Between Two Worlds – Andre Previn

by | Apr 13, 2018 | Orchestral, Trio

Andre Previn is a pianist, composer, conductor and arranger masterfully standing astride two musical genres … both classical music and jazz. Many fans don’t realize that he had one foot in jazz before his other became firmly planted as a classical musician. Here we sample a touch of his conducting, arranging and piano artistry with “Rhapsody In Blue” before stepping back a few years into a swinging performance of Lerner and Loewe’s “Get Me To The Church On Time.”

Satin Doll / Windsong – Mundell Lowe

by | Jan 5, 2018 | Orchestral, Solo/Duo

Mundell Lowe and Louis Stewart perform Satin Doll together with a string quartet.  It’s a unique treatment of the Ellington / Strayhorn classic, with the tender touch of one of jazz’s guitar icons.

Wind Song is a rhythmic, medium-up tempo tune featuring Mundell Lowe and Louis Stewart on guitars, Jim Doherty piano, Dave Gausden bass, Peter Ainscough on drums, augmented by a classical string quartet just to keep things interesting.

The Christmas Song – Nat ‘King’ Cole

by | Dec 15, 2017 | Orchestral, Vocal

“The Christmas Song” (Merry Christmas To You) is a true classic, written by Mel Tormé and Bob Wells in 1944.  It was first recorded by Nat Cole and the The King Cole Trio in 1946 … then recorded again in stereo with a full orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael, using the same arrangement for Nat King Cole’s Christmas Song album in 1961.  Since then it has been recorded more than 254 times by artists ranging from Frank Sinatra and Mel Tormé himself, to the likes of Christina Aguilera and Justin Bieber in more recent times!

Bluesette – Toots Thielemans

by | Sep 29, 2017 | Orchestral, Video

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor Baron Thielemans, known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian-American jazz musician. He was known for his harmonica playing, as well as his guitar, whistling skills, and composing.  Possibly his most important contribution was in championing the ‘humble’ harmonica and making it into a legitimate voice in jazz.  His own composition, “Bluesette”, which Toots typically performs on harmonica or while playing the guitar and whistling in unison, has now become a jazz standard.  He said, “If there’s a piece of music that describes me, it’s that song.”  This rendition was recorded in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2009.

Summertime – Sir Roland Hanna / Bob Brookmeyer

by | Jun 23, 2017 | Audio, Orchestral, Quartet/Quintet

To celebrate the arrival of summer, here are not one but two unique treatments of the Gershwin classic.  Summertime was originally an aria composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, and Ira Gershwin. Through the years, the song has became a truly solid jazz standard.

Summertime

by Sir Roland Hanna | Quartet Plays Gershwin

Summertime

by Bob Brookmeyer | Out Of This World