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Release date: May 10, 2016

Can You Love Once More? boasts an all-star line-up headed by multiple Emmy and Grammy winner Mike Renzi on piano (who presently serves as Music Director for Tony Bennett), drummer Alvin Atkinson, bassist Mike Karn, Harry on sax and Judy on vocals.  

The songs of Carmichael and Allen range from hilarious adventures in love—Take Me Back to Machu Picchu, If Only There Were Time, Make Me An Offer I Can’t Refuse and An Almost Perfect Man, to different types of love objects—Pluto You’re For Me, Can You Love Once More? (written for Harry’s rescue cat, pictured on the cover with a portrait by Harry’s wife, Ivana Falconi) to songs of profound pain, A Lonely Breeze and There Was Once A Time, to celebrations of life, This is My Lucky Day, Meant To Be, The One For You and June Song. 

SELECTIONS:

All songs words by Judy Carmichael, music by Harry Allen

1. Make Me An Offer
2. June Song
3. There Was Once A Time
4. This Is My Lucky Day
5. Take Me Back To Machu Picchu
6. The One For You
7. An Almost Perfect Man
8. Pluto You're For Me  
9. Meant To Be
10. A Lonely Breeze   
11. If Only There Were Time
12. Can You Love Once More?  

From the CD:

Harry Allen and I met 29 years ago at a jazz festival in Florida. I brought my sweetheart and Harry brought his mother (sorry Harry). Harry surprised me recently with pictorial evidence of that meeting.

As is often the case with jazz musicians, we saw each other only occasionally after that initial get-together but remained mutual fans and for the last eight years we’ve worked together as a trio, with guitarist Chris Flory.

A little over a year ago, Harry asked if I’d ever thought about lyric writing. I didn’t want to presume he meant to his music—although that was my hope.

“If the right person came along, I’d consider it,” I answered, crossing my fingers.

Happily, Harry did mean his music and here we are.

Our cover is a portrait by Harry’s wife—Ivana Falconi—of their rescue cat, Dorothy, who came to Harry and Ivana abused, frightened and shy. Dorothy spent her first few months with Harry and Ivana hiding in their closet. We wrote the music and lyric for our title tune can you love once more? thinking of Dorothy. Harry is happy to report that Dorothy is out of the closet—so to speak—and doing quite well, loving once more.

One of the joys of writing with Harry is the variety of music he sends my way. He loves to swing—as anyone who’s heard him can attest—but his soul belongs to ballads. His gorgeous, melancholic music for a lonely breeze and there was once a time inspired a certain kind of lyric that prompted a musician friend to ask me, “How’s your love life, Judy? Are you OK?”

Harry dedicated if only there were time to all the bad drummers we know, although I wrote the lyric with something else in mind.

Harry usually writes the music and I add the lyric. In contrast, our humorous songs start with my lyrics and Harry follows with the music. I wrote Take Me Back to Machu Picchu while looking out at the Andes from a café in Peru. I sent it to Harry with the note, “Write the music while picturing me with a bowl of fruit on my head.” He wrote back, “ I always picture you with a bowl of fruit on your head.”

Just about every woman I know will relate with An Almost Perfect Man—sort of our version of Some Enchanted Evening gone wrong. And anyone who has spent time in a bar will understand Make Me an Offer I Can’t Refuse.

Pluto You’re for Me gave me a chance to capitalize on my life-long interest in astrophysics, although Harry thought the lyric was inspired by my years at Disneyland.

This is My Lucky Day, Meant to Be, The One for You and June Song reflect our positive outlook on life. Along with our ballads and comedy tunes, our songs tell stories of love, loss and pain but never defeat.

We were joined on this date by a great group of musicians: Mike Renzi on piano—who we like to say we “loan” to Tony Bennett (Mike is Tony’s pianist/music director), Mike Karn on bass and Alvin Atkinson on drums.

Mike Renzi told me that he loves to work with people who see music and beauty the same way he does, who share the same goal in what they try to create. This brought to mind a quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, that my father shared with me many years ago:

“Love consists of not looking each other in the eye, but of looking outwardly in the same direction.”

There was a lot of love on this date. And we all looked in the same direction.

— Judy Carmichael