Music Mondays: Jazz Takes
Nov 21, 2004 Music
I’ve got three of my favorite jazzed up showtunes for you this time around.
First off, a snazzy little number take on the Rodgers & Hammerstein tune from Oklahoma, “Surrey with the Fringe on Top” by our beloved Blossom Dearie. Ms. Dearie said that the first time she heard this song, she thought it needed to be slowed down. She takes a jaunty throw-away song and turns it into a delicious lullaby that works equally well both as a rock-your-baby to sleep song and a slow-dance-and-romance song. Can you see why I’d want to name a baby after this woman? And by the way, Blossom from the television show? Yes, she was named after this Blossom. You may recall that her dad was supposed to be a jazz pianist so there you go.
–Surrey with the Fringe on the Top
Next up, a fantastic (and fast) take on another Rodgers & Hammmerstein classic. This time it’s Betty Carter singing “My Favorite Things” live. Ms. Carter knows how to get inside a song and find new ways to sing it but this time she plays it pretty straight other than speeding things way, way up. I love the way she puts an extra blast of solid joy on “girls in white dresses;” it makes me want to spin around in circles, honest to god. In fact, when Noah was a toddler, we’d put this song on and run around like crazy because it sounded too good for us to keep still.
–My Favorite Things
Finally, a song that’s meant to be subdued. From a Sondheim musical about mannequins come to life (it was written for television and I don’t think it’s ever seen a stage), it’s “I Remember Sky” from Evening Primrose as sung by the incomparable Dianne Reeves. I’ve heard this sung by other people (it was on one of Sarah Brightman’s albums and Judy Collins covered it, too) but never this well. I used to listen to this song while I rode the bus to work in Portland, letting myself slip into the welcome embrace of enforced nostalgia. Lovely.
–I Remember Sky
November 22nd, 2004 at 1:37 pm
You’re right, that second one almost *forces* you to move….
November 23rd, 2004 at 11:01 pm
These were great choices, Dawn! I had never heard of Evening Primrose. I may now have to rent it…well, if it’s rentable. The song does sound familiar, though. And yes…that jazzed up version of Surrey was fantabulous!