Lyric by Mitzi Zilka c. 2003 Music by Sonny Rollins
Wake-up Teacup (Pent up House)

“This is the first bebop tune I wrote a lyric for and it was a real challenge. All the tune’s I wrote lyrics for between 2002 and 2003 were introduced to me by Peter Boe. From the first time I heard Pent Up House, it struck me as a man’s tune. So I wrote it with the idea a man would sing it. I wrote the lyric over a long weekend while staying at Salishan Beach on the Oregon coast, with my brother Tony, his wife Paris their five children and, my son Ryan and his friend Tim Murphy from Australia. By the end of the weekend everybody including my brother’s 5 year daughter Troy, were singing the melody, it’s addictive. I see it as a kind of jazz rap song.”

Lyric by Mitzi Zilka c. 2003 Music by Bobby Hutcherson
White Moon Black Sky (Little B’s Poem)

“A writer friend of mine once told me, you write where you’re at in life. This song summed up how I was feeling at the time. Feeling lonely, feeling tired of being lonely, hoping I’d meet someone special and feeling like everyone in the world had someone but me.”

“This song took 5 to 6 hours to write, spread over a weeks time.”

“I encourage you to listen to the piano mastery of Peter Boe in this song.”

Lyric by Mitzi Zilka c. 2002 Music by J.J. Johnson
I Will Remember Our Best (Lament)

“This was the first song I wrote under Peter Boe’s tutelage. He played the song for me, in his tower apartment in Portland and I knew instantly what the song was about for me. When I sat down with the recording after our session, the words flowed out from the loss and the hope in Peter’s piano notes.”

“Many people have recorded this tune including Miles Davis and Mike Nock from Australia. Mark Murphy has written his own lyric to this tune.”

Lyric by Mitzi Zilka c. 2002 Music by Tadd Dameron
Bring Me Love (Lady Bird)

“Many famous musicians have recorded Lady Bird; Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis & Bud Powell and it’s a standard in most jazz musician’s repertoire.”

“Sometimes it takes a while before you hear the real heart of a song. I now prefer to sing it in AbMaj and as an easy swing tune and have had it translated into French.”

Lyric by Mitzi Zilka c. 2002 Music by Tadd Dameron
Amene-Moi L’amour (Femme Oiseau) - Bring Me Love (Lady Bird) (French translation)

Lyric by Mitzi Zilka c. 2003 Music by Kenny Dorham
You Smiled At Me (Blue Bossa)

“I wrote this lyric in about 20 minutes and it’s one of the songs I am happiest with. The music transported me immediately to a blue lit beach.”

“This is another standard tune that jazz musicians are expected to know . Because it is played with a latin feel, I have had it translated into Portuguese.”

Lyric by Mitzi Zilka c. 2003 Music by Kenny Dorham
Voce’ Sorri Para Mim - You Smiled At Me (Blue Bossa) (portugese translation)

Lyric by Mitzi Zilka c. 2003 Music by Thelonious Monk
Beamtime Voicings (Monk’s Mood)

“This was the most time consuming song I’ve written so far. I spent weeks researching Thelonious Monk’s life before I wrote a single word. I finally decided to write it from his point of view, as if he was singing it. It looks at the question of how he might have created his music, how he made it magical. It leaves off with the idea that it’s difficult if not impossible to explain how his muse worked but that his wife was his anchor, his salvation in his endeavors.”

Lyric by Mitzi Zilka c. 2003 Music by Peter Boe

Lovepain (Later) “Duet”

“This song has never been recorded but the lyric was written to an original composition by Peter Boe which he entitled ‘Later.’ His composition is haunting, beautiful and cerebral. Emotionally, it was the hardest song I’ve written. I wrote it for all parents and children who face growing up problems. I wrote it for parents, who have the life experience to know that time changes one’s perspective. I wrote it for children, to remind them that their mom or dad waits for them.”

Lyric by Mitzi Zilka c. 2003 Music by Antonio Carlos Jobim

Look at the Sky (Winging under Suns Eye)