Walkin’ in MisteriosoLand for SSA chorus and piano
words by Richard B. Smith
music by Felix Bernard and Thelonious Monk
arranged by David Feurzeig for Dawn Willis and Bella Voce
Score PDF
live VPR broadcast (December 2010) with Bella Voce Vermont and David Feurzeig, piano
Dawn Willis, director of the wonderful treble choir Bella Voce Vermont, asked me for an arrangement of “a universally recognized but non-religious winter holiday song…you know, like ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland.’”
From that moment, however hard I tried to think of other songs that fit the bill, I couldn’t get “Winter Wonderland” out of my head. I detest the song, which for me epitomizes the dippiness of commercial holiday music, but it’s demonically catchy, particularly the bridge.
I was rescued by the realization that this bridge, with its walking sixths, is a lot like the theme of “Misterioso” by Thelonious Monk, the High Priest of urbane but soulful cool, his music like kryptonite to dippy. To top it off, Dawn had requested a jazz piano element. The marriage of the two songs became inevitable, a match made in American music heaven.