"Alice In Wonderland" by Sammy Fain and Bob Hilliard

Fain and Hilliard's "Alice in Wonderland" debuted in 1951 in a Disney feature film by the same name. Having been performed since then by Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, and many others, it has attained "jazz standard" status for good reason. The composition achieves a heightened value in the lovely marriage of music and lyrics that all of the best standards display.
As I was preparing to record my third album, Sweet Youth (BluJazz 2011), among five cover songs and eight originals I decided to post a new rendition of this charming song. Feeling inspired to compose a short introduction nodding to the famed fable by Lewis Carroll, I contacted Disney to ask permission to record the song with my additional music and lyrics at the beginning and end, essentially adding an extension to the already published song. To my delight, after hearing our recording of my arrangement (a duet with guitarist John Chiodini), Disney Music warmly granted permission for the recording to be released with additional writing/composition credits given to me as a collaborator with Fain and Hilliard. It is this expanded version that I present here, as the song now includes my short introduction and postscript ending for future cover artists to explore in their recordings and performances.
This AA'BA' form consists of four formal sections, sixteen bars each, with four-bar phrases within each lettered section. Each A' section is nearly identical to A with only a single-note variation: the last descending scale alights upon the tonic note instead of ascending back to the dominant. It thus finishes on a I chord instead of the common V which ended A. These are traditional conventions common both to Tin Pan Alley compositions prevalent in the Great American Songbook as well as in the classical compositions of Mozart and Haydn. The distinction here between A and A' is indeed so minute (one note!) that some theorists would categorize the form as AABA. My attention to detail maintains an AA'BA' form in a literal sense to reflect the precision of the single altered (final) melodic and harmonic tone.
As I was preparing to record my third album, Sweet Youth (BluJazz 2011), among five cover songs and eight originals I decided to post a new rendition of this charming song. Feeling inspired to compose a short introduction nodding to the famed fable by Lewis Carroll, I contacted Disney to ask permission to record the song with my additional music and lyrics at the beginning and end, essentially adding an extension to the already published song. To my delight, after hearing our recording of my arrangement (a duet with guitarist John Chiodini), Disney Music warmly granted permission for the recording to be released with additional writing/composition credits given to me as a collaborator with Fain and Hilliard. It is this expanded version that I present here, as the song now includes my short introduction and postscript ending for future cover artists to explore in their recordings and performances.
Rhythm and Feel
The song was originally introduced and is usually played as a jazz waltz (in ¾ time). This uplifting feel gives the impression of a spirited dance or an energetic romp through the changes. The waltz traditionally creates a lighthearted mood due to the inherent suggestion of "down-up-up" accents in its brisk beat pattern. The combination of a medium-to-fast tempo and this literally uplifting rhythmic feel consistently suggests a happy, carefree attitude so apropos for a song about a classic children's tale.Melody and Phrase Structure
Like Harold Arlen's famously difficult-to-sing "Over the Rainbow," the original "Alice in Wonderland" begins melodically with an ascending octave leap. In this piece the octave initiates from the fifth scale degree low in the singer's range to an octave above before descending stepwise to the mediant and then arpeggiating downward to the starting dominant pitch. A stepwise passage ensues, ascending and descending from the supertonic to the subdominant, and noodling around those home notes before repeating the descending, arpeggiated passage introduced in the opening phrase. In the third phrase, "Over the hill or under land..." the stepwise noodling returns to lead into an inverted arpeggiation of the opening arpeggios, a first-inversion tonic triad in this case. The melody descends down a third from that phrase apex to a gentle descending scale that returns by the leap of an ascending fourth to the fifth scale degree in preparation for the second A section. Fain demonstrates classic wordpainting via his gently sloping, ascending and descending, stepwise melodic contours when setting the text "over the hill or under land or just behind the tree." Also, when calling "Alice" the leaping octave fits the bill, and when posing questions, wider melodic intervals create an inquisitive lilt.This AA'BA' form consists of four formal sections, sixteen bars each, with four-bar phrases within each lettered section. Each A' section is nearly identical to A with only a single-note variation: the last descending scale alights upon the tonic note instead of ascending back to the dominant. It thus finishes on a I chord instead of the common V which ended A. These are traditional conventions common both to Tin Pan Alley compositions prevalent in the Great American Songbook as well as in the classical compositions of Mozart and Haydn. The distinction here between A and A' is indeed so minute (one note!) that some theorists would categorize the form as AABA. My attention to detail maintains an AA'BA' form in a literal sense to reflect the precision of the single altered (final) melodic and harmonic tone.