Summer is a very subjective experience.
Around where I am, we tend to appreciate the warm weather.
In the deep south, the heat takes on a persona of its own.
I thought looking at how summer manifests itself in song could be a somewhat different way of marking the Solstice.
While all of these are about summer, they represent three different experiences, or aspects, of it.
It comes out in the sultriness of the voices of these three ‘divas’ and their Jazz accompaniment.
And social commentary was usually just below the surface; here in a rather melancholy way.
All three: a perfect blend of improvisation and tightness. Musically, that is a way of reconciling the subjective and the objective.
Or, we could just go listen to Taylor Swift I suppose.
Either way, stay cool and happy solstice!
What a magnificent trio of musical perfection... and a delightful tribute to the merging of subjectivity with objectivity. Best to keep "the flower of forgetfulness"... and Taylor Swift... at a good arm's length.
Happy Soltice!
This Bitter Earth - Dinah Washington & Max Richter
https://youtu.be/Pbs6fBi-Fts
Dinah Washington
"This Bitter Earth"
This bitter earth
Well, what a fruit it bears
What good is love
Mmm, that no one shares
And if my life is like the dust
Ooh, that hides the glow of a rose
What good am I
Heaven only knows
Lord, this bitter earth
Yes, can be so cold
Today you're young
Too soon, you're old
But while a voice within me cries
I'm sure someone may answer my call
And this bitter earth
Ooh, may not, oh, be so bitter after all