Writings about Music

The Only Soul Alive

Anne Bancroft in 84 Charing Cross Road

Anne Bancroft is referring to the Anthony Hopkins character in the screen capture above, not Frank Sinatra, from the charming, moving 84 Charing Cross Road.

I met her husband Mel Brooks, who loved singing Just In Time, one memorable time. I love playing that song, too, first doing so under the guidance of Rollan Masciarelli at 18, if only learning the equally essential lyrics upon learning to play it on piano.

Sinatra is with me all the time now musically, something presaged by Lee Konitz when I was 19.

With Brooks and Sinatra being friends, I have no doubt Bancroft was, too.

A pleasing coda is learning how Mel Brooks himself co-produced 84 Charing Cross Road.

- Michael Robinson, January 2023, Maui

 

© 2023 Michael Robinson All rights reserved

 

Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer, programmer, jazz pianist and musicologist. His 198 albums include 151 albums for meruvina and 47 albums of piano improvisations. Robinson has been a lecturer at UCLA, Bard College and California State University Long Beach and Dominguez Hills.