Taxi

Another big favourite especially when featuring the great Christopher Lloyd as “Jim”

Here it is in full!!!!!!!

Herbie Hancock

Today is the first day of December and whilst the mere thought of Christmas this year breaks my heart there is no avoiding it.

So here as an early token gesture is Herbie Hancock with a cover of the Joni Mitchell classic “River” with Corinne Bailey Rae as the guest vocalist’.

“River” – Herbie Hancock with Corinne Bailey Rae

It’s coming on Christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
But it don’t snow here
It stays pretty green
I’m going to make a lot of money
Then I’m going to quit this crazy scene
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby cry

He tried hard to help me
You know, he put me at ease
And he loved me so naughty
Made me weak in the knees
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I’m so hard to handle
I’m selfish and I’m sad
Now I’ve gone and lost the best baby
That I ever had
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I wish I had a river so long
I would teach my feet to fly
Oh I wish I had a river
I could skate away on
I made my baby say goodbye

It’s coming on Christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on

On paper, River sounds like a match made in several versions of heaven. Legendary pianist Herbie Hancock re-imagines Joni Mitchell with his hand-picked, star-studded band–including saxophonist Wayne Shorter–in tow. Luminary guests lend vocals to a song apiece: Norah Jones (“Court and Spark”), Tina Turner (“Edith and the Kingpin”), Corinne Bailey Rae (“River”), Luciana Souza (“Amelia”), Leonard Cohen (with an unsettlingly sanguine version of “The Jungle Line”), even Mitchell herself (“Tea Leaf Prophecy”). In the event, though, a few fundamental elements go awry. Hancock plays with almost saccharine understatement throughout, and even Shorter’s seminal “Nefertiti” and Duke Ellington’s “Solitude” fall into the album’s presiding, somnolent surface, though to a lesser degree does the instrumental version of Mitchell’s “Sweet Bird.” But girding, and in some measure, saving, the proceedings, the lyrics here testify to a subtler wisdom guiding Hancock’s set list. The mix includes a continuum from intrepid classics to dusty, fans-only fare, but a distinct reverence for Joni Mitchell the Poet threads them together, and, in the end, this album works best as a sleepy window into one fan’s giddy and particular love affair with his source material. Fans of Hancock win out. –Jason Kirk

Source www.amazon .com

To buy the music of Herbie Hancock click HERE

Cover Story – Joni and Rickie

Joni Mitchell

Rickie Lee Jones

Both Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee Jones are talented singer/songwriters yet both have in the past  released  albums of cover versions.

First up is Joni:-

Released in 2000 “Both Sides Now” featured the re-working of two Joni classics, the title track and “A Case Of You” neither bettered the originals and to a degree this was a pattern which continued throughout the album.

Here are my two favourite tracks, first a brave take on Etta Jame’s signature tune “At Last” followed by “Comes Love”.

“At Last” – Joni Mitchell

“Comes Love” –  Joni Mitchell

To buy the music of Joni Mitchell click HERE

“It’s Like This” was also released in 2000 and from it I have chosen these two tracks.

“Cycle” best perhaps best known via the Sinatra version is follwed by the Charles Chaplin classic “Smile”

“Cycle” – Rickie Lee Jones

“Smile” – Rickie Lee Jones

To buy the music of Rickie Lee Jones click HERE

Sunday Jazz – Diana Krall

I have been a big admirer of Diana Krall since 1996 when I bought her then new album “All For You: A Dedication To The Nat King Cole Trio”

My favourite song she plays is “Peel Me A Grape” which featured on her “Love Scenes” album released in 1997.

Her cover version of Joni Mitchell’s ” A Case Of You” from her 2002 live album “A Night In Paris” re-kindled by admiration for the music of Joni Mitchell

 

 

For more information on Diana Krall click HERE

 

To buy Diana Krall music click HERE

 

Diana has a new album “Quiet Nights” scheduled for a March release.

Track Listings

1. Where or When

2. Too Marvelous for Words

3. I’ve Grown Accustomed to His Face

4. Boy from Ipanema

5. Walk on By

6. You’re My Thrill

7. Este Seu Olhar

8. So Nice

9. Quiet Nights

10. Guess I’ll Hang My Tears out to Dry

11. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart [*]

12. Every Time We Say Goodbye [*]

Diana Krall first new CD in nearly three years – Quiet Nights, is to be released on March 31, it is Krall’s first CD of new material in three years.

Krall, known for her crossover appeal had twin sons with husband Elvis Costello in 2006; they turned 2 Dec. 6. The 10 songs include ballads, three recordings of songs by bossa nova legend Antonio Carlos Jobim, and standards such as “Walk On By” by Burt Bacharach.

A two-time Grammy winner, Krall is surrounded by familiar faces on “Quiet Nights.” In addition to her longtime quartet and producer Tommy LiPuma, who worked with her on nine previous recordings, arranger Claus Ogerman returns. He last worked with Krall on her 2001 record “The Look of Love.” Ogerman was the arranger on many of bossa nova’s first wave of recordings in the 1960s, working with Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz and Bill Evans. Ogerman came out of semiretirement to once again work with Krall. LiPuma, who first worked with Krall in 1994, said the record shows how she has matured as a singer.

In addition to finishing “Quiet Nights,” Krall is producing a new Barbra Streisand record that is slated to be completed in January and released sometime in 2009. Krall intends to tour North America in April following the release of “Quiet Nights.”

Krall’s previous album release was The Very Best of Diana Krall (her eleventh) and it was released in 2007. In the U.S. the CD debuted on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart at number 19.

Following soon after the album will be “Live In Rio” a DVD/Blu-Ray release scheduled for May.

Recorded in November 2008 in support of her QUIET NIGHTS album, LIVE IN RIO finds Diana Krall on top form, lending her sultry vocals to a set of bossa nova standards. Tracklisting: ‘I Love Being Here With You’, ‘Let’s Fall In Love’, ‘Where Or When’, ‘Too Marvellous For Words’, ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed To His Face’, ‘Walk On By’, ‘Frim Fram Sauce’, ‘Cheek To Cheek’, ‘You’re My Thrill’, ‘Let’s Face The Music And Dance’, ‘Every Time We Say Goodbye’, ‘So Nice’, ‘Quiet Nights’, ‘Este Seu Olhar’, ‘The Boy From Ipanema’, ‘I Don’t Know Enough About You’, ‘S’Wonderful’, ‘Exactly Like You’.