Cool off with this summer music playlist
Music department faculty suggest some tunes — jazz, classical, country, rock and more — to help you beat the heat. Give them a listen!
This summer playlist will make you want to roll your windows down, but instead just stay cool inside with the AC blowing through the jasmine in your mind. Put in your earbuds, slide on your headphones or stay close by those speakers.
The selections come from Carolina music department faculty who suggested tunes associated with their academic and performance areas of study. Some were written about summer, some evoke summertime and some were composed during summer.
Juan Álamo
Juan Álamo, associate professor and area head of wind/brass/percussion, is an internationally known performer, composer and educator. He recommends two summer pieces:
- “Verano Porteño,” Astor Piazzolla (“Buenos Aires Summer”) (1965)
- “Un Verano en Nueva York,” Justí Barreto (“A Summer in New York City”) (1975)
“Renowned Argentinian composer and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla wrote this piece. ‘Verano Porteño’ is the first in a suite of four tango pieces called ‘Estaciones Portenas’ or ‘The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.’ Originally, Piazzolla wrote ‘Verano Porteño’ for the play ‘Melenita de Oro’ by Alberto Rodríguez Muñoz.
“Cuban singer and songwriter Justí Barreto wrote this classic salsa tune. The song makes references to the Latino community in New York City, particularly Puerto Ricans and Nuyoricans in Spanish Harlem.”
Mark Katz
Mark Katz, John P. Barker Distinguished Professor of Music and director of graduate studies, teaches courses on music and technology, popular music and cultural diplomacy. Katz suggests:
- “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” Sly and the Family Stone (1969)
- “Celebrate Summer,” T. Rex (1977)
“Both these songs evoke the youthful innocence we often associate with summer. They also capture the season’s fleetingness, that wistful feeling that summer is a precious time that never lasts as long you’d like. Both are brief, bright pop songs with chugging rhythms that get the feet tapping. But they also offer different pleasures. “Hot Fun in the Summertime” by Sly and the Family Stone is an R&B tune that boasts a large ensemble — men’s and women’s voices, piano, horns and strings — that depicts summer as a time of freedom framed by the school year. “Celebrate Summer” by T. Rex is a stripped-down perpetual motion machine of a rock song with a single male voice (Marc Bolan) crooning to a love interest. I love them both!”
Clara Yang
Clara Yang, associate professor and head of keyboard studies, is an accomplished pianist who performs internationally and has made award-winning recordings. Her students have won top prizes in state, national and international competitions. Her addition to the playlist is:
- “Summerland,” William Grant Still (1935) Skip to 17:04 to hear “Summerland.”
“During the pandemic, the UNC piano area performed a virtual concert to celebrate Black composers. Cody Qiu (BA ’21) performed a piece titled ‘Summerland’ by the incredible Black composer William Grant Still (1895-1978). Known as the ‘Dean of Afro-American composers,’ Still wrote many fantastic piano pieces. ‘Summerland’ is a part of a suite titled ‘Three Visions.’ William Grant Still’s exquisite harmonic and melodic writing in this piece evokes a beautiful atmosphere.”
Jocelyn Neal
Jocelyn Neal, Bowman and Gordon Gray Distinguished Term Professor and associate chair for academics, teaches courses in music theory, analysis, popular music, country music and culture, songwriting and bluegrass.
- “The Seashores of Old Mexico,” Merle Haggard (1971)
- “We Danced Anyway,” Randy Scruggs and Matraca Berg (1996)
In a forthcoming book from Cambridge University Press, Neal focuses on country songs about idealized places of perpetual summer. She notes Merle Haggard’s “The Seashores of Old Mexico” as interpreted by George Strait as a prime example of elevating the beach as an “ultimate destination for a cowboy’s escape.” That theme, Neal writes, evolved into one of “island sounds” in hits by the Bellamy Brothers, Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, the Zac Brown Band and many others.
Neal analyzes “conflicting-narrative videos” in which country artists change the cultural meaning of songs by explicitly connecting them to escapism in the form of beaches, warm weather, sunshine and summertime. For instance, Deana Carter’s “We Danced Anyway,” written by Randy Scruggs and Matraca Berg, isn’t about a summer spot. Yet, the video sets “the narrative in Puerto Rico, Carter barefoot on a sandy beach, palm trees in a sunset and the Puerto Rican flag and name visible in one shot,” Neal writes.
Russell Johnson
Russell Johnson is a lecturer who directs the student Carolina Bluegrass Band. A mandolinist, singer and award-winning songwriter with many years in the music business, he formed the bands New Vintage and the Grass Cats. Johnson recommends the Carolina Bluegrass Band’s version of George Gershwin’s “Summertime.”
- “Summertime,” George Gershwin (1934) The song begins at 1:32:00.
Stephen Anderson
The playlist ends with Carolina Jazz faculty performing a mesmerizing 90-minute show that includes “Sin Palabras” (“Without Words”) by professor and jazz pianist Stephen Anderson. Anderson performs with Álamo, percussion; assistant professor Rahsaan Barber, saxophone; lecturer Dan Davis, drums; lecturer Jason Foureman, bass.
- “Sin Palabras,” Stephen Anderson (“Without Words”) (2020) The tune is the 6th piece in the concert.
Anderson composed “Sin Palabras” in memory of his friend and colleague Jeffry Eckels (1957-2020), whose influence on Carolina’s music education happened mostly at the annual Summer Jazz Workshop. Eckels, a talented jazz bassist, was a guest artist for the music department numerous times, including many years as summer workshop performer and faculty member.
