Scenes from Danny's Sunday 20.14


Scenes from Danny's Sunday 20.14, originally uploaded by Pauly_.

Blossom Dearie and Paul...

Blossom Dearie (just turned 80) is one of the great jazz vocalists of the last five decades and has recorded for Verve and her own label. She sounds just as great as any of her recordings (her own label is finally re-releasing some classic recordings) and is a master of the hip and understated comical lyric. Cool and clever and she is a master of the witty song and her numbers included "I'm Hip", "I'm Shadowing You" and my favourite "Bruce". Being such a fan of her style of music I couldn't help but get a gratuitous photo and autograph on some of her CDs. She is a regular at Danny's Skylight room and insisted to everyone that they come again. It's a great venue for jazz and cabaret, even if this sort of music no longer gets the punters in like it used to...

Afterall how can you not like songs with lyrics like:

"Happy as can be, just you J Edgar Hoover and me" (I'm Shadowing You, J. Mercer / B. Dearie)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gargano: Fun among the Grottos

Image
The Gargano area in the Province of Foggia, which is part of the Apulia region in Italy is a mix of contrasts. With a series of seaside towns along the coast line, one of Europe's oldest forests and one of the oldest shrines of worship at Monte Gargano there is a lot to explore and some excellent food that is grown locally. A trip on an open top boat is an excellent way to appreciate the geography and contrasts of this ancient land, in particular the beautiful grottoes that are dotted along the coastline. The tour starts out from the port at Rodi. There is a ticket office in one of the shops and you head to the end of the port to board the boats. The boat sets out from Rodi and and heads south along the coast past the seaside towns of San Menaio, Peschici and Vieste. Along the way you past several trabucchi, which are the old fishing platforms that were used to catch fish. These landmarks are now locally protected. You also will see the old medieval watch towers that were used
Read more

Travel: A weekend in Naples to start with...

Image
Naples has a reputation amongst many English speaking people as being dirty, seedy and sleazy. While it is dirty in parts - the city is changing thanks to a progressive new mayor who has made the city more pedestrian friendly and given this ancient city a new lease of life. With the airport less than twenty minutes from the city centre, it is an excellent weekend break, although one weekend will make you realise you have barely scratched the surface on what there is to offer... Staying at Decumani Hotel de Charme , it was an excellent location off the Spaccanapoli to explore both the old and new parts of the town. The hotel staff were very helpful in suggesting places to eat. We headed to one of the best pizza places and had a traditional Napoli Pizza and Peroni . What sets a good pizza apart from the others is the base and the ingredients. This one the base was light and the ingredients were fresh. For €7 including beer it seemed awfully good value. After leaving your name at  t
Read more

Theatre: The Drowsy Chaperone

My last full night in New York I caught the Drowsy Chaperone . It isn't so much as a musical but more a comedy monologue full of knowing jokes about the state of modern theatre, which just happens to have old-style musical numbers peppered throughout it. How it does this is by getting a single man in a cardigan who happens to like show tunes play an old record that he has from a long forgotten musical called "The Drowsy Chaperone". Then it comes to life and he gives a running commentary on the proceedings full of such knowing things as one actor "died after taking an overdose and was discovered half-eaten by his poodles"… Trust me it was hilarious… The show has become a hot ticket in New York. It is probably because if you weren't into vampire musicals or crap songs by Phil Collins (oops that's a tautology) there isn't much out there. It is also a comedy and that helps. Also the cast is terrific and inject life into a show which otherwise probably sh
Read more