This week on Deb Dicembre Music I’m going to feature the Jazz album Manhattan Love Bistro.
In 2003 I put together a band of top Australian Jazz Musicians to play a residency gig at the Monkey Bar in Balmain Sydney NSW AU. We did a lot of jazz and blues standards, some Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan and even a few originals.
In the band we had Dale Barlow on sax & flute , Sean Wayland on keys, Gordon Reitmeister on Drums, Jonathon Zwartz on upright bass and myself on vocals . Just writing that sentence gives me a happy feeling ! What a band.
Bootleg Version – 2004 – with extra tracks
My vision at the time was to give us a regular space and place to work on the material we could then take into the studio and cut a ‘live’ album: ie everyone tracking or playing at the same time.
And so it was – at the ABC studios in Ultimo Sydney. 2004 – which makes this the 20 year anniversary ! From memory we spent about a week laying down a bunch of songs live, and these ones made the cut.
The Track Listing reads as follows :
- You Go To My Head – original arrangement / chord reharmonisation by myself and Dale
- Lullaby Of Birdland – We did straight ahead version . One of my favourite standards
- Cheek To Cheek – original arrangement Dale Barlow
- Night And Day – This arrangement came together on the day & we changed it up a little.
- I Wanna Be Loved – the Dinah Washington classic
- Love Is A Poor Man’s Drug – original D.Dicembre Words and Music
- Visby – Original Composition by Dale Barlow and the Wizards of Oz / Lyrics by Sean Wayland
I was so happy with the final recording – our versions of Lullaby of Birdland and You Go To My Head are 2 of my favourite personal all time recording experiences and tunes.
Here it is on ITunes and you can find it on Spotify , Amazon, Youtube or wherever you get your music from . Happy 20th Birthday to Manhattan Love Bistro – The band the album !
Leave us a comment or a Happy Birthday wish – I wonder how many June Babies there are in this band ? I know Sean is . And I am . And this album also ! So that’s 3 . Happy Birthday June Babies !
Deb Dicembre Music 