Handful of Keys (and a Song to Sing) was Karen and Jay's first album. Most of the songs on it are drawn from their 1997 Valentine's Day concert, which was given at the Westfield Women's Club. The next day, on that same stage, Karen and Jay were married. As you might expect, most of the songs from that concert were love songs. The styles range from the almost breathless passion in "Night and Day" to the sneering regret in "Don't Get Around Much Anymore."

Of all the songs Jay has written, "Nobody's Home" is one of Karen's favorites and this is their first recording of it. Likewise, all the other tunes Jay has penned on this album are receiving their debut here. Probably the song most special to them though is "Hardly a Day Goes By," which Jay wrote for their wedding. ("It Had to Be You" was the song Karen and Jay danced to at their wedding.)

So if you've enjoyed romantic 1950's recordings by Tony Bennett or Frank Sinatra, you'll love listening to this collection from the Valentine couple.

If you'd like to hear selections from this recording, simply click on a song title..

The Songs

Luck Be a Lady (Frank Loesser)
The Girl I Love (Ira & George Gershwin)
Yes Sir, That's My Baby/Ain't She Sweet (Gus Kahn & Walter Donaldson; Jack Yellen & Milton Ager)
Mall Town (Tony Hatch with new lyrics by Jay Ducharme)
Pennies From Heaven (John Burke & Arthur Johnston)
Three Coins in the Fountain (Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne)
Hardly a Day Goes By (Jay Ducharme)
Blues in the Night (Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen)
It Had to Be You (Gus Kahn & Isham Jones)
That Old Black Magic (Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen)
Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Duke Ellington & Bob Russell)
Nobody's Home (Jay Ducharme)
One for the Road (Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen)
I Lost My Hair in Mississippi (Douglass Cross & George Cory with new lyrics by Jay Ducharme)
Night and Day (Cole Porter with french lyrics by Emelia Renaud)
The Jitterbug Waltz (Richard Maltby, Jr. & Thomas Waller)
Bye Bye Blackbird (Mort Dixon & Ray Henderson)
I Love a Piano/Handful of Keys (Irving Berlin; Richard Maltby, Jr. & Thomas Waller)


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