Every Friday night we smooth our way into the weekend with music, the universal language. These selections demonstrate that despite what is being passed off as art today, there is plenty of really good music available. Come along and enjoy!

Summer ended earlier this week.

Goodbye sticky heat. Hello everything pumpkin.

That’s our musical theme this week.

Let’s get started.

We do so with a summer tune that’s fitting.

They say that all good things must end some day
Autumn leaves must fall

From July of 1964, this one reached #7.

They wrote it, and lip-synched it on this popular show hosted by Dick Clark.

Music and songs about autumn tend to be sorrowful and slow of tempo. And yet they can ease us through whatever pain we’re experiencing at the change of seasons.

In the fall of 1974 Frank Sinatra was filmed live in concert at Madison Square Garden for a TV special. He performed on a boxing ring-like stage. The show was broadcast live around the world.

Many artists have recorded this standard that dates back to 1934, but only Sinatra’s 1949 single had commercial success, peaking at #27.

Back in January of 2018 Neil Diamond stunned the entertainment world just eight dates shy of concluding his 50th Anniversary Tour

“It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from concert touring,” he said in a prepared statement. “I have been so honored to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years. My sincerest apologies to everyone who purchased tickets and were planning to come to the upcoming shows.”

Diamond had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

But the troubadour came out of retirement this summer to sing in Basalt, Colorado, for firefighters who came from all over the United States to help battle and eventually contain the Colorado wildfires. Diamond is a Colorado local.

From 2002…

That’s it for this week.

Goodnight.

Sleep well.

Have a great weekend.

We close with two versions of the most famous fall recording.

The first is an impressive and swinging arrangement by the Washington-Lee High School Jazz Band/Combo of 2006 from Virginia.

And now the vocal version.