To the great composers of American standards – Richard Rodgers, Harold Arlen, Harry Warren – the mid-1950s were an unmitigated disaster. Once Bill Haley and Elvis Presley appeared on the scene, the market for the American popular song seemed to disappear overnight; no one wanted their songs anymore. Some of the older writers, principally Rodgers, Jule Styne and Frank Loesser continued to write for Broadway shows but, with a few exceptions, most of their songs after the 50s did not become mainstream popular hits. Some of the Broadway composers who emerged after 1960, such as Jerry Herman, Jerry Bock and John Kander did produce a few genuine hit songs such as "Hello, Dolly", "Sunrise, Sunset", and "Cabaret". But a few new and gifted songwriters seemed to buck the trend by producing an array of hits independent of Broadway support. These writers, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mandel, Michel Legrand, Antonio Carlos Jobim and others are the focus of this program.