Diana Krall - But Not For Me

This is a live performance by contemporary jazz artist Diana Krall playing her take on the classic jazz song "But Not For Me". She starts of by playing a bit in the original tempo and feel and then moves on to playing the whole song in a much more melancholic and slow tone and feel. The performance is from the TV-show "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...".
The song was originally composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was originally made for the musical "Girl Crazy" (1930) and Judy Garland sang it in the 1943 film version of the aforementioned stage musical.
It has been recorded by a huge amount of artist, including: Carol Burnett, Miles Davis, Doris Day, John Coltrane, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Frank Sinatra and Chet Baker.
I am personally very found of the version Chet Baker does of this song. (embeded below).

There's no video footage, but pictures and pretty good audio quality. I love how he doesn't have the biggest voice ever, but makes so good use of what he has and just sings it with so much feeling. Then on top of that we get his trumpet playing which is just phenomenal. I recommend both versions of this song, cause they're both great in their own right.

Enjoy ; )

Thelonius Monk - Blue Monk

This is a live performance by jazz legend and jazz composer Thelonius Monk playing his classic jazz standard "Blue Monk". The performance was shot in Norway in 1966. The musicians joining Monk are: Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums.
As mentioned earlier "Blue Monk" is an instrumental jazz standard composed by Thelonius Monk. It is a B♭ blues based on the jazz tune "Pastel Blue".
Thelonius Monk is considered one of the great contributors of American music and he has written several jazz standards, "Blue Monk" included. He was known for his very distinctive and unique approach to the piano, for his clothing style and for standing up in the middle of songs and taking breaks to then return to the piano. He also does this in this performance. In fact all musicians but the drummer do this and then at the end they all join in again.
It's a great performance and you can really tell that the musicians are in sync with each other and leave space and respect to one another. This is a great laid back performance of a great jazz standard.

Enjoy ;-)

Jeff Beck & Imelda May - How High the Moon

This is a live performance by Jeff Beck and vocalist Imelda May from the recently released concert film "Rock 'n' Roll Party". The film honours recently deceased guitarist Les Paul, features many different guest artists, a lot of classic rock 'n' roll tracks and is also available as a CD.
Jeff Beck is joined on stage be Imelda May an Irish vocalist who sings this style of music to perfection. It is very obvious that she is trying to imitate Mary Ford's clean vocals from the original recording with Les Paul, and she does an amazing job and is a very talented singer. She earlier collaborated with Beck on his 2010 Emotion & Commotion album where she sings on "Lilac Wine" and does an amazing job.
The song "How High the Moon" is a jazz standard and it was first featured in 1940 in the Broadway revue "Two for the Show". The best known recording of the song is the one done by Les Paul and Mary Ford. (Embeded below)

This version was recorded in 1951 and it was an unexpected hit doing well on the Billboard chart at no. 1 for several weeks.
It's a very good song and a very good performance by Beck paying tribute to a great player and a great inventor.

Enjoy ; )