The song of the day for Wednesday, August 6, 2014 is “Day Dream.”
About This Song
“Day Dream” was written in 1941 by Billy Strayhorn with Duke Ellington, with lyrics by John La Touche. The first recording was with Ellington saxophonist Johnny Hodges with Billy Strayhorn on piano. Ellington recorded it several times, including his 1968 tribute album to Strayhorn, And His Mother Called Him Bill (if you can keep from crying while Ellington plays “Lotus Blossom” all by himself for his late friend, as the band is packing up, you must have nerves of steel), Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Jo Stafford. Tony Bennett recorded “Day Dream” in 1999 for Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool.
About This Version
This version of “Day Dream” was recorded in May, 1964 with a superlative group of jazz musicians: Herbie Hancock on piano, Stan Getz on tenor sax, Ron Carter on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. There are six songs from this session on this Rarities collection and they are all worth your time. I’m just glad that they were finally released in 2011 with the complete collection and now available on iTunes for everyone.
http://open.spotify.com/track/66ZCFZIrtAWe2pa1RhicXX
“Day Dream,” as well as all of the treasures on Rarities, Outtakes and Other Delights, Vol. 1, is available on iTunes.
Leave a Reply