Fresh off the presses this past Friday, May 7, 2021, Michael Gamble has released a new EP of the tunes his regular lineup and the Rhythm Serenaders Orchestra recorded for CalBal Live. Featuring a lineup of incredible swing musicians from around the US (nay, the globe, if you’re counting Noah Hocker, expat in Beijing), I’m singing on three tunes – Born to Swing, Without Your Love, and When You’re Smiling. Bring a smile to your face this week and head over to Bandcamp to pick up a copy! 🙂
Without Your Love
VIDEO: Without Your Love
Here’s another video from Michael Gamble and the Rhythm Serenaders, this time paying tribute to Billie Holiday’s arrangement for CalBal Live. When I started working on this tune I couldn’t find any other recordings to reference for the melody. Since Billie takes obvious liberties with the melody, I didn’t want that to be my only frame of reference, so I sought advice from Michael Steinman and he directed me to the Fayetteville Free Library in Fayetteville, New York, which has a substantial collection of sheet music of yesteryear. Sure enough, they had it and were able to email me a copy!
I’m glad I took the time to locate the sheet music because the melody is lovely – I think I’ve taken a bit from the original and a bit of Billie, put it all together with my wonderful music friends, and we made something good. Enjoy!