... SINGS THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK
Presenting the best and most eclectic performances on the BBC from the world's best-known artists performing their interpretations of classic tracks from The Great American Songbook.
In chronological order, this programme takes us through a myriad of BBC studio performances, from Dame Shirley Bassey in 1966 performing The Lady is A Tramp, to Bryan Ferry in 1974 on Twiggy's BBC primetime show performing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, to Captain Sensible on Top of the Pops in 1982 with his number one hit version of Happy Talk, through to Kirsty MacColl singing Miss Otis Regrets in 1994 to Jamie Cullum with his version of I Get a Kick Out Of You on Parkinson in 2004 and bang up to date with Brit winner Florence from Florence and the Machine performing My Baby Just Cares for Me with Jools Holland on his Annual Hootenanny at the end of 2009.
The Great American Songbook can best be described as the music and popular songs of the famous and prolific American composers of the 1920s and onwards. Composers such as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Hoagy Carmichael to name but a few... songwriters who wrote the tunes of Broadway theatre and Hollywood musicals that earned enduring popularity before the dawning of rock 'n' roll.
These famous songwriters have penned songs which have entered the general consciousness and which are now best described as standards - tunes which every musician and singer aspires to include in their repertoire. (00:59:15)
Jimmy Scott ~ All of Me
Dr. John ~ Blues in the Night
Jack Jones ~ Call Me Irresponsible
Michael Bublé ~ Come Fly With Me
Diana Krall ~ Devil May Care
Ella Fitzgerald ~ Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
Captain Sensible ~ Happy Talk
Jamie Cullum ~ I Get a Kick Out Of You
Harry Connick, Jr. ~ It Had To Be You
Nilsson ~ Makin' Whoopee
Kirsty MacColl ~ Miss Otis Regrets
Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra & Florence Welch ~ My Baby Just Cares For Me
Sammy Davis Jr. ~ My Funny Valentine
Tony Bennett ~ One For My Baby
The Bryan Ferry Orchestra ~ Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Johnny Mercer ~ Something's Gotta Give
Alison Moyet ~ That Ole Devil Called Love
Shirley Bassey ~ The Lady is a Tramp