Today’s cycling expedition took me through the upper reaches of apple country where the orchards are in bloom. It was a fairly mild winter around here but there was plenty of snow in the mountains, so there’s a good flow of irrigation water and the blossoms are signaling that there will be a large crop— if the weather cooperates and we don’t get a late freeze.
My search for a new jazz version of the obvious choice of a song about apple blossoms turned up nothing. There is no new version. That’s too bad. The piece has nice harmonic changes; the younger players are missing an opportunity. Therefore we turn, not reluctantly, to Jo Stafford, Dick Hyman and Ruby Braff. Here is Ms. Stafford in 1946 with Nat Cole on piano, nice little solos by trumpeter Ray Lynn and tenor saxophonist Herbie Haymer and the orchestra conducted by Paul Weston. Listen to this woman’s phrasing. She was a wonder.
At their duo concert in New York in 1982, Hyman played a Wurlitzer Theater Organ and Braff played cornet. The concert recording was originally issued on LP and cassette.