Elvis Costello - Sulphur to Sugarcane

This is a live performance by British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello doing the song "Sulphur to Sugarcane" live on his television show "Spectacle". The performance is from the songwriters circle edition of the programme.
The song is from Costello's 2009 studio album "Secret, Profane & Sugarcane". (Cover art work embeded below)

The album was recorded in Nashville and was produced by T-Bone Burnett. The album features Americana, bluegrass, and country, of course with Costello's lyrics.
This song, however, was co-written by T-Bone Burnett who besides being a producer co-wrote this song, and played on the album.
It's a great song, and this performance is delightful and simple. It's basically just Costello and his backing guitarist for this show John Leventhal playing, and Costello singing. Leventhal does a great job adding that electric country sound to the song with simple soloing and rhythm parts throughout, very impressive.

Enjoy ; )

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 It was originally made for the musical "Girl Crazy" (1930) and Judy Garland sang it in the 1943 film version of the aforementioned stage musical.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 ; )

Diana Krall, Elvis Costello & Elton John – Makin’ Whoopee

This is the final performance from the TV-show “Spectacle with Elvis Costello”. On this episode jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall is the guest and as she is also the wife of Costello he chose not to do the interview. Instead Elton John did the interview, he also executive produces the TV-show.
At the final performance they all three sung the song together.
The song is an old jazz/blues tune that was first popularized by Eddie Cantor in the 1928 musical “Whoopee!”. The song acted as a cautionary tale for men. It starts with a wedding, then talks about the honeymoon and marital bliss, but moves on to babies and responsibilities which leads to affairs and ends up in divorce.
It’s been done by a lot of artists, including: Elton John and Rod Stewart in a duet, Dr. John and Rickie Lee Jones in a duet and even parodied on Sesame Street by the Cookie Monster.
It’s a great little show tune and I love what the three of them do with it. They really maintain the original campy feel and make it seem so cozy on stage. A job well done indeed with this one.

Enjoy ;-)

Diana Krall - Night Train

This is a live performance by contemporary jazz musician Diana Krall playing her version of the Oscar Peterson jazz song "Night Train". The performance is from the TV-show "Spectacle" normally hosted by Elvis Costello, but for this special artist hosted by none other than Elton John. I watched the interview and saw all of the performances from the show just yesterday, and I can honestly say that from just that till to day Diana Krall got herself a new fan. Everything from the way she talked about the music, her upbringing and her only beginning to sing seriously at age 26 due to insecurities on her behalf. It was just fascinating and she's truly a musician who loves music and wants to interoperate it for herself.
Before she started playing this song she talked about Oscar Peterson and about how big an influence he was on her and her music. She also talks a little bit about that following the performance posted in the clip above.
But this is a great performance and I definitely recommend checking out both Oscar Peterson and Diana Krall. I know I will.

Enjoy ; )