22 Feb 2025, 16:00 CET – The Great American Songbook.
The name Dave Brubeck immediately generates a few associations: his quartet with Paul Desmond, the altoist with the unique, velvety sound; Take Five, “the highest-selling jazz single of all time” and a few other pieces in irregular time signatures – Blue Rondo à la Turk, Unsquare Dance. Those time signatures, 5/4, 7/4, were a novelty in jazz. But Brubeck’s composition book contains more than two hundred titles! His wife, Iola, also wrote lyrics for some of his compositions.
It’s a Raggy Waltz, with different time signatures and shifting accents, was provided with lyrics by Dave Brubeck himself. Danish vocalist Louise Bøttern recorded it in 2022.
(on her 2nd album, Listen Here), accompanied by a sextet, featuring a soloing harmonica player.
In Your Own Sweet Way was published in the mid-1950s, dedicated to Iola by Dave. The piece became a standard, covered countless times – by Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Keith Jarrett, Art Farmer & Lee Konitz, Bill Evans and many others. Today’s vocal version is a duo formation: Swedish singer Lina Nyberg (1970) and pianist Esbjörn Svensson. The song is on Nyberg’s debut album Close from 1993. A Swedish jazz classic.
The result approaches perfection. Nyberg has a rich palette of timbres. Colour nuances and dynamics are constantly changing, depending on the meaning of the text. The pianist also works with refinement in colour and tone. The duo is a unit. Silences play a role in the free-tempo sections. The overall quality of the recording is sublime. Nyberg is into vinyl. Vinyl inspires her, she says. After listening to this song, a long silence is appropriate.
Nancy Marano is not from yesterday. She recorded with Benny Carter, Michel Legrand, Gerry Mulligan and Roger Kellaway. Her CD You’re Nearer is on Downbeat Magazine’s list of ‘best CDs of 2000‘. On that CD she sings with a completely Dutch accompaniment: Rob van Bavel, Marius Beets, Hans van Oosterhout, Maarten van der Grinten, Angelo Verploegen and Ilja Reijngoud. Summer Song – by the Brubecks – with piano, bass and drums. The intro immediately draws you in. Changing time signatures. Rob van Bavel solos.
In 1987, a concert by vocalist Diane Schuur and the Count Basie Orchestra was issued on the record: Diane Schuur & the Count Basie Orchestra. Basie had died a few years earlier – the orchestra is conducted by Frank Foster. The appreciation for this musical product was reflected in the Billboard Jazz Charts: 33 consecutive weeks at number 1. In Travelin’ Blues, Diane Schuur uses everything she has, and that’s a lot. A thrilling finale. Party-time!
When compared to the fire-breathing Travelin’ Blues, you could call the instrumental The Duke ‘cool’. The piece is part of the album Miles Ahead, a 1957 product of the historic collaboration between Miles Davis and the orchestra of arranger Gil Evans. That collaboration would be continued with Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain. Beautiful instrumental arrangements, including unison brass passages.
Davis became very upset when he saw the cover of the LP – a white woman on a sailboat. His response to Columbia producer George Avakian: “Why’d you put that white bitch on there?” On later releases of the album, that woman disappeared, making way for a photo of Davis himself.
Also during this hour: Meredith D’Ambrosio, Karla Harris, Louis Armstrong, Carmen McRae, Ilona Knopfler, Quincy Jones andThe Brubeck Brothers (Dan & Chris).
Click here for the complete playlist.
The Great American Songbook – Ineke Heijliger
