Some readers may wonder how many of the Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths he cites consciously composed along these thoughtful lines.

ECONOMIST: Noteworthy

Denmark Street, known as the British answer to Tin Pan Alley where musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Elton John and the Rolling Stones once worked, is to be redeveloped by entrepreneur Laurence Kirschel with shops, restaurants and bars.

WSJ: In London, an Underground Real-Estate Revolution

Throw together all the output from Hollywood and Silicon Valley to Wall Street and Tin Pan Alley, and you have a commercial empire that would have been the envy of the British East India Company or Cecil Rhodes.

ECONOMIST: America and empire

Our radio explanation also includes two bits from an old Tin Pan Alley song by Yip Harburg (who wrote the lyrics for the Wizard of Oz score) and Vernon Duke, called "April in Paris" played by the Count Basie Band.

NPR: Not All Seasons Are Created Equal

It is London's Tin Pan Alley.

BBC: Denmark Street and Soho: London's Tin Pan Alleys

It sounds as if Ms. Krall and producer T-Bone Burnett journeyed back to the beginning of time and landed at that Big Bang moment when all the American idioms jazz, country, blues, Tin Pan Alley and Broadway were being invented simultaneously, and not completely independent of one another.

WSJ: The Jazz Scene: Easy Keys, Bass Instincts