WZUM Jazz Pittsburgh

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Fred Astaire and a Hint of Spring in Stride

Saturday on WZUM, Scott Hanley shares a track by Stacey Kent - a lovely rendition of “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket,” which got us to think about when that song first came out, 1936 in Follow the Fleet with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.

But Fred also did a piano version, early in the film - on an upright that he lightly tunes and then plays….

These were the days of the rise of Art Tatum and the prominence of George Gershwin. A year earlier, 1935, here’s Fred at the keys in Roberta (with a very young Ginger Rogers).

Move forward 20 years to 1957 with Fred in a celebrity interview with Edward R. Murrow - this time, on drums!