I went to Alexandria, VA over the weekend. At home I was reading through my mama’s copy of the Fake Book turning the pages like I wanted her to give it to me and picking up on this she said I could have it if I learned her favorite jazz song before she came to visit me in Chicago the next week. Deal!
16 hours later I’m back in Chicago listening to several pages worth of My Funny Valentine on YouTube.
There’s Michael Buble, a truly talented performer and entertainer. At first his voice makes me melt and I think I’m in love. Everything is going really well for almost a minute until I start feeling like he’s trying to sell me something. It’s not that he’s insincere and I really enjoyed his performance but… this is just not the one for me. Same thing with Frank Sinatra.
There’s one by Nico. Interesting, dark, mysterious.
There’s one by Tony Bennett and Buddy Rich which seems promising until I’m reminded that listening to Tony Bennett is like being force fed cardboard. Buddy Rich plays minimally which I guess would be considered tasteful if listening to Tony Bennett’s voice wasn’t business casual torture. Keith Jarrett always comes up when I look for standards on YouTube… why is he always wearing those goofy shirts?
Something about Billy Holiday’s voice makes me feel like she is looking me straight in the eye and going right in for my soul. What is she going to do in there? I’m worried but ok, I trust her. I let her in. She is not blinking. I mean she is really singing to ME and it’s almost creepy like those paintings of Jesus with the eyes that follow you across the room. The song is over and I have no idea what just happened but I think I liked it.
There is a funny video by Sammy Davis Jr that I liked.
But then there is Sarah Vaughn’s version and this one is the truth as I know it!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGaPVXy2Cm8
