2022-04-04 (Blues & Jazz Edition Vol. 2)

The up fuck is what, muthafuckaaaas?! Emoclew to the 2nd installment of the Blues & Jazz Edition of Monday Morning Aural fuckin’ Sex! Boy, I wonder what current events in my life could’ve possibly inspired me to do an edition like this. Real head-scratchin’ shocker right there, right? But yes, tragically, this is only the 2nd one of these I’ve ever done. The last one I did was 6 fuckin’ years ago, and who even remembers any shit that happened back then, amiright? It’s been quite a fuckin’ whirlwind, in my opinion, which is also rooted in facts. Any-fuckin’-way, with the exception of one particularly exceptional Ray Charles favorite of mine, this is all entirely new shit. At least, it’s new to me. Wait, no, because Tom Waits! That’s fuckin’ right! I haven’t played any Tom Waits in goddamn forever, and now here I have a great opportunity to do so considering his earlier stuff is very bluesy. That dude has an absolutely phenomenal catalogue, which is why I made one of my first All-Star Series editions for him wayyyyy back in 2013. Fuck, I don’t even remember who I was back then, but I know I loved Tom Waits.

 

Moving on, this edition has not only jazz & blues classics, but stuff like jazzy EDM, acid jazz, blues rock, blues piano instrumentals, and I even found one guy called Shook whose genre classification can be described as… Yeah, great stuff right there. Also want to dedicate the Laura Fygi version of La vie en rose to my friend Veida with whom I recently had a brief exchange about various versions of that song. My personal favorite is still the ukulele version done around the end of How I Met Your Mother, but this version is absolutely lovely as well. Of course, this edition has to start off with Billie Holiday, ‘cause she’s a fuckin’ jazz queen and I love her to death and beyond. Speaking of which, though I included her version of Gloomy Sunday on the 1st Blues & Jazz Edition, I’ve opted instead for the Mel Tormé version for this one. Gloomy Sunday, for all those sadly not in the know, is a song that many once believed was cursed due to the number of suicides it allegedly inspired. Certainly not a far leap considering the lyrics, but it still ain’t a fuckin’ curse. Anyway, look up Gloomy Sunday on Wikipedia sometime if you’re interested in learning more.

 

What else, what else? Oh, I included two different versions of In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning in here. One’s instrumental, one has some magnificent vocals, but neither are the Frank Sinatra version which was the first I ever heard on his album of the same name. Holy fuck, you want to take a trip to Melancholyville? Take a listen to that album. I had no idea Sinatra had ever written (or just performed) such painfully beautiful stuff. That album has a fascinating history behind it, too. Check it out sometime if you’re curious. Also, near the end, there’s a fucksquisite version of a Leonard Cohen song called Dance Me to the End of Love done by a woman named Bria Skonberg. One of my all-time favorites of his, and believe it or not, its original inspiration came from a story about the Holocaust. Leonard Cohen talked about it in a radio interview in the mid-90s. He said there were sometimes string quartets who were forced to perform while people were being tortured and/or killed, and eventually the players themselves met the same fate. Kind of a crazy, dark twist on what many see as a love song, right?

 

Lastly, and also around the end, the track by Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox called I Only Have Eyes For You… First of all, yes, it is a jazzy version of the old doo-wop hit from many moons ago. Second, I didn’t notice the name of the featured vocalist until I’d already added it to the playlist and was in the process of recording it. That vocalist’s name, you may ask? Sunny Holiday… See, this is the kind of shit I was talking about last week. Shit like this has happened to me countless times where I’m not even looking for it, and suddenly, there it is before my eyes. So, whatever, it’s hardly the most significant example, but it is one of my favorite doo-wop tracks. Bet y’all motherfuckers didn’t even know I got down with doo-wop, but I absolutely do… wop. Hah!

 

Any-fuckin’-way, whaddya say we lay by the bay, eat hay, make things out of clay and get underway the ojne-yay?!

 

 

01 Billie Holiday - Good Morning Heartache (from The Darkest Pieces of Jazz) [00:04:29]

 

02 Groove Collective - Whatchugot (from Groove Collective) [00:07:55]

 

03 Louis Jordan - Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens (from Jack, You're Dead: The Essential Blue Archive) [00:14:30]

 

04 Ray Charles - Let's Go Get Stoned (from True Genius) [00:17:33]

 

05 Shawn James - No Blood From A Stone (from A Place In The Unknown) [00:20:24]

 

06 Gary Clark Jr. - Low Down Rolling Stone (from This Land) [00:24:02]

 

07 Buddy Guy - Stone Crazy (from I Was Walkin’ Through The Woods) [00:28:19]

 

08 Tom Waits - Emotional Weather Report (from Nighthawks At The Diner (Remastered)) [00:35:29]

 

09 Anita O'Day - The Ballad of the Sad Young Men (from The Darkest Pieces of Jazz) [00:39:15]

 

10 Big Jay McNeely - Nervous Man Nervous (from Nervous) [00:43:36]

 

11 Helen Humes - Real Fine Daddy (from Dootone Rock ’n’ Rhythm & Blues) [00:46:07]

 

12 Shook - Milestones (from Spectrum) [00:48:19]

 

13 Bedford and 7th - No Matter What (from No Matter What) [00:56:41]

 

14 Dr. Lonnie Smith - It's Changed (from Afrodesia) [00:59:40]

 

15 Laura Fygi - La vie en rose (from Jazz Love) [01:05:40]

 

16 LaVern Baker - Love Me Right (from Blues Ballads) [01:09:25]

 

17 New Jersey Kings - Dream Waves (from Stratosphere Breakdown) [01:11:17]

 

18 Tom Waits - Pasties And A G-String (At The Two O'Clock Club) (from Small Change (Remastered)) [01:16:05]

 

19 Arthur Migliazza - Thank You Blues (from Laying It Down) [01:18:32]

 

20 B.B. King - Blues For Me (from Easy Listening Blues) [01:21:16]

 

21 Chuck Leavell - Forever Blue (from Forever Blue) [01:24:07]

 

22 Nicole Henry - Moon River (from Moon River) [01:27:24]

 

23 B.B. King - Please Send Me Someone To Love (from Confessin’ The Blues) [01:32:25]

 

24 CMC 3 - Everything To Me (from Everything To Me) [01:34:46]

 

25 Dan Evans-Parker - Lost in Orbit (from Lost in Orbit) [01:40:07]

 

26 Ben Webster - In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning (from The Darkest Pieces of Jazz) [01:42:38]

 

27 Mary Ann Redmond - Georgia (from Live) [01:45:45]

 

28 Ike Quebec - Blue And Sentimental (Remastered 2007/Rudy Van Gelder Edition) (from Blue And Sentimental (Remastered)) [01:54:54]

 

29 Tom Waits - Intro To Better Off Without A Wife (from Nighthawks At The Diner (Remastered)) [02:02:18]

 

30 Tom Waits - Better Off Without A Wife (from Nighthawks At The Diner (Remastered)) [02:05:20]

 

31 The Aether - Remedy (feat. Devon Rea) (from Remedy) [02:09:18]

 

32 Eliane Elias - Time Alone (from Dreamer) [02:11:44]

 

33 Etta James - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (from Tell Mama The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions (Remastered Reissue)) [02:18:18]

 

34 Stevie Ray Vaughan - The Sky Is Crying (1985 Ver.) (from The Sky Is Crying) [02:21:14]

 

35 Horace Silver Trio - Lonely Woman (Remastered) (from The Darkest Pieces of Jazz) [02:25:48]

 

36 Tom Waits - The One That Got Away (from Small Change (Remastered)) [02:32:40]

 

37 The Aether - Oceanside (from Oceanside) [02:36:37]

 

38 Luca Sestak - Quiet Blues (from Lost in Boogie) [02:39:17]

 

39 Michael Silverman Blues Piano Trio - Blues Solo Piano (from Blues) [02:42:47]

 

40 Foster Davies - The Fairies (from The Fairies) [02:44:56]

 

41 Novo Stella - Feathers (from Feathers) [02:47:54]

 

42 Tom Waits - Fumblin' With The Blues (from The Heart Of Saturday Night (Remastered)) [02:51:13]

 

43 Johnny B. Moore - Lonesome Blues (from Lonesome Blues) [02:54:11]

 

44 Ray Charles - You Don't Know Me (from Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Vols 1 & 2) [03:01:31]

 

45 Veronica Lewis - Is You Is My Baby (from Is You Is My Baby) [03:04:42]

 

46 Live Foyn Friis - You Go to My Head (from Live Sings Sassy) [03:10:09]

 

47 John Coltrane Quartet - Soul Eyes (from Coltrane (Deluxe Edition - Rudy Van Gelder Remaster)) [03:16:18]

 

48 Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox - I Only Have Eyes For You (feat. Sunny Holiday) (from I Only Have Eyes For You) [03:21:38]

 

49 Karen Souza - My One and Only Love (from Ain’t No Sunshine / My One and Only Love) [03:24:45]

 

50 Bria Skonberg - Dance Me to the End of Love (from With a Twist) [03:29:20]

 

51 Stacey Kent - In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning (from Tenderly) [03:34:52]

 

52 Nina Simone - Nobody KnowsYou When You're Down And Out (Live In New York/1965) (from Pastel Blues (Originals)) [03:38:13]

 

53 Joe Williams - A Man Ain't Supposed to Cry (from The Darkest Pieces of Jazz) [03:40:49]

 

54 Mel Tormé - Gloomy Sunday (from The Darkest Pieces of Jazz) [03:44:22]