Louis Alter, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany

Overview and Commentary Louis Alter

I was a great fan of [Paul] Whiteman when I first came down here from Boston. He was the first big name I actually followed around and met. I was having a love affair with New York when Whiteman commissioned me to write a tone poem. I walked around this city for six months absorbing the sights and sounds. And then suddenly it came to me. Once I plunged into it I finished it in two hours (souce: Wikipedia ).

"After Hurricane Katrina, his song 'Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?' took on a different kind of meaning . . . . experiencing a revival due to its use in various post-Katrina documentary films and TV shows. It was used for strong emotional effect in Spike Lee's four-hour [documentary] When the Levees Broke (2006) and an equally moving dramatic sketch by Billy Crystal on HBO's Comic Relief 2006"(souce: Wikipedia).

Cafe Songbook Music-Video Cabinet: Louis Alter

Research Resources: Louis Alter

Amica.org (biography and song list from May 1974)
DBOPM (Database Of Popular Music: song list; awards; hit songs; co-writers)
Discogs.com (songwriting and arranging credits)
FullWiki.org (songs, orchestral pieces, trivia, etc.)
Internet Broadway Database (Broadway productions and song credits)
Internet Movie Database (brief biography, filmography, movie song credits)
New York Public Library (catalog entries: includes citations for books, recordings, sheet music, etc.);
Songwriters Hall of Fame (biography and song list)
Wikipedia (Louis Alter article)
Williams College Archive / Whiteman Collection (Alter material).
ASCAP Biographical Dictionary of Composers, Authors and Publishers, New York: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (1966 edition, entry p. 13).
Alec Wilder, American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950, New York: Oxford University Press, 1972 -- three Alter songs commented on: "Manhattan Serenade" (464), "My Kinda Love" (465) and "You Turned the Tables on Me" (491).
David A. Jasen, Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song, New York: Routledge, 2003 (entry, p. 7).
Maxine Sullivan: Sflair

Notes

In Nancy Groce's book, New York: Songs of the City (Watson-Guptill, 1999), the author quotes Alter:

Questions

What is Louis Alter, songwriter?

I was a great fan of [Paul] Whiteman when I first came down here from Boston. He was the first big name I actually followed around and met. I was having a love affair with New York when Whiteman commissioned me to write a tone poem. I walked around this city for six months absorb

How should Louis Alter, songwriter be cited?

Cite this page as "Louis Alter, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany," Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/a_sws/alter_louis.html

Which Cafe Songbook pages are related?

Also read "Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/d/do_you_know_miss_new_orleans_m.html); "I Love the Way You're Breaking My Heart" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/i/i_love_the_way_youre_breaking_my_heart_m.html); "My Kinda Love" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/m/my_kinda_love_m.html); "Nina Never Knew" (https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songs/n/nina_never_knew_m.html).

Cite this page: Louis Alter, songwriter: reference sources (web and print); selected songs; recordings, videos; miscellany, Cafe Songbook, https://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/songwriters/a_sws/alter_louis.html