At Songbook Ink, we’re completely obsessed with the Great American Songbook. You know, those songs where composers managed to rhyme “Niagara” with “aggravate” and used words like "gossamer" and "swell." There’s something magical about lyrics that sum up love affairs with perfect imagery: happy ones like flying to the moon to play among the stars, and failed ones like the end of a Chekhov story.   Since founding Songbook Ink nine months ago, we’ve noticed blank stares in public and puzzling...

I didn’t fall for New York because of jazz or Broadway or old Hollywood musicals (even though those all make sense). No, my obsession started with books. (I promise this isn’t going to read like a book report) Back when I was a bookworm kid trudging through upstate New York winters in hand-me-down boots and a cringy practical coat (think boring, dreary color, no cute embellishments), I devoured stories that made the city feel like more than a place. It was a living, restless, temperamental,...

We spend a lot of time celebrating the charm, wit, and staying power of the American Songbook, but before we wax poetic, let’s get the basics down. We hear two questions more than any others: Why the Songbook? And... what is it? Let’s handle the second question first. When we talk about the Great American Songbook, we don’t mean a dusty book forgotten inside a piano bench. Think of it more as a living playlist—an unofficial collection of American popular songs and jazz standards, mostly...