Friday, January 3, 2014

Lover Man


Roger Ram Ramirez, Afro-boricua New Yorker, gave us "Lover Man" through the lovely recordings of Billie Holiday. Though the song does not reflect Ramirez's Afro-Latino background, it certainly indicates the influence of Puerto Ricans in New York on the US jazz scene. For some other great renditions of this standard, check out Sarah Vaughan's, including this one I am in love with (and check this out, too, for an example of how the younger Sarah Vaughan expressed her balladry in the company of greats such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker). Last but certainly not least, Charlie Parker's recording of the song in a drunken mess is still worthwhile.

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