Publisher
Mack Gordon
WB Music Corp
Josef Myrow
WB Music Corp

This is a wonderful rendition of a time-honored classic Steve Lipman made all his own. Supported by an outstanding arrangement by Dan Prindle and a seven-piece band, Lipman exudes passion for his love with a soft, gentle innocence. There are some lovely tips of the hat to both Sinatra and Count Basie. For example, You Make Me Feel So Young opens with Prindle’s novel Ragtime shuffle on the piano via John Corda which quickly transcends into a classic Basie piano cascade. In addition, Lipman concludes Young with a flair that undeniably pays homage to the Chairman of the Board.

Orange Colored Sky

Steve Lipman
Composer – Milton Delugg
Composer – Willie Stein
Lyricist – Milton Delugg
Lyricist – Willie Stein
Arranged by Nick Borges
Electric Guitar- Ben Falkoff
Drums- Colin Jalbert
Bass- Reed Southerland
Piano- Zack Cross
Trumpet- Nick Borges
Sax- Ryan Emken
Trombone- Kathryn Rapacki

Publisher
Milton Delugg
Amy Dee Music Corp
Willie Stein
Amy Dee Music Corp

Nick Borge’s amazing arrangement of this Nat King Cole classic is true to the word; it never veers from the original intent of this standard. The horns in this piece are outrageous, beautifully complementing a vocal which is all so much Lipman. The instrumental within Orange Colored Sky is pure jazz and is punctuated by the thrill to hear Nick Borges lay down an incredible trumpet solo. This sucker shoots the listener into the stratosphere with glee.

Night and Day

Steve Lipman
Composer – Cole Porter
Lyricist – Cole Porter
Arranged by Dan Prindle
Acoustic Guitar- Ben Falkoff
Violin- Sara Hill
Cello- Dan Prindle

Publisher
Cole Porter
Warner Bros Music a Division of Warner Bros Inc.

Cole Porter’s beautiful love song, Night and Day, is transformed into a touching Bossa Nova here in Dan Prindle’s elegant string arrangement. Steve Lipman’s vocal swings to the vibe of one of the fathers of the Bossa Nova, Antonio Carlos Jobim. Prindle makes his mark by also playing cello on this track. This is a totally new take on a classic we’ve all grown to know and love.

No One Ever Tells You

Steve Lipman
Composer – Hub Atwood
Lyricist – Carroll Coates
Arranged by Dan Prindle
Piano- Dan Prindle
Bass- Reed Sutherland

Publisher
Hub Atwood
Carroll Coates d/b/a Micana Music
Carroll Coates
Carroll Coates d/b/a Micana Music

No One Ever Tells You is not a well-known tune but it’s clear that once the public hears Steve Lipman’s masterful interpretation of this gem, all of that certainly will change. Dan Prindle does double duty on this track as both arranger and piano accompanist, opening the number with a thunderously dark piano introduction arousing the senses. Lipman’s storytelling is striking; his crushed heart in full view. Anyone who has lived long enough can convincingly connect to No One Ever Tells You. It is so much a part of the human experience, isolated, alone, having lost love.

The Sound of Music

Steve Lipman
Composer – Richard Rogers
Lyricist – Oscar Hammerstein II
Arranged by Dan Prindle
Backing Vocal- Mary Corso
Electric Guitar- Ben Falkoff
Drums- Colin Jalbert
Bass- Dan Prindle
Piano- Zack Cross
Percussion- Jimmy Robitaille
Melodica- Glen Nelson

Publisher
Oscar Hammerstein II
Williamson Music Co.
Richard Rogers
Williamson Music Co.

Anyone expecting to visualize Steve Lipman waltzing through the Alps while listening to this tune, should think again. Here, The Sound of Music, arranged ingeniously by Dan Prindle, is complex in structure and the one track on this album that strays from the roost. In Hats off, this Rogers and Hammerstein classic takes on an Afro-Cuban form. The lyrical line is practically absent and Lipman basically had to create that from scratch. According to Lipman, “Although incredibly challenging, The Sound of Music allowed me to truly express my passion for music; my utter exuberance for the art. I found myself skipping, almost running through the hills with adulation and joy!”

John Lucien’s influence can certainly be heard in various riffs throughout the arrangement. In addition, the use of a Glen Nelson’s artful playing of the melodica and Jimmy Robitaille’s outstanding percussion, really worked to conjure the vibe. This is a song that should be listened to several times to thoroughly experience the energy and elation emanated from this track.

The Way You Look Tonight

Steve Lipman
Composer – Jerome Kerns
Lyricist – Dorothy Fields
Arranged by Dan Prindle
Electric Guitar- Ben Falkoff
Bass- Reed Sutherland

Publisher
Jerome Kerns
Universal – Polygram International Pub Inc. and Shapiro Bernstein and Co Inc. o/b/o Aldi Music
Dorothy Fields
Universal – Polygram International Pub Inc. and Shapiro Bernstein and Co Inc. o/b/o Aldi Music

The Way You Look Tonight has been a favorite for generations and the treatment given to it in Hats off will not disappoint. Here, Steve Lipman is accompanied by a Dan Prindle arrangement that takes a minimalist approach. With only Ben Falkoff’s guitar and Reed Sutherland’s bass behind, Lipman delivers a unique, intimate heart felt expression of love in which the individual listener on the receiving end is the intended recipient. This is highlighted by Falkoff’s and Sutherland’s masterful instrumental which is pure jazz. The song is soft and caressing; it’s a lovely, fresh awakening of The Way You Look Tonight.

Come Rain or Come Shine

Steve Lipman
Composer – Harold Arlen
Lyricist – Johnny Mercer
Arranged by Dan Prindle
Electric Guitar – Dan Thomas
Drums- Colin Jalbert
Bass- J. Witbeck
Piano- John Corda
Trumpet- Nick Borges
Sax- Steve Yarbro
Trombone- Ryan Palkoff

Publisher
Johnny Mercer
S.A. Music and WB Music Corp. o/b/o the Johnny Mercer Foundation
Harold Arlen
S.A. Music and WB Music Corp. o/b/o the Johnny Mercer Foundation

In Come Rain or Come Shine, Steve Lipman dives into the time honed story that Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen had in mind in this beloved classic. In Lipman’s eyes, his true love has left him. Lipman pleads with his love to return, confessing his utter adoration but aware in the back of his mind, that the relationship is over. The seven-piece band returns on this Prindle arrangement and opens with an ominous, foreboding introduction lead by Dan Thomas on the guitar. The haunting trumpet solo by Nick Borges during the instrumental in this performance should not be missed.

Dance Me to the End of Love

Steve Lipman
Composer – Leonard Cohen
Lyricist – Leonard Cohen
Arranged by Dan Prindle
Electric Guitar- Ben Falkoff
Drums- Colin Jalbert
Bass- Dan Prindle
Keyboard- Zack Cross
Clarinet- Jim Armenti

Publisher
Leonard Cohen
Sony/ATV Songs LLC

Throughout the years, Steve Lipman performed liturgically chanting services for the congregation in his synagogue so when he first heard Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Love, Lipman knew he had to lay this masterful work down. Originally written with a Semitic framework, Dan Prindle decided to arrange this as a Klezmer tune. He brought in clarinetist Jim Armenti who set the vibe. Combined with Lipman’s vocal, which brought him back to his roots, the product is by far one of the most legitimate expressions of Cohen’s intent ever recorded. Cohen’s lyrics are poetry, the visuals and the story so Jewish. Dance Me to the End of Love is a heartfelt expression in song of brooding love.

This is the point in the album where Hats off becomes personal to Steve Lipman. Undeniably, racism has raised its ugly head once again in America, currently blossoming under our nation’s current leadership, where nationalists and supremacists have been given a carte blanche bully pulpit to espouse their hate. Today unsubstantiated accusations against human beings who are perceived as different, fly in the wind like an airborne pathogen. It is for this reason Steve Lipman added this section to the album; he needed to address what he felt was an unthinkable direction for this nation.

In Hats off, Lipman’s shout out against racisms begins with his fervent reading of the Great Colossus; the poem written on the base of the Statue of Liberty which has welcomed immigrants into the United States for generations.

Lipman’s dialogue then melds into the historically noteworthy song, The House I Live In.  Frank Sinatra originally brought this tune to light in 1945, making a short film whose intent was to speak out against the Antisemitism in his time. In this timeless, beautiful undertaking, Sinatra delivered his vocal to a literal rainbow of children, preaching inclusivity.

Steve Lipman firmly believed the lyrics of that song were as important today as they were back in Sinatra’s time. Supported by an ingenious new arrangement by Dan Prindle, which modernized the structure of the melody, without sacrificing any of the original intent, Steve Lipman takes his stand in The House I Live In and lets the listener know exactly what America means to him.

The entire sequence is then punctuated with the haunting melody of the Civil War, as Steve Lipman concludes his message with the chanting of Martin Luther King’s anthem against racism, The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

The beautiful interaction between Lipman’s vocal and Ryan Emken’s flute in Dan Prindle’s understated arrangement, conjures the fight against slavery and patriotically drives Lipman’s message home. Both Nate Christy taking the lead on acoustic guitar and Colin Jalbert’s military percussion are amazing.

The New Colossus / The House I Live In

Steve Lipman
Composer – Earl Robinson
Lyricist – Lewis Allan
Arranged by Dan Prindle
Programming by Nate Christy
Background vocal- Mary Corso
Electric Guitar- Ben Falkoff
Bass- Dan Prindle
Piano- Dan Prindle
Cello- Dan Prindle

Publisher
Lewis Allan
Music Sales Corporation
Earl Robinson
Music Sales Corporation
 

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Steve Lipman
Composer – William Steffe
Lyricist – Julia Ward Howe
Arranged by Dan Prindle
Acoustic Guitar- Nate Christy
Drums- Colin Jalbert
Flute- Ryan Emken

Publisher
William Steffe
Julia Ward Howe