:Born Margaretha Keller in Vienna, Austria, she studied dance from the age of eight, followed by acting. Her début was in Pavillon, in Vienna. She also appeared on stage with Marlene Dietrich in Broadway, in which she sang and...
, Mabel Mercer
Mabel Mercer
Mabel Mercer was an English-born cabaret singer who performed in the United States, Britain, and Europe with the greats in jazz and cabaret. She was a featured performer at Chez Bricktop in Paris, owned by the hostess Bricktop, and performed in such clubs as Le Ruban Bleu, Tony's, the RSVP, the...
, and Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley was an American jazz singer popular in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. While still in her early teens, she left home to pursue a singing career with the Leo Reisman band. Her career was temporarily interrupted by a fall while horseback riding...
.
Career
Born in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, Walter grew up in a musical family and received early classical training from his mother, a professional piano teacher. In 1934, after a summer job playing piano on the overnight New York to Boston night cruise, he enrolled briefly at New York University but soon accepted an offer to join the Eddie Lane Orchestra on a full-time basis. Four years later, he formed a two-piano team with Gil Bowers and played at Le Ruban Bleu when it opened. Solo engagements followed at upscale bars and supper clubs like the Algonquin, the Blue Angel, and Tony's on West 52nd Street. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Walter explored other musical surroundings: as pit pianist with the Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
musical "Very Warm for May
Very Warm for May
Very Warm for May is a musical composed by Jerome Kern, with a libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was the team's final score for Broadway, following their hits Show Boat, Sweet Adeline, and Music in the Air...
," as accompanist for Mabel Mercer and Greta Keller, and as leader of his own orchestra at the night club La Martinique. He briefly ran his own club, Cy Walter's Night Cap, before being called to a fourteen-month stint in the Maritime Service.
United States Maritime Service
The United States Maritime Service, abbreviated as USMS, was established in 1938 under the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936. The mission of the organization is to train people to become officers and crewmembers on merchant ships that form the United States Merchant Marine...
From 1944 to 1952, Walter appeared regularly (as part of a duo piano team with Stan Freeman
Stan Freeman
Stanley Freeman was an American composer, lyricist, musical arranger, conductor, and studio musician.-Biography:...
, and later with Walter Gross
Walter Gross
Dr. Walter Gross was a German physician appointed to create the Office for Enlightenment on Population Policy and Racial Welfare for the NSDAP...
) on ABC's popular weekly radio series Piano Playhouse. Reaching an international audience over Armed Forces Radio, and with commentary by Milton Cross
Milton Cross
Milton John Cross was an American radio announcer famous for his work on the NBC and ABC radio networks.He was best known as the voice of the Metropolitan Opera, hosting its Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts for 43 years, from the time of their inception in 1931 until his death in...
, Playhouse featured (in addition to the anchor duo) notable guest pianists from the jazz and classical worlds, teamed up "in all sorts of unusual combinations as duos, trios and quartets."
Walter found an ideal showcase for his talents when he opened the elegant Drake Room of New York's Drake Hotel
Drake Hotel
Drake Hotel may refer to:in Canada*Drake Hotel in the United States *Drake Hotel , Illinois, listed on the NRHP*Drake Hotel , listed on the NRHP in New Mexico*Drake Hotel...
on December 21, 1945. The following year, a Metronome
Metronome magazine
Metronome Magazine was a music-guide magazine published from the 1881 until 1961.The magazine in its early years catered for musicians in marching and then dance bands, but from the swing era, Metronome focused primarily on the genre of Jazz music appealing to fans...
profile noted that "The Cy Walter appeal can be summed up with two t's: taste and the tune. ... Sinatra, Whiting and other bigtimers are constantly dropping by... to pick up on some obscure show tune that he has resurrected from the vast storehouse of his musical mind... obscure little melodies that never made the Hit Parade
Hit parade
A hit parade is a ranked list of the most popular recordings at a given point in time, usually determined by sales and/or airplay. The term originated in the 1930s; Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade on January 4, 1936...
and great timeless songs that have been lost in the shuffle." Walter continued at the Drake Room from 1945 until 1951, building a reputation as the "dean of Manhattan's piano professors," according to The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
(1950).
By then a fixture on the New York music scene, Walter spent the rest of the 1950s performing at various Manhattan venues and recording both as a solo pianist and accompanist—-for example, on Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
's fledgling Atlantic
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
label. While not a prolific songwriter, he also crafted a number of songs in an advanced harmonic style. For example, he composed both words and music for "Some Fine Day" (1953), and collaborated with Alec Wilder
Alec Wilder
Alec Wilder was an American composer.-Biography:...
on "Time and Tide" (1961) and Chilton Ryan on "You Are There" (1960) and "See a Ring Around the Moon" (1961).
In 1959, Walter was invited to resume playing solo piano at the Drake Room. This six-nights-a-week engagement would continue until a week before the pianist's death in 1968. "I guess by now I know how to work the Drake Room," he quipped with typical understatement to an interviewer in 1966.
Solo
- Piano Stylings of Cy Walter (Liberty Music Shops LMS-1007, early 40s)
- By Request (Request Records SW 107-112, early 40s)
- Cy Walter at The Drake Room Piano (Apollo A-14, 1948)
- Piano Moods (Columbia CL 6161, 1951)
- Holiday for Keys (Columbia CL 6202, 1952)
- Rodgers Revisited (Atlantic 1236, 1956 LP; Collectables COLS 6915, 2008 CD)
- Cy Walter Plays Gershwin Classics (Atlantic 8016, 1957)
- Hits from the Great Astaire-Rogers Films (RCA Camden CAL-533, 1959)
- A Dry Martini Please! (Westminster WP-6120)
- Cy Walter at The Drake (MGM E/SE-4393, 1966)
Duo
- Piano Playhouse - with Stan Freeman (MGM E-514, 1950)
- Manhattan - with Stan Freeman (Epic LG 1001, 1955)
As Accompanist
- Porgy and Bess - Mabel Mercer (Liberty Music Shops, 1942)
- Songs By Mabel Mercer, Volume II - with Stan Freeman (Atlantic ALS 403); tracks reissued on The Art of Mabel Mercer (Atlantic 2-602, 1965 LP; Rhino/Atlantic COL-CD-6838, 2001 CD)
- Mabel Mercer Sings Cole Porter - with Stan Freeman (Atlantic 1213, LP; Rhino/Atlantic R2 71690, 1994 CD)
- Songs By Greta Keller (Liberty Music Shops)
- Greta Keller Sings Kurt Weill (Atlantic ALS 405)
- Night in Manhattan - Lee Wiley with Stan Freeman, Bobby Hackett, Joe Bushkin (Columbia CL 656, 1951; Sony Special Products WK 75010, CD; Collector's Choice 204, 2001 CD)
- Lee Wiley Sings Vincent Youmans - with Stan Freeman (Columbia CL 6215, 1952; Columbia 2OAP-1496; Collector's Choice 204, 2001 CD)
- Lee Wiley Sings Irving Berlin - with Stan Freeman (Columbia CL 6216, 1952; Columbia 2OAP-1496; Collector's Choice 204, 2001 CD)
External links
- Official Cy Walter site maintained by Walter's family
- Cy Walter on Allmusic
- Works Written by Cy Walter - ASCAP ACE Title Search