Labour Day weekend is sometimes referred to as the last big hurrah before things go back to “normal.” Of course, these days nothing is really normal.
But still, I think your soundtrack to the end of summer should be filled with songs that keep sunny days in mind. Stay positive, happy and upbeat.
So, here are 10 jazz tunes I will be playing over the long weekend — and that you should, too.
There are so many remixes of this song — and a cool version by Takuya Kuroda — but why not go back to 1976 when Roy Ayers had a minor hit with his tune. It has become a huge song in the decades that have followed and has been covered by other artists countless times.
I’m a fan of the Swedish band Koop and their original material. This is the song that launched them in North America. Although it was released in 2001, it still sounds modern, as if it was recorded in the past year or two. Much of the credit goes to Yukimi Nagano, whose timeless voice is so attributable to the band’s success.
Ella Fitzgerald, Norah Jones, Miles Davis… There are so many great versions of this Gershwin jazz standard. The Kensington Market Jazz Festival is going virtual this year, but while we wait, why not play founder Molly Johnson’s excellent rendition of this wonderful tune?
This Toronto band doesn’t play around town often enough, but that never prevents me from playing their Chunked album all summer long. Paul Neufeld, Michael and Roberto Occhipinti, Don Pham and guest saxman Jeff Coffin created a perfect record, and this track has a jazz-meets-reggae bent that is perfect for chilling in your backyard or at the cottage.
Anything by Stan Getz works well on Labour Day weekend — he even recorded a song called A Summer Afternoon — but this track is definitely a fave. It’s got a ‘50s exotica feel to it, but at the end of the day, it’s pure jazz.
Toronto’s local guitar hero (and retired jazz educator) has written some great tunes, but nothing screams summer quite like this one from his Streetscapes album. I could listen to this song five times in a row — it’s that good.
American trumpeter Chris Botti works well in the evening — post-barbecue, for example. Take a Muskoka sunset and enhance it with his perfect playing and slick production. Then again, I don’t own a cottage, but I’ll be playing this wherever I am.
Who am I kidding? I’m not going to play one song on Melody Gardot’s brilliant 2015 recording Currency of Man. I’ll be playing the entire album.
I’ve heard many versions of this song, but this is the first one I heard and it’s still my favourite. Dave Grusin arranged this perfectly, and Lan Hall perfectly sang the lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. It’s from the 1968 album Look Around.