Bette Midler—”Somewhere Along The Way” (1997)

“Somewhere Along The Way” is a beautiful 1952 song, first released that year on Capitol Records by Nat King Cole. The lyrics were written by Minnesotan Sammy Gallop (1915-1971) and the composer was Kurt Adams. The latter was a pseudonym for Jimmy Van Heusen, which in turn was the artist name for New Yorker Edward Chester Babcock (1913-1990). 35 years later, Hawaiian native Bette Midler sang the song to Dennis Farina in the 1997 Universal Pictures film “That Old Feeling.”

The actor playing the pianist is Blu Mankuma, a Seattle born pianist, singer-songwriter and actor, now living in Canada. But Blu is only pretending to tickle the ivories. We are actually hearing Detroit-born Tommy Flanagan (1930-2001) on this track. This jazz pianist of considerable elegance and grace is perhaps best know for his decades long career as musical director for Ella Fitzgerald. The other musician is probably the great Czech bassist George Mraz, with whom Flanagan has worked for many years.