Anyone that loves this song, anyone who would play it or sing it, or wants to sing it - we are all joined together. It reaches something within us that we all share in common, right?
So true!!! This song pulls on me. And to think, that a 16 yr old Billy Strayhorn wrote this!!! At 16, he was lamenting "I'll live a lush life in some small dive. And there I'll be while I röt with the rest of those whose lives are lonely too'". Damn!! The best jazz song of all time. This version is good but I still love Natalie Cole's version as the best. Oh, and of, the Great Ms Sarah Vaughn
@@reh331- That I found the song around the age that Strayhorn wrote it builds kinship on its own. Even so, I think he'd had more experience with the song's material.
I perform this song with a female vocalist. We both love this song. Its darkness speaks to something in both of us in a way that few songs do. There's an excellent biography of Strayhorn called Lush Life for those interested.
yep - this is one absolute masterpiece of a song - one of the greatest ever written - by a 16 year old kid who then turned the lyrics into his own life. Its remarkable
I can't believe the comments! When did we all become so critical?! She sounds fantastic! Who are we to argue with the artists interpretation of the song?! She sang beautifully.
THAT's my opinion, too!!! "Who are we, to argue with the artists interpretation." Her version is new and marvelous! Her work is absolutely professional and very soulful. So I want to let everyone HIS favourite version and favourite singer.
Dogmatics are trash but this is an amazing version. I’ve been hunting for a version like the one from billy strayhorn’s lush life album on Apple Music. This is the best one I’ve heard since that one
if you're searching for reasons why our species is driving itself and everything it depends on to the edge of extinction, you'll find ample evidence in the posts and comment stream of any online forum.
She isn't just singing, she's acting. She really does sound like she's sitting in a bar somewhere with a glass in her hand (and it's not her first). And her voice is beautiful.
Finally!! I needed to read this so badly. It's awesome how many people have performed this wonderful composition, each of them adding their own spices and colors to it.
My favorite version is the one by Hodges and Coltrane, which for me is definitive. But it's only in comparison to the latter that I'm able to tell just how amazingly good this one is. She really makes it her own in ways that I don't think Sarah Vaughan or even Duke Ellington did. I feel this one, from the quality of her voice giving context and perspective for where this character is coming from, to her phrasing, very different from Hodges, but furthering the character development here. I think I can get as lost in this one as I can with John and John's. I think that sometimes comparing artists can be a good thing if it's about enhancing appreciation, rather than tearing down.
Yes Charles Barry you are so right. My favourite version is Blossom Dearie's, but let's hear the next, somebody else is going to inspire me, and make me consider the lyrics differently
It's a testament to the genius of Billy Strayhorn, that so many great vocalists have cover this work. There aren't many songs that have an intro that comprises nearly half of the song! GENIUS!!
I think this is one of the most extraordinary jazz ballads ever written, melody, chords and lyrics. Kudos to Mr Strayhorn. And I just love this minimalist performance. Love the piano.
Got to be my favourite contemporary version because less is more when feeling and thoughts are being emphasized reflectively....so well suited to an intimate setting and so accessible...most versions are so over produced..junked up...really well done...
These comments are hilarious. Many folks read into this too much. It's a collection of sounds, not a dissertation. Does it make you happy, the aesthetic of the soundscape? If not, keep moving. To worry that there must be some 'authenticity' in an interpretation is like believing the piano should have never moved out of the orchestral setting. You have to have the ears to know that things can be put to more uses that are still pleasing, if not in the original form.
One of the few songs where the verse is included in virtually every performance. If this was the only thing he ever wrote Billy Strayhorn would still be a genius. For extra cedit, look up what age he was when he wrote this!
Here's Esperanza Spading, singing the classic, “Lush Life.” She brings a unique presence and sensitivity to this classic tune, so don't go comparing her to “Johnny Hartman, Sarah Vaughn, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, or Shirley Bassey, because, she's not of their era, and each artist bring's his/her own unique flavor to a tune. God, I do love, it, please listen to the entire video, and have some Cognac, Wine, or Champagne !!!
@@ArthurKaletzky I read in one of Sinatra`s biographies that he stormed out of the studio, when he failed to be able sing it. Most likely the chord changes threw him.
@@JohnJones-cp4wh I've heard the studio check tape. He said "Put it [Lush Life] aside for a year". He may have stormed out later - possibly because IMO it was a difficult arrangement to an already hard song - the piano intro really led you up the creek. Dunno if he rehearsed it comped simply by just a piano (that's how Johnny Hartman and McCoy Tyner began on what became the definitive version, reportedly around 5am), but he should have.
i think people are missing the context here. this is jazz, not classical music. this is about the performer. In jazz, the performer (Spalding in this case) expresses what they want in whatever way they want. It could be the meaning of the lyrics or whatever idea she wants to express. dont be claiming she cant sing these lyrics honestly, she's taking this as a tool to perform: either expressing an idea or just music to listen to. jazz isnt so much about the lyrics as it is about the improvisation and music as a whole experience.
I downloaded this song back in 2009, but it might have been recorded before then. I started listening to her in 2009 too, so I really didn't know the rarity of the availability of this song but it was definitely a good find
An incredibly sensitive, beautiful rendition of this Billy Strayhorn classic. (How could he possibly have had the wisdom or experience to have written this at 16?) I do wish she’d stayed loyal to Strayhorn’s lyric as written. It’s “With distingué traces” not “distant gay traces,” a common change.
I wish Donna had done more “jazz” songs. She was a great vocalist who was typecast as a “disco” singer. She was so much more. Her version of Lush Life was great.
I am told that this song is a real buster to perform. Well, this artist did not get the memo about how hard it is. Thank you for the ride your way. Your interpretation is a warm, smooth ride.
The bass is a little loud, but give her a break, she IS a bass player and this is her album. It's not so loud that it makes the track unlistenable. I like hearing the bass a little more sometimes (I'm a bass player though). As far as her vocal interpretation - that's exactly what it is. HER interpretation. The great thing about jazz is everyone can do it their way. I love Billy Holiday, but I also love this talented and sensual vocalist!
With all due respect, I find it hard to accept all the judgements being made in regards to her life experience; for one, who are any of us to make statements about a person we do not know? Secondly, are we saying that songs with 'heavy' themes cannot be played by young musicians who have yet to experience everything life has to offer? I would suggest that those of you with complaints leave these judgement calls to the musician in question...
It's performance art. And Esperanza nailed it, feeling the lyrics and "saying" them as she was Billy Strayhorn, Sarah Vaughan, or Lady Day. Spalding's version is up there with the best of them. "A weekend in Paris..."... thank you Strayhorn and Miss. Spalding. We need to be reminded of the power of jazz and blues as much as we can. Go Esperanza!
If you think Strayhorn wrote "distant gay traces", rather than "distingué traces" you are (albeit understandably) ill-informed. Listen to Sweetpea's" own versions of it. And read a reliable [not idiotic internet-based] text source. Spalding, whom I admire, should have known better. BTW: "gay", as a substitute, coded, apellation for homosexual, was in use in the 1930s-early'40s; but whether Strayhorn intended that meaning, or the more general post-Victorian sense, or whether he relished the ambiguity or double-entendre, is arguable.
Another thing...Esperanza sings (voices are infinitely pitched) while she accompanies herself on an infinitely pitched instrument. You probably have no idea how difficult that is. She appears with Jimmy Heath siding on sax. Why not check out his credentials?
I think you are making it out to be more difficult than it is. Sure, double bass is fretless... but it's also fairly monophonic. So maximum of bass + voice = 2 notes to worry about. A singing pianist is generating up to 11 simultaneous notes! Each with it's own attack and volume!! OMG!! Ok.. I'm being silly, but I just think you get to the point where you don't have to worry about the basic technicalities fairly soon. From that point on it doesn't make so much difference if you are a singing bassist, drummer, pianist, or theramin player. Each has it's own surmountable challenges.
OP wasn't talking about polyphony, from what I can see, but about the fact that both the voice and bass are infinitely pitched. individually difficult to get in tune. more difficult when played together contrapuntally. even moreso when considering that they are on opposite sides of the bandstand duty, with the bass holding down a solid beat so her voice can float over it.
It is true that Strayhorn was homosexual, but when he wrote that beautiful song, Lush life, in saying Gay, does not in any case give it the connotation that we currently give him, since Gay originally is synonymous with cheerful or fun, only since the 1970s Is synonymous with homosexual.
The same history can be told in different ways and the same happens to this music.Any "contemporary performance" - Spalding or Gaga - bring us their audacity, courage, confidence: Lush Life is for few ones. This or another one could not be your most important or better music version, but it is a question of preference.
I reluctantly agree. She doesn't "own" this song. She probably hasn't been beaten up by life enough to be able to, since her star has risen so swiftly. Maybe that's a good thing.
Being a good interpreter has nothing to do with having been "beaten up enough" or any other extra-musical, abstract factors. It has to do with instrumental competence and a creative process of reconstruction. Transcendence is in the fulfillment and reception of the final product, not in the technical process. Billy Strayhorn wrote this as a teenager, which just helps to put that mystifying drivel to rest.
I saw Esperanza a couple of weeks ago, and she pretty much did a hatchet job on "Wild is the Wind." This is a forgivable artistic faux pas for a young woman who has a very bright future, and is clearly very talented. "Lush Life" is a song that is very hard to sing, and she does a credible job with it. One can't really fault her for not being Johnny Hartman: for me he set the bar so high with his version of this song that even getting close is tough. I hope ES continues to learn and grow as an artist, and I look forward to following her career, even her missteps. After all, you've got to take the bad with the good.
I so agree ! it's just not fair to compare renditions of songs from our Great American Song Book. I admit it, I don't know this woman. But what I DO know, is just how demanding this song is . Anyone willing to take it on, has my respect. While I'll admit, I'm partial to Natalie Cole's version, this is well done. This song is so full of terrible irony & sadness, anyone attempting it, has to be able to bring Billy Strayhorn's lyrics alive. Some do it better, that said, this is a noble effort.------MJL, 75 y/o
Oh my mistake,, sure you are right, John Coltrane played it anyhow and yea Billy Strayhorn wrote it. .......still like the way you sing it though your response was not warm!!! Thank you.
very nice version. A bit flat may be, compared to the one Rickie Lee Jones did on a 7 inches LP in the 80's. (it seems Ms Esperanza has been listening to it when I hear the very begining of this version)
During a Johnny Carson interview, Jack Palance was asked about some bad reviews he received for a performance. After a short reflection he said to Johnny, "critics are like eunuchs in the palace. They see it done every night but can't do it themselves". I was a youngster then but that comment has weathered well. Hahaha wannabees
Actually Billy Strayhorn was gay and I'm certain a double meaning was intended. I recall that he uses the word 'gay' in another of his songs but I can't remember which one
@@icecreamforcrowhurst ...the double meaning was closely coded then but, yeah, there's little doubt Strayhorn intended it. He identified openly with his sexuality; the reason he didn't try to become a major bandleader in his own right was, from what I have read, his desire to be out. He knew he couldn't be a popular bandleader and open about his sexuality at the same time. Not that he didn't wind up a pretty good situation anway...
Mixed feelings about this performance. I love Esperanza ... vocal chops, big hair and a big bass to go with it - the complete package, and a lovely package she is. But she seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place trying to cover this number. Like most jazz musicians, Esperanza is a fluid, molten rock of lava ... a dynamic creature and creation of the moment, and can't help but pour her unique character into any pocket-of-a-tune she aims for. But the 'hard place' here is Billy Strayhorn's masterpiece of writing. Though he started writing this piece when he was only 16 years old, it took him years to polish and perfect. And perfect, indeed, it is. Admittedly from my limited experience as a music consumer, I would rank only Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight' as having a similarly iconic impact on our collective memory as a jazz ballad. So here is Esperanza's dilemma ... how straight and true to the song should she play it, or how much of her own individuality should she bring to the stage? I don't think you can have your cake and eat it too. As I said, Esperanza is the complete package and I love her style. But if I want to imagine someone channeling Billy Strayhorn, bringing him back to life though a straight-ahead rendition of this classic piece, I'd have to take a stroll down memory lane with Natalie Cole on this one. What the heck. I'll take 'em both, one on each arm. ;-)
Love her! Such a talented and beautiful singer/musician. I am a litte disappointed in her choice of straying from the original lyrics which are simply miraculous considering Billy Strayhorn was 19 years old when he wrote both lyrics and music to this masterpiece. "come with me"? in the first verse, "distant gay traces" in the second verse? It´s "distingué" ...a distinguished manner or bearing. Here´s the original first two verses: I used to visit all the very gay places Those come-what-may places Where one relaxes on the axis Of the wheel of life To get the feel of life From jazz and cocktails The gals (girls) I knew had sad and sullen gray faces With distingué traces That used to be there You could see where They'd been washed away By too many through the day Twelve o'clock tales
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Anyone that loves this song, anyone who would play it or sing it, or wants to sing it - we are all joined together. It reaches something within us that we all share in common, right?
I think so. Strayhorn wrote this at the age of 16. It touches the off-the-path 40 year old in us.
So true!!! This song pulls on me. And to think, that a 16 yr old Billy Strayhorn wrote this!!! At 16, he was lamenting "I'll live a lush life in some small dive. And there I'll be while I röt with the rest of those whose lives are lonely too'". Damn!! The best jazz song of all time. This version is good but I still love Natalie Cole's version as the best. Oh, and of, the Great Ms Sarah Vaughn
@@reh331- That I found the song around the age that Strayhorn wrote it builds kinship on its own. Even so, I think he'd had more experience with the song's material.
I perform this song with a female vocalist. We both love this song. Its darkness speaks to something in both of us in a way that few songs do. There's an excellent biography of Strayhorn called Lush Life for those interested.
yep - this is one absolute masterpiece of a song - one of the greatest ever written - by a 16 year old kid who then turned the lyrics into his own life. Its remarkable
I can't believe the comments! When did we all become so critical?! She sounds fantastic! Who are we to argue with the artists interpretation of the song?! She sang beautifully.
Because everybody thinks he or she is an expert on the internet.
THAT's my opinion, too!!! "Who are we, to argue with the artists interpretation." Her version is new and marvelous! Her work is absolutely professional and very soulful. So I want to let everyone HIS favourite version and favourite singer.
Agreed
Dogmatics are trash but this is an amazing version. I’ve been hunting for a version like the one from billy strayhorn’s lush life album on Apple Music. This is the best one I’ve heard since that one
if you're searching for reasons why our species is driving itself and everything it depends on to the edge of extinction, you'll find ample evidence in the posts and comment stream of any online forum.
I like her soft, less jaded by life interpretation of this song. Her effortless style is like a feather.
Absolutely gorgeous version of this - her vocals are silky and beautiful - heck of a job by the piano player, too
The most creative and compelling Lush Life I've ever heard, one of the most beautiful songs written in the 20th century. This version has it all.
Wow !###
She isn't just singing, she's acting. She really does sound like she's sitting in a bar somewhere with a glass in her hand (and it's not her first). And her voice is beautiful.
The piano-player is absolutely marvelous
Who is?
We should not compare artistes. Listen to different versions of the same piece. We all have our preferences. This doesn't make one version inferior.
I agree, that's what jazz is about.
Finally!! I needed to read this so badly. It's awesome how many people have performed this wonderful composition, each of them adding their own spices and colors to it.
Charles you are so right. Amen brother
My favorite version is the one by Hodges and Coltrane, which for me is definitive. But it's only in comparison to the latter that I'm able to tell just how amazingly good this one is. She really makes it her own in ways that I don't think Sarah Vaughan or even Duke Ellington did. I feel this one, from the quality of her voice giving context and perspective for where this character is coming from, to her phrasing, very different from Hodges, but furthering the character development here. I think I can get as lost in this one as I can with John and John's.
I think that sometimes comparing artists can be a good thing if it's about enhancing appreciation, rather than tearing down.
Yes Charles Barry you are so right. My favourite version is Blossom Dearie's, but let's hear the next, somebody else is going to inspire me, and make me consider the lyrics differently
She is brilliant and so is her version of Lush Life.
She is a truly talented lady.
It's a testament to the genius of Billy Strayhorn, that so many great vocalists have cover this work. There aren't many songs that have an intro that comprises nearly half of the song! GENIUS!!
I think this is one of the most extraordinary jazz ballads ever written, melody, chords and lyrics. Kudos to Mr Strayhorn. And I just love this minimalist performance. Love the piano.
Esperanza Spalding magnificient
A superb interpretation. The pianist is very good too, and so is the bass which sounds like Espenaza.
I enjoy all of her music!
Don't compare any Artis!
Just listen!
One of the most beautiful woman in the world singing the most beautiful ballad in the world.
Got to be my favourite contemporary version because less is more when feeling and thoughts are being emphasized reflectively....so well suited to an intimate setting and so accessible...most versions are so over produced..junked up...really well done...
Very beautiful version , great personnality Esperanza !!!
These comments are hilarious. Many folks read into this too much. It's a collection of sounds, not a dissertation. Does it make you happy, the aesthetic of the soundscape? If not, keep moving. To worry that there must be some 'authenticity' in an interpretation is like believing the piano should have never moved out of the orchestral setting. You have to have the ears to know that things can be put to more uses that are still pleasing, if not in the original form.
Marcus Schiebold My theme song! What a wonderful rendition! Gave me goose pimples.
One of the few songs where the verse is included in virtually every performance. If this was the only thing he ever wrote Billy Strayhorn would still be a genius. For extra cedit, look up what age he was when he wrote this!
please everybody just enjoy the sheer genius of this magnificent creature
Here's Esperanza Spading, singing the classic, “Lush Life.” She brings a unique presence and sensitivity to this classic tune, so don't go comparing her to “Johnny Hartman, Sarah Vaughn, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, or Shirley Bassey, because, she's not of their era, and each artist bring's his/her own unique flavor to a tune.
God, I do love, it, please listen to the entire video, and have some Cognac, Wine, or Champagne !!!
Frank gave up on this tune. Frank's granddaughter has recorded a pretty good version.
@@ArthurKaletzky I read in one of Sinatra`s biographies that he stormed out of the studio, when he failed to be able sing it. Most likely the chord changes threw him.
@@JohnJones-cp4wh I've heard the studio check tape. He said "Put it [Lush Life] aside for a year". He may have stormed out later - possibly because IMO it was a difficult arrangement to an already hard song - the piano intro really led you up the creek. Dunno if he rehearsed it comped simply by just a piano (that's how Johnny Hartman and McCoy Tyner began on what became the definitive version, reportedly around 5am), but he should have.
i think people are missing the context here. this is jazz, not classical music. this is about the performer. In jazz, the performer (Spalding in this case) expresses what they want in whatever way they want. It could be the meaning of the lyrics or whatever idea she wants to express. dont be claiming she cant sing these lyrics honestly, she's taking this as a tool to perform: either expressing an idea or just music to listen to. jazz isnt so much about the lyrics as it is about the improvisation and music as a whole experience.
Jazz is America's classical music.
This is GORGEOUS. Oh M Gee. Sheesh, she is awesome. This is my favorite standard and I seem to like it even more now.
Absolutely LOVE!! This is a fav song of mine! Even more so now!
This is wonderful! Very heart felt.
Great piano and arrangement ....and of course interpretation
Joe Williams' version is by far the best for my money. He brings out the true poetry written by this 17 year old boy.
I downloaded this song back in 2009, but it might have been recorded before then. I started listening to her in 2009 too, so I really didn't know the rarity of the availability of this song but it was definitely a good find
Beautiful rendition!
A beautiful version of a favorite. Ty. 💛🎶
Que gran versión de lush life
incredible... thank you so much for sharing this
All my love to Esperanza.......she's just brilliant.......❤❤❤💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕
I think I love her - seriously.......
An incredibly sensitive, beautiful rendition of this Billy Strayhorn classic. (How could he possibly have had the wisdom or experience to have written this at 16?)
I do wish she’d stayed loyal to Strayhorn’s lyric as written. It’s “With distingué traces” not “distant gay traces,” a common change.
Beautiful!
Remember Donna Summer singing this beautiful song from the album Donna Summer 1982. Produced by Quincy Jones
I wish Donna had done more “jazz” songs. She was a great vocalist who was typecast as a “disco” singer. She was so much more. Her version of Lush Life was great.
@@markbrisson2102 she had a power voice and knew how to sing every kind of music. I love her version to Lush Life
@@markbrisson2102 l saw her in concert. She was so close to me and she was very beautiful
Don't know that... first time I heard it, and haven'y seen it anywhere else... I agree with you: this is a rare find... and a real gem.
OMG!!!
How many songs she must have out there that I don't know about. Just when you think you have it all.
I am told that this song is a real buster to perform. Well, this artist did not get the memo about how hard it is. Thank you for the ride your way. Your interpretation is a warm, smooth ride.
The bass is a little loud, but give her a break, she IS a bass player and this is her album. It's not so loud that it makes the track unlistenable. I like hearing the bass a little more sometimes (I'm a bass player though). As far as her vocal interpretation - that's exactly what it is. HER interpretation. The great thing about jazz is everyone can do it their way. I love Billy Holiday, but I also love this talented and sensual vocalist!
Beautiful 🌸✨
Tony DeSare’s recording-studio version is one of the best. Great phrasing & tempo.
👏👏 delicate and pure
Beautifully done!
Good God in Heaven! She sounds like a lovely female version of Strayhorn.
I find every Song of her great.....
Great job Espi,❤👌
MARRY ME ESPERANZA !!!
With all due respect, I find it hard to accept all the judgements being made in regards to her life experience; for one, who are any of us to make statements about a person we do not know? Secondly, are we saying that songs with 'heavy' themes cannot be played by young musicians who have yet to experience everything life has to offer? I would suggest that those of you with complaints leave these judgement calls to the musician in question...
Too young? Bwaaaaahaha! The song was written when Billy was 16. You would have to have your head planted firmly up your ass to think she is too young.
It's performance art. And Esperanza nailed it, feeling the lyrics and "saying" them as she was Billy Strayhorn, Sarah Vaughan, or Lady Day. Spalding's version is up there with the best of them. "A weekend in Paris..."... thank you Strayhorn and Miss. Spalding. We need to be reminded of the power of jazz and blues as much as we can. Go Esperanza!
@@davidgagne3569 ...thanks. Yeah...
Fantastic
So very much talent, in so young a lady.
So very close to Billy Strayhorn's version...
Very nice. My favorite is Linda Ronstadt's. Best breath control I ever heard.
Great music for a nap
Took two photos of Eszperanza at the 2011 Newport Jazz Fesatival.
Sammy Davis sang it beautifully .
If you think Strayhorn wrote "distant gay traces", rather than "distingué traces" you are (albeit understandably) ill-informed. Listen to Sweetpea's" own versions of it. And read a reliable [not idiotic internet-based] text source. Spalding, whom I admire, should have known better.
BTW: "gay", as a substitute, coded, apellation for homosexual, was in use in the 1930s-early'40s; but whether Strayhorn intended that meaning, or the more general post-Victorian sense, or whether he relished the ambiguity or double-entendre, is arguable.
Teach, Baby!
when he sings it himself he clearly says 'distingue traces'....
corkysheba
Thank you!
In the real book it even says "distingue` traces" hahaha, when I heard her I was like...no no, why. I love it other than that.
Yes, "distingué". thanks.
It's all about interpretation, not experience. An artist can portray cant she?
Everywhere there's negative people.
Juan Rivera yeah
wonderfull version ...but somebody commented also on the beautiful piano-playing-: - alas , az usually on Ytube, we cannot learn who did it...?!!
This is a rather subdued rendition. It certainly has its virtues.
Oh my god 💔💔💔
Beautiful! And very fine piano playing as well ... do you know who's the pianist?
좋아요. good~! ㅋㅋㅋ hahaha
bass players who sing seem very locked in. nice.
does anyone know who is the piano player?
nancy wilson's version is the best version i've ever heard
I didn't even know Nancy did it, thank you for your comment I'll definitely have to look this up now. I love Nancy, her phrasing is out of this world.
Agree. Her phrasing and timbre are Class, and that arrangement is perfect.
Same.
No one will duplicate stayhorns off key voice in Lush Life. The song was on a Donna Summers album long ago.
Piano player, Leo Genovese???
Does anyone know -anything- about this recording? I really want to know who the pianist is... haven't found any info about this track yet DX
who is the pianist player ?
Another thing...Esperanza sings (voices are infinitely pitched) while she accompanies herself on an infinitely pitched instrument. You probably have no idea how difficult that is. She appears with Jimmy Heath siding on sax. Why not check out his credentials?
I think you are making it out to be more difficult than it is. Sure, double bass is fretless... but it's also fairly monophonic. So maximum of bass + voice = 2 notes to worry about. A singing pianist is generating up to 11 simultaneous notes! Each with it's own attack and volume!! OMG!! Ok.. I'm being silly, but I just think you get to the point where you don't have to worry about the basic technicalities fairly soon. From that point on it doesn't make so much difference if you are a singing bassist, drummer, pianist, or theramin player. Each has it's own surmountable challenges.
OP wasn't talking about polyphony, from what I can see, but about the fact that both the voice and bass are infinitely pitched. individually difficult to get in tune. more difficult when played together contrapuntally. even moreso when considering that they are on opposite sides of the bandstand duty, with the bass holding down a solid beat so her voice can float over it.
Beryl Fishkinde sings the HECK-OLA out of this old chestnut! PERIOD!!!!!!!!! And I mean it!!! *****
Just listen stop comparing .
bellissima canzone ,ho l onore di aver conosciuto Tony Scott che la cantava
great version, she is stunning.My fav is still Andy Bey fallowed by Johnny Hartmann
It is true that Strayhorn was homosexual, but when he wrote that beautiful song, Lush life, in saying Gay, does not in any case give it the connotation that we currently give him, since Gay originally is synonymous with cheerful or fun, only since the 1970s Is synonymous with homosexual.
The same history can be told in different ways and the same happens to this music.Any "contemporary performance" - Spalding or Gaga - bring us their audacity, courage, confidence: Lush Life is for few ones. This or another one could not be your most important or better music version, but it is a question of preference.
This is not by John Coltrane. Billy Strayhorn wrote the piece. Get your facts right.
Wait! Isn't this the song the grandma on the movie Spanglish sang with her grandson?
I reluctantly agree. She doesn't "own" this song. She probably hasn't been beaten up by life enough to be able to, since her star has risen so swiftly. Maybe that's a good thing.
Being a good interpreter has nothing to do with having been "beaten up enough" or any other extra-musical, abstract factors. It has to do with instrumental competence and a creative process of reconstruction. Transcendence is in the fulfillment and reception of the final product, not in the technical process. Billy Strayhorn wrote this as a teenager, which just helps to put that mystifying drivel to rest.
Billy would have loved this.
I saw Esperanza a couple of weeks ago, and she pretty much did a hatchet job on "Wild is the Wind." This is a forgivable artistic faux pas for a young woman who has a very bright future, and is clearly very talented. "Lush Life" is a song that is very hard to sing, and she does a credible job with it. One can't really fault her for not being Johnny Hartman: for me he set the bar so high with his version of this song that even getting close is tough. I hope ES continues to learn and grow as an artist, and I look forward to following her career, even her missteps. After all, you've got to take the bad with the good.
I so agree ! it's just not fair to compare renditions of songs from our Great American Song Book. I admit it, I don't know this woman. But what I DO know, is just how demanding this song is . Anyone willing to take it on, has my respect. While I'll admit, I'm partial to Natalie Cole's version, this is well done. This song is so full of terrible irony & sadness, anyone attempting it, has to be able to bring Billy Strayhorn's lyrics alive. Some do it better, that said, this is a noble effort.------MJL, 75 y/o
Oh my mistake,, sure you are right, John Coltrane played it anyhow and yea Billy Strayhorn wrote it. .......still like the way you sing it though your response was not warm!!! Thank you.
Who's May?
Does anyone know musicians' names here?
very nice version. A bit flat may be, compared to the one Rickie Lee Jones did on a 7 inches LP in the 80's. (it seems Ms Esperanza has been listening to it when I hear the very begining of this version)
During a Johnny Carson interview, Jack Palance was asked about some bad reviews he received for a performance. After a short reflection he said to Johnny, "critics are like eunuchs in the palace. They see it done every night but can't do it themselves". I was a youngster then but that comment has weathered well. Hahaha wannabees
Or as Ben Sidron put it: "The critic, he cant even float. Just stands on the shore and waves at the boat.
the word gay ,used to mean happy, you young ones! LOL
yes it does mean happy. But Bill was homosexual so you can't really tell what he really meant
Actually Billy Strayhorn was gay and I'm certain a double meaning was intended. I recall that he uses the word 'gay' in another of his songs but I can't remember which one
I thought Astrid Gilberto performed those lyrics originally
Yeah we know ... young does not mean uneducated.
@@icecreamforcrowhurst ...the double meaning was closely coded then but, yeah, there's little doubt Strayhorn intended it. He identified openly with his sexuality; the reason he didn't try to become a major bandleader in his own right was, from what I have read, his desire to be out. He knew he couldn't be a popular bandleader and open about his sexuality at the same time. Not that he didn't wind up a pretty good situation anway...
Music accompanying? 🤔
It'smarvellous
there are too many jealous people on this site
Wow this is interesting! No shade this is okay but I love Queen Latifah's version thanks for sharing!
like her simple, subtly nuanced version.
Learn the lyric.
If that wig could talk!
Mixed feelings about this performance. I love Esperanza ... vocal chops, big hair and a big bass to go with it - the complete package, and a lovely package she is. But she seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place trying to cover this number.
Like most jazz musicians, Esperanza is a fluid, molten rock of lava ... a dynamic creature and creation of the moment, and can't help but pour her unique character into any pocket-of-a-tune she aims for. But the 'hard place' here is Billy Strayhorn's masterpiece of writing.
Though he started writing this piece when he was only 16 years old, it took him years to polish and perfect. And perfect, indeed, it is. Admittedly from my limited experience as a music consumer, I would rank only Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight' as having a similarly iconic impact on our collective memory as a jazz ballad.
So here is Esperanza's dilemma ... how straight and true to the song should she play it, or how much of her own individuality should she bring to the stage? I don't think you can have your cake and eat it too.
As I said, Esperanza is the complete package and I love her style. But if I want to imagine someone channeling Billy Strayhorn, bringing him back to life though a straight-ahead rendition of this classic piece, I'd have to take a stroll down memory lane with Natalie Cole on this one.
What the heck. I'll take 'em both, one on each arm. ;-)
What about Coltrane and Johnny Hartman?
oooh ... yeah, I forgot that one. My bad thanks for the reminder!
Love her! Such a talented and beautiful singer/musician. I am a litte disappointed in her choice of straying from the original lyrics which are simply miraculous considering Billy Strayhorn was 19 years old when he wrote both lyrics and music to this masterpiece. "come with me"? in the first verse, "distant gay traces" in the second verse? It´s "distingué" ...a distinguished manner or bearing. Here´s the original first two verses:
I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come-what-may places
Where one relaxes on the axis
Of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life
From jazz and cocktails
The gals (girls) I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingué traces
That used to be there
You could see where
They'd been washed away
By too many through the day
Twelve o'clock tales