We have a detailed history of Tin Pan Alley thanks to invaluable information from the Historic Districts Council in their “Brief-ish History of Tin Pan Alley” written in 2008, and Michael Minn in his piece “Tin Pan Alley”, part of his “New York City” photography collection project. As both accounts cover both overlapping and different information, we present them both below. Many thanks to them both for their thorough and dogged research and insightful presentation.
Contemporary Influences
Tin Pan Alley as we know it may have closed its doors decades ago, but its influence has never left American music. The songwriting habits it established, the catchy melodies it produced, and the songs released built to be sung by anyone, are still shaping popular music today.
Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett
marcen27 from Glasgow, UK, Uploaded by C.Jonel, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tony_Bennett_%26_Lady_GaGa,_Cheek_to_Cheek_Tour_08.jpg
Album cover: Cheek to Cheek (2014), Columbia/Interscope Records"
Cheek to Cheek is a collaborative studio album recorded by Lady Gaga and jazz legend Tony Bennett. The title track, "Cheek to Cheek," was written by Irving Berlin, who was one of Tin Pan Alley's most prolific and influential composers. The album also featured Tin Pan Alley favorites, like “Anything Goes” and “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love.” The recording of the duo’s album live in concert went on to win the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2015. .
Watch the full live album performance here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lycoWM4diFQ&list=RDlycoWM4diFQ&start_radio=1
Paul McCartney
Kisses on the Bottom (2012), Hear Music/Concord Records
In his early career, Paul McCartney had absorbed the Tin Pan Alley sound into his own songwriting, with "Honey Pie" (1968) being the clearest early example. It wasn't until 2012, however, that he released his studio album of covers, Kisses on the Bottom, drawing almost entirely on traditional pop and jazz standards from the Tin Pan Alley and Great American songbooks. It includes standards like "It's Only a Paper Moon," “Always,” and “Bye Bye Blackbird” and features guest appearances from Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards in 2013, it won Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. McCartney's album was part of a broader pattern among his generation of pop artists returning to the Great American Songbook and releasing records around the same time, such as Rod Stewart, Carly Simon and Linda Ronstadt.