I have been a Postmodern Jukebox fan for about 48 hours. I had never heard of them until Saturday, when one of my friends posted a video on Facebook. Postmodern Jukebox performs swing jazz covers of current pop. The band features a couple of singers I remember from American Idol - Haley Reinhart and Casey Abrams. (His bass-and-vocals cover of "Nature Boy" is one of my all-time favorite Idol performances.) One of the other singers is Ariana Savalas, daughter of Telly.
Now here's the catch -- their music is digital. Being old school, I still prefer CDs. They are on Youtube, and you can enjoy a lot of their songs (and fun videos) there. Here's a sample of their music - a jazz cover of Meghan Trainor's "All About That Base." Enjoy!
Dave Brubeck is my favorite jazz musician, and Time Out is one of my all time favorite albums (of any genre). "Blue Rondo a la Turk" appeared on the album Time Out in 1959. Dave Brubeck was inspired by an unusual song he heard some Turkish street musicians playing. He asked one of the men about the rhythm, and the musician replied "This rhythm is to us what the blues is to you." Hence the song title.
This video is fun! The Dave Brubeck Quartet plays the song on a magic carpet as they fly above a Los Angeles freeway. Stick around for the motorcycle cop at the end of the video. This was filmed for "The Lively Ones" television show first broadcast July 25, 1962. Enjoy!
Willie Nelson's Stardust is one of my all time favorite albums. It is a wonderful collection of Great American Songbook standards married to both country and jazz ... all with Willie's inimitable voice and phrasing. My very favorite song on the album is the Duke Ellington classic, "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." I could listen to this music all day (and I might!).
I heard "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" by The Four Freshmen on the radio over the weekend and found it charming. This song was on the 1960 album First Affair. The Four Freshmen were a vocal jazz group that had wonderful harmonies. They have an old fashioned sound and remind me of some of the great Big Band era vocalists. This song was originally recorded by Frank Sinatra with the Tommy Dorsey band, and there was even a Polka Dots and Moonbeams fabric pattern promoted to go along with the song. I love everything about this song ... it sounds like something that would have played at a dance on Father Knows Best. Can't you just picture Betty Anderson slow dancing with a prom date to this number?
I love jazz. I grew up with it. My father was a big jazz fan, and my parents had jazz records and played them on the hi-fi when I was little. This music is still comfort food to me, and I listen to it often, especially on Real Jazz (XM Radio), NPR - especially Riverwalk Jazz, and WCLK (local Atlanta jazz station).
I was delighted to find two great jazz apps for phone or tablet.
The first is JazzBird, and it is an app developed by Jazz Boston. It is available as an app on iTunes and Google Play. You will find a wide range of jazz stations to play via radio on your phone or tablet. I have JazzBird Lite (free) installed on my iPad. It is great except you can't play music in the background as your surf the web, read email, etc. I am assuming this functionality exists in the paid version, but I haven't tried that yet.
The other app is JazzRadio. It is free and available in iTunes, Google Play, and Blackberry World. My beloved phone is a Blackberry, so I was especially excited to find this app! JazzRadio has a huge range of channels, each focusing on a different type of jazz. A few of my favorites include: Classic Jazz, Cool Jazz, and Vocal Legends. This app does play in the background while you do other things on your tablet. I just found it and have listened so much this past week!
I hope you enjoy these apps as much as I do!
Pictured above: the incomparable Louis Armstrong.
"Nature Boy" is one of my all time favorite songs. It was recorded by Nat King Cole in 1948, and it has such a beautiful and haunting quality. I love the lyrics, from the first lines:
"There was a boy
A very strange enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far
Very far, over land and sea ..."
I found a lovely video of Nat King Cole performing this jazz classic, below. I hope you enjoy it too.
"Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" by Perez Prado and His Orchestra always reminds me of Spring. This mambo song was popular in 1955, and it is one of those songs that sounds so much like a different time and place. (I can imagine this playing on a hi-fi player at party in the 1950's.) I have a weakness for mid 1950's to mid 1960's instrumentals, and this is one of my favorites.
Presented for your listening enjoyment: "Soul Sauce" by Cal Tjader. This 1964 Latin jazz song was performed by Cal Tjader, and written by Chano Pozo and Dizzy Gillespie. This song always makes me feel like summer ... so I couldn't resist sharing it with you.
Blossom Dearie is one of my favorite jazz singers. In addition to one of the best names ever, she had such a light, pretty voice, and was a talented jazz pianist as well. "They Say It's Spring" was a hit for her in 1957. This song was written by Bob Haymes, who wrote the great standard song, "That's All," and it has a similar sound. It is a beautiful, Spring-like day in Atlanta, and this seems like a perfect song to share with you today.
