Cole Porter
Cole Porter wrote both the tunes and the words: urbane, sharp-edged songs built for the stage and still at home in the jazz room. From Night and Day to You're the Top, I Get a Kick Out of You and I Concentrate on You, his catalogue keeps singers circling back.
Unlike most Broadway composers of his era, Porter supplied lyrics as well as music, packing list songs, torch ballads and swing numbers with wit that never softens the melody. Scores for Anything Goes, Kiss Me, Kate, Can-Can and Fifty Million Frenchmen, and film work from Born to Dance to High Society, left a run of standards that jazz players treat as living material: You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To, I've Got You Under My Skin, Begin the Beguine, So In Love, Too Darn Hot. The songs invite reinvention without losing their polish or their sting, which is why they still turn up on intimate vocal sets and big-band charts alike.
Compositions by Cole Porter appear on
Seasons of Love
A jazz trio, string orchestra and guest soloists join vocalists Gian Slater and Eddie Perfect. Graeme Lyall’s rich arrangements refresh Great American Songbook standards and other stage and screen favourites.
Bossa Eyes
Laid-back jazz vocals drift over bossa and samba grooves in a programme inspired by Antônio Carlos Jobim. Familiar standards sit beside originals on an acoustically open set that favours space, lyric and a gentle Latin pulse.
For Elvin...
This live set captures a real night with the long-running Ted Vining Trio: Ted Vining on drums, Bob Sedergreen on piano and Barry Buckley on bass. Guitarist Stephen Magnusson makes a special guest appearance on two tracks.
Polyphony
The Phones were an a cappella group with a comedic bent. This 1984 album largely reflects their interest in contemporary music of the preceding twenty-five years, mixing pop classics with Australian songs and original pieces.
Love Rhapsody
Emma Sidney’s debut jazz album Love Rhapsody traces love in every mood, from triumph to loss. Standards sit beside three of her own songs, sung with swing, Latin colour and intimate ballad feeling.