All right, enough with the book stuff, at least for a while. Here is something quite wonderful in my little pop v. jazz series – pianist Aaron Goldberg tearing up Stevie Wonder’s classic hit. The tune comes from Goldberg’s superb new CD, Home. (It’s unfortunate that this CD has the same title as the wonderful live duo recording by Bruce …
One Day I’ll Fly Away
Jazz treatments of pop covers turn up in some unusual places, but I never thought I’d find one on a Keith Jarrett record. But on Jasmine, his latest outing for ECM, a gorgeous duet session with bassist Charlie Haden, Jarrett covers One Day I’ll Fly Away, which was a hit for Randy Newman in 1980. As you’ll hear, Jarrett and …
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Thought I would try and cheer up your Monday mornings by resurrecting this occasional series of pop tunes receiving a jazzier treatment. This is a delightful version of the Paul Simon classic by Sophie Milman. Sophie Milman is an absolutely cracking singer, with a gorgeous, smoky contralto. Occasionally she swallows a word or two and sometimes sounds as if she …
Last Train…
Jeepers. It is Thursday again already? Time for some more pop/jazz confection, then. I have written before in these pages about Cassandra Wilson. I actually met her once, backstage at the Royal Festival Hall, when she performed with Wynton Marsalis. Clang. Drop that name, son. Anyway, this is from one of her earlier albums, New Moon Daughter, and I love it. …