Saturday 30 November 2019

"LOTUS BLOSSOM"  A superb piano solo. I had just posted comments on the magnificent Billy Strayhorn  song "Lush Life."  It is his most famous composition , a song Sinatra thought was so complex, he gave up trying to record it. I suggest you listen to a fine piano solo of Lotus Blosson, played by Fred Hersch.
So perfect is the piece, that Duke Ellington, Strayhorn's mentor and collaborator, always played it as written , believing that improvisation could not improve upon Strayhorn;s unique composition. As you listen, it is possible that the song could have been written by  Chopin or Ravel, so perfect is the melody and harmonic structure. Fred Hersch does the song full justice.

https://youtu.be/N3lzKxt20Zo

Monday 25 November 2019

Diana Krall matches Sinatra:  I recently posted an opinion that Frank Sinatra's version of " I Get Along Without You Very Well" was the most effective intimate ballad he had ever recorded. Now I must announce that Diana Krall's version is in the same league. It is an intimate, quietly passionate performance with an arrangement as effective as that of Nelson Riddle's for Sinatra. The conductor is Alan Broadbent who is known for arranging and conducting songs for female singers. This is musical artistry at its finest and welcome relief from the Storm & Drang of so much current [popular music.

 https://youtu.be/Q4YUnfwMkRw

Saturday 23 November 2019

"That's All "  Both Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole recorded this song by Alan Brand & Bob Haymes ( brother of Dick Haymes) and they are excellent versions and still popular. However, listen to Canadian crooner Michael Buble and his tender and heart-felt version. It compares very well with those of the two previous versions by the Sinatra and Cole ,both masters of popular song styling.

 https://youtu.be/whFrPpPeED4

Tuesday 12 November 2019

If You Love  the song LAURA, you should love Theme From The Bad and The Beautiful, both by David Raksin. Jenness & Velsey said of Raksin that his songs have " Excellent, far-ranging voice lines combined with eztraordinarily lush chords with melodies that are very broad and expressive,"  "Love is for the Very Young" is the title of lyrics provided by Dory Previn based on the Raksin theme. Michael Feinstein recorded her version but am unable to retrieve it at present.
Raksin, himself, conducts a symphonic version of this magnificent and challenging melody. 

 https://youtu.be/C7AUCadYYuw

Monday 11 November 2019

LAURA - Classic Movie Theme      In the 1944 movie, a detective, played by Dana Andrews, becomes possessed by e picture of Laura assumed to be dead and the subject of his murder investigation. The lovely Laura theme is played while the detective wanders around the empty apparent. Imagine his surprise when Laura enters her apartment as they both discover that it was another woman who had been staying in the apartment and mistakenly shot in the dimly lit apartment.
 It was only when Johnny Mercer added the now famous lyrics that the song took hold. Several famous composers have said that Laura was one song they wished that they had written.
This is a very romantic solo piano version by Dave Brubeck almost in the style of Rachmaninov.

 https://youtu.be/b0c9BFiS3qs

Saturday 9 November 2019

Sinatra sings " I''ll Remember April"  It's a movie song from the 1940's, one that Frank sings with complete believeability. He always is able to convey the meaning in any song and inhabit it as his own, personal story. He is a singing actor with great dramatic scope.

 https://youtu.be/pepYluyez4k

Wednesday 6 November 2019

Sinatra asks " Where Is The One ?"  I believe that most single people have cast thoughts about that certain someone who might be one's desired life partner. Sinatra, himself, had imagined such thoughts, found partners who were not compatible before ending up with Barbara Marx. Alec Wilder, was also a song scholar who  wrote the song. The longing in Sinatra's voice and the pleading in the lyrics combine to create a highly emotional listening experience.

https://youtu.be/KpsT6uHVgoI

Friday 1 November 2019

S'Wonderful  Another Gershwin brothers classic which demonstrates the optimistic and joyful side of the composer. It is sung by Diane Reeves, a highly lauded singer with a big voice and dynamic vocal presence. She is accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Listen in the middle section when the tune is altered into a waltz section that still manages to swing so brightly. Reeves was a devoted fan of Sara Vaughan and that influence is evidenced by her performance.

https://youtu.be/fmUE9CzQiD8