Diana Krall -- Let's Face the Music and Dance

 

from Wikipedia

OK...this is going to be a slightly off-kilter Reminiscings of Youth chapter this week since I'll be talking about something in the year 1999 when I was well into my 30s. Still, I can say that this is a ROY article if I just substitute "youth" with "youngishness" (yeah, I realize that this isn't a real word...it's been given a really angry red underline).

But first, let's go with some background for me and this song. Irving Berlin, one of the masters within the Great American Songbook of jazz songs and show tunes, created "Let's Face the Music and Dance" for the 1936 musical "Follow the Fleet" with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It's a song that I had heard from time to time since I was a kid although at the time, I hadn't known the title or its background, although usually it was through the famous scene above of Astaire and Rogers dancing to it that I kept hearing it. 

When I look back upon it, I realize that I had been struck by the fact that it was an unusual jazz number with the key changes making it sound romantic, elegant and ominous at the same time. With the lyrics of "There may be trouble ahead, But while there's moonlight, And music and love and romance, Let's face the music and dance" in that first verse along with the succeeding verses, Berlin may have been hinting at the war to come but still asking listeners to not forget about hope and each other's company in a happier spirit.

While reading up on the song via Wikipedia, I discovered that Nat King Cole had done his cover of "Let's Face the Music and Dance" in 1964 with arrangement by Billy May. Compared to the original's feeling of being sadly resigned to a potentially dark future while savoring the moments before then, Cole's take is a joyful ring-a-ding-ding swing through Las Vegas, including a playful organ that seems to have been hauled out from Yankee Stadium. His version was apparently an inspirational one, getting other future singers to do their covers of the Berlin classic.

And that brings me to the present...well, actually 23 years ago. I was walking through the long mall underneath the Shinkansen tracks in Sukibayashi which is located midway between Ginza and Hibiya in Tokyo. There was a very long branch of HMV taking up a good chunk of the mall and when I came across the jazz section, I heard this familiar tune on the speakers which happened to be a new version of "Let's Face the Music and Dance".

Back around the end of the century, I did have my jazz-fixated age so I was more than happy to enter HMV Jazz and find out who was behind this classy, mellow and really romantic version of the song; nothing ominous. It was much longer than any other take and it also had a very pleasant bossa nova kick in there. Fortunately for me, it just so happened that jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall had released her latest album, "When I Look in Your Eyes" from June 1999.

Before that fateful encounter at HMV, I had never heard of Krall, so it was wonderful to hear that she's a fellow Canadian of my generation, being born in Nanaimo, British Columbia. One of the things that was another winner for her along with the amazing arrangement was indeed her voice. It smoked pleasantly like the rising wisps of a Cuban cigar and there was even a swagger in there and on her face which was strangely reminiscent of Elvis...so how ironic that she would end up marrying another Elvis.

It won't be a surprise for you to read that I bought "When I Look in Your Eyes" lickety-split, and it's good to know that it did end up with some pedigree since it was nominated for a Grammy for Best Album of the Year, and won the awards for Best Jazz Vocal and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical in early 2000. Since then, I've bought a few more Krall albums (including her Christmas one) and I even got to go to her concert in Bunkamura in Shibuya a few years later. It was just after that she'd gotten married to Mr. Costello and I thought it ran a tad short but becoming a fan, I think that any length of concert would seem short.

I'm sure that Ms. Krall has been to Japan quite a few times since my time in seeing her, and the above displays her 2019 tour in the country. As a coda for this story, her "Let's Face the Music and Dance" remains my favourite version of the song.

So, which three songs were in the Top 10 of Oricon in June 1999?

1. Kinki Kids -- Flower （フラワー）

4. Ryuichi Sakamoto -- energy flow

10. Ayumi Hamasaki -- LOVE〜Destiny〜/LOVE〜since 1999〜 (with Tsunku)