Comments on: ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO / “Summertime”

By: steve k.

steve k. — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:34:40 +0000

Can anyone help? I am looking for the name of a DJ (French I think) who did a remix of Billy Stewart’s recording of “Summertime”….a fantastic piece of work. I just wish I could find it.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:51:02 +0000

Guts – And the living is easy

From a french HipHop producer released in 2007, this version is spine-tingling good.

By: Shawntaye

Shawntaye — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:45:05 +0000

I always liked Billy Stewart’s version of “Summertime.”

By: ekere

ekere — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 18:36:42 +0000

Oh, these are some delicious interpretations. Thank you.

By: hristou

hristou — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 13:14:17 +0000

Thanks for this version

By: Rudy

Rudy — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 01:02:09 +0000

Cyrus Colter is the man here in B’more for pianists. Unfortunately, I’ve never seen him except on TV. He does everything that can be done with a piano, and then more. It does not matter what kind of piano it is — tuned or untuned, old stand up or grand. Cyrus says, Just let me play. He goes on, “I don’t play to put you to sleep . . . You see these ten fingers, I’m going to get the best I can.” He treats a piano as if it’s his woman and he knows her more intimately than any man before or after he came on the scene.

Thanks for the info on Billy Stewart. I did not know what happened to him — 33, hunh. The man was a musical genius. I did grow up with Billy Stewart, that is, hearing him. I think I might have seen him way back when the Royal Theater on Pennsylvania Avenue were doing three shows on Fridays — matinee, 8, and midnight. Billy Stewart also did a piece called “I’m a Fat Boy.” And when he sang it, you thought what a grand thing it was to be a fat boy.

Rudy

By: Kalamu

Kalamu — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:17:57 +0000

Jerry, will definitely consider that suggestion. My radio show on WWOZ 90.7fm (www.wwoz.org) is the "Kitchen Sink" and is at 10pm (CST) on Thursday nights.

By: Jerry Ward

Jerry Ward — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 14:32:05 +0000

Please play all six versions of “Summertime” on the Kitchen Sink this Thursday. Play Kidjo twice, because it is an all-too-short aesthetic gem.

By: sue ross

sue ross — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 00:11:07 +0000

Summertime is one of those classics that lends itself to unique interpretations – so much so that you can make a whole cassette tape of different versions by the great song stylists of our time, and of course I did (oops- showing my age, need to burn a CD these days). Must have been hard to choose the ones here today. I listen to the incomparable Sarah Vaughan ‘Live in Japan’, Ella Fitzgerald on ‘Ella in Berlin’, Dinah Washington & Clifford Brown, Dakota staton on the Late, Late Show’, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Shirley Horn on ‘I remember Miles’, Lorez Alexandria, Ernestine Anderson, Lena Horne, even Mahalia Jackson -the list goes on and on. Or John Coltrane’s take on his ‘My Favorite Things’ album, ‘Oscar Peterson & Joe Pass’, the Uptown String Quartet, Bird, Diz, Louis, Duke, Kenny Burrell. Herbie Hancock or my all time favorite the “Modern Jazz Quartet plays Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess”, from Milt Jackson’s resonant vibes to John Lewis’ elegant piano – a truly magical performance. (Though you better try and find a LP or an import – the current CD issued by Collectables is abominably mastered, full of tape hiss and distortion)
Thanks for introducing us to Angelique Kidjo’s interpretation – I’ll add it to my favorites.
There are a few other chestnuts that I have made one-song tapes of, that I never tire of listening to: Round Midnight, My Funny Valentine, Misty and my brother’s favorite, Willow Weep for Me.
Looking forward to your next set of musical memories…

By: Stephanie Renee

Stephanie Renee — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 22:59:28 +0000

I love the various versions you’ve posted here because each has its own unique light (and isn’t that the real idea behind interpretation?).

Kidjo’s version pulses with a spiritual fire, while the Baker/Chestnut collabo is more languid and – dare I say – humid? Makes me wanna fan myself on a front porch and move slowly…too hot to do any real work, but too enticing to stay indoors. Not sweat, but perspiration.

Thanks for sharing!