Thinking about style again lately. Interesting how theme and variations occur and can be utterly different, no matter how "close" or "far they are from the "original".
I have always liked the song "Summertime" from Porgy & Bess by Gershwin, written in 1935 (I think). There are something like 12,000 known versions of this song. I'd love to have a collection of the notable ones. Billie Holiday's version is the closest to original in terms of time period, but the Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong recording is the most iconic/most copied. I have included a live performance by Ella to stand in for that version...it's interesting to me how each version relates to her prototypical performance and what that says about style....I'm not even sure the Chick Corea/Hiromi Uehara version can really be called the "same" song at all--but what do we mean by the "same" song, anyway?
BTW, I think Devendra Banhart is evil, like truly evil, and not in a good Nietszchean sense. I want to like him, but he gives me the creeps, really really really bad. Any other opinions?
Billie Holiday, 1936
Ella Fitzgerald, Berlin 1968
Janis Joplin, Stockholm, 1969
The Fun Boy Three, London, 1982
Devendra Banhart, n/d
Chick Corea and Hiromi Uehara, n/d
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Neat post, Phyl, thanks This was the first I've heard of this Devendra person, but cursory research reveals that we share a birthday (along with Peter the Great - but that one you probably guessed). He creeps me out too.
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