We'll probably lose all sorts of Cool Points by admitting that Stardust is our favorite standard but there it is. We're proud of who we are. (With special fondness for Roy Eldridge's version with Duke Ellington.) So it does our hearts proud to learn that Hoagy Carmichael has been honored - albeit a tad on the late side - by the club that fired him.
Carmichael worked as leader of the house band at the Columbia Club in 1928, but was let go when he insisted on playing jazz instead of dinner music, The Indianapolis Star reported Tuesday."I find it absolutely luminous, heartwarming, that a man who was ruled out by a club would go on to attain such a stature that he'd ultimately be honored by that same club," said Donna Mikels Shea, a club member who helped organize the events honoring the composer.
It's a moderately interesting fact that Ian Fleming described his 007 as resembling Carmichael.
"He is very good-looking. He reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael [...]" Vesper Lynd on James Bond in Casino Royale (1953)
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