For Valentine’s Day this year, we decided to survey the hosts and staff at WBGO to recommend their favorite love songs, with jazz leanings. We thought about asking for favorite versions of “My Funny Valentine,” but that’s a love song that sounds like one, yet has lyrics that can confound you if you’re paying attention (“…your looks are laughable”?) No, better to hear the songs that really touched our hearts, and hopefully yours. – Lee Mergner
Roberta Flack “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”
In 1971, I saw the Clint Eastwood movie Play Misty For Me and was transfixed watching the scene where Clint and his co-star, Donna Mills, took a romantic walk along the beach, through the woods and into the river where they locked into a loving embrace as Roberta Flack sang the Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger song that later propelled Roberta's career. Her rendition evoked the longing, loving and lust depicted in the scene as if the song was written specifically for it. I watched the ocean waves cascading in the background, the lushness of the forest and the waterfall in the lake and lost myself in their glow of love. I've heard many wonderful love songs in my life, but this song still remains my number one. – Sheila Anderson, Host, Weekend Jazz Overnight and Salon Sessions
Little Jimmy Scott “When Did You Leave Heaven”
Little Jimmy Scott’s timeless version of “When Did You Leave Heaven” truly could be the blueprint for the art of singing a ballad. There’s drama, intention and even surprise. The arresting opening notes from Budd Johnson’s burly tenor (Charles Mingus also appears on the track) and the way Scott swoops into his opening line are enough to stop you in your tracks. As Scott’s angelic voice bends and stretches his way through each verse, his impeccable phrasing and deliberate use of space leave you breathless, awaiting his next move. This ballad in Scott’s hands is a lesson on how to make a believer out of your audience. On this Valentine’s Day who wouldn’t want to be considered divine and angelic? Utterly romantic. – Monifa Brown, Host, Saturday Evening Jazz
Pat Metheny “Always and Forever”
I realize that this song was dedicated to Pat's parents, but it has always held special significance to me and my wife. At my wedding many years ago as a surprise, my brother-in-law, the wonderful guitarist Peter Mazza, arranged and performed the most exquisite version of “Always and Forever.” He, along with organist Gary Versace and drummer Anthony Pinciotti, had everyone in tears. While I don't have a recording of that rendition, I still often listen to the original, and the magic that Pat and Toots Thielemans created on Pat’s Secret Story album, as well as the beautiful and emotive interpretation that Roy Hargrove gave us on his album Moment to Moment. It's just another reminder how special Roy Hargrove was, and how much we miss him. – Jonathan Chimene, Chief Financial Officer
Herbie Mann & Laurence Harvey “This Is My Beloved”
This was my informal introduction to poetry. Not Shakespeare, but a guy who “lived the life” in Greenwich Village. With Harvey's great enunciation and sense of timing, plus the Afro Latin beat of Herbie's band. This was my Brooklyn High School days in the early ‘60s, so the sense of the Village and the bars with jazz and love, hit a core within me. Any track about love found and love lost has fitted my love affairs over the decades. My favorite is the track when she doesn't show up and he talks about leaving the table with "your glass full and mine empty,” then walking by St. Mark's church in the East Village later that night, "and a girl was crying." For decades, I still stop and remember whenever I see that church. – Rob Crocker, Host, Late Night Jazz
Dave Brubeck "Broadway Romance"
I fell in love with jazz listening to Dave Brubeck's Time Out album when I was five years old. I fell in love with jazz in New York forty years ago, just as I began my jazz broadcasting career, with Brubeck's Jazz Impressions Of New York. Music that Brubeck composed originally for the short-lived Craig Stevens television series Mr. Broadway, every impression that he wrote evoked the sound of the world's greatest city through every season. Of all of these impressions, the one that has stayed with me is "Broadway Romance." The combination of that dry martini sound of Paul Desmond's alto saxophone to Joe Morello's deft brush work to Brubeck himself laying down one of his loveliest melodies at the piano makes me hum or whistle every time I've strolled on Broadway for the last twenty-seven years. – Brian Delp, Host, Drive Time
Nat King Cole “L-O-V-E”
The beauty of this song is in its simplicity. Because at its core, love is meant to be simple. "Two in love can make it. Take my heart but please don't break it." Bert Kaempfert and Milt Gabler wrote a masterpiece, but it's Nat King Cole’s subtle yet immaculate delivery that makes the song sting deep into your heart. – Sarah Geledi, Producer, Jazz Night in America
Charlie Parker “Embraceable You” (Take A)
In this recording of the romantic popular standard, Charlie Parker seemingly abandons the original song’s melody altogether in favor of one of the most thrilling examples of melodic and rhythmic invention in all of recorded jazz (although, in his book, Charlie Parker and Thematic Improvisation, Henry Martin argues convincingly that Bird’s solo references the tune on a fundamental level). Parker’s solo is rich with surprising turns of phrasing and rhythmic creativity. Despite the technical complexity, Bird remains emotive, never clinical or academic. Freed from the text, this is a performance that intensifies the emotional depth and subtlety of the source material, and transcendently so. Miles Davis’s trumpet solo is less-often championed, but one can hear the stirrings of the approach to ballads that he would soon master. Sure, “Embraceable You” may be a romantic song, but this recording approaches describing a deeper kind of love. Adding to the riches, Take B is utterly distinct, but no less inventive. – Corey Goldberg, Operations Assistant
Sarah Vaughan "You Are Too Beautiful"
Sarah Vaughan's version of this Rodgers and Hart gem, to me, is like a love song, to herself. Having always been in love with the John Coltrane version where Johnny Hartman croons about the attraction to and beauty of another. When I heard Sassy sing " You are too beautiful for one man alone, for one lucky fool to be with. When there are other men with eyes of their own to see with," it became very personal. Those lyrics and her delivery of that song brought me to tears. It was on repeat for several hours and empowered and encouraged to overcome a personal obstacle, self-doubt. It is now a love song to me. – Lezlie Harrison, Host, Come Sunday
Nat King Cole “Stardust”
The greatest love songs are wistful, and “Stardust” is wistful in melody and lyric. It's a story of longing with no resolution—each night the stars rise only to remind the singer of lost love. (“And now the purple dusk of twilight time.”) It’s a song about a song, he wanders alone every night, haunted by the melody in his head, which is both his only solace and a constant reminder of what he’ll never have again. Measures of a great song for me, include how often it is covered, especially across genres. The song is over 90 years old and there are dozens of miraculous versions in jazz and vocal (Ella, Louis, Frank, Dinah, Sarah); instrumental (Coltrane, Lester Young & Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington); R&B (Jackie Wilson, The Dominoes); and one of my favorites, in the country music genre, by Willie Nelson. I love them all, but I’m partial to Nat King Cole’s version—when the strings come in, I’m like Pavlov’s dog, choking up every single time because I know what’s coming. – Scott McCraw, Director of Strategic Partnerships
Johnny Hartman & John Coltrane “My One and Only Love”
As the only vocalist that Coltrane ever invited to play on an album, Johnny Hartman holds a unique place in jazz history. Their collaboration on the 1963 Impulse album has become an iconic recording that several contemporary jazz vocalists have paid tribute to or remade. There are many beautiful love songs on the album, but none resonate quite as powerfully as their version of the tune written by Guy Wood and Robert Mellin. In fact, my wife and I asked Philadelphia jazz singer Evelyn Simms to sing it at our wedding more than 30 years ago. Now that’s a love song. – Lee Mergner, Editorial Content Producer
Tony Bennett and Bill Evans “We’ll Be Together Again”
One of the most achingly beautiful, haunting tributes to the endurance of love, it has arguably never had a more intimate reading than by these two master musicians at the height of their creative powers. Love in its purest form is not always sunshine and roses. However, when the connection between two souls runs deep, the trials and tribulations, including separation, can not only be endured, but embraced as a means of strengthening a truly solid bond. If both believe and trust in that shared commitment, love wins out and truer hearts prevail. – John Newcott, Director of Individual Giving
Ella Fitzgerald “Let’s Do It”
“Birds do it/Bees do it/Even educated fleas do it/Let’s do it/Let’s fall in love.” Ella Fitzgerald is simply wonderful in her version of Cole Porter’s delightful song filled with wordplay and witty double entendres. It was written in 1928 for a musical called Paris, and has been covered by a host of musicians, ranging from Bing Crosby to Alanis Morrisette. In my opinion, nobody sang it better, though, than jazz’s First Lady of Song. – Jennifer Poteet, Donor Services Associate
Gregory Porter “If Love is Overrated”
Gregory Porter has a song on his All Rise album that made my heart stop the first time I heard it and frankly every time since. “If Love is Overrated” is an almost perfect song. The lyrics speak to the yearning we all have for real human connection and the undying hope we have that it's possible to find real love. His voice is like a warm blanket on a cold rainy night and Gregory Porter is in my estimation one of the best at interpretating a lyric; he's in the company of Nancy Wilson and Carmen McRae when it comes to bringing life to the story the song tells. It's a perfect love song. – Pat Prescott, Host, My Favorite Things
Roberta Flack “Killing Me Softly”
My favorite songs are usually ones that tell a story, as this one does. Even though Roberta was covering Lori Lieberman’s original tune, her folksy-soulful version is the one I became familiar with in my youth. While the lyrics are all about feeling uncomfortable and vulnerable, this tune always brings back memories of summer concerts on the beach, old friends and good times. – Phyllis Slaten, Executive Assistant to the President & CEO
Keith Jarrett “Someone to Watch Over Me”
Musicians spend their early years cramming The Great American Songbook — learning the changes, the melody, the structure of these tunes. Musicians — especially instrumentalists —who stand out above the rest commit another component of the canon to memory: the lyrics. In this 1999 solo piano recording, Keith Jarrett’s piano is singing. Committing each note to the beautiful, longing tone set by Ira Gershwin’s lyrics, it speaks to the yearning, the hope, and the gentle solitude that accompanies love and its natural journey. – Trevor Smith, Producer, Jazz Night in America
James Williams & ICU “You're My Alter Ego”
"I'll hear a tune and begin to think of you. You're on my mind most all the time." I remember "stumbling" on an album by James Williams & ICU called Truth, Justice & the Blues and my eyes were drawn to one of his well-known compositions, "You're My Alter Ego," except this one had lyrics, and some of the most beautiful ones I've ever heard. So many people connect music, a specific song, to someone they love. An alter ego is a part of you, and these lyrics speak of a love so connected, it feels like one. "When we're as one, I become a part of you. And you become a part of me." This song paints a picture of a true love, that only some have experienced. But we all get to experience it every time we hear this song. – Nicole Sweeney, Former Host, Lights Out
Nat King Cole “(I Would Do) Anything for You”
Love means many things to many people. But unconditional love? Now that’s something special, and all too rare. It’s not a mission impossible, but rather, a move to higher ground. My grandparents had it. I could see it in their eyes, even when their vision was failing. It’s knowing she’s as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. It’s giving her the respect she deserves. And then some. It’s showing up, sometimes as a surprise. It’s imagining where you want to be in 10 years, and seeing her right there, next to you. It’s even petting her ugly dog. Lofty goal? No, higher ground, knowing you’d do anything for her. – Gary Walker, Host, Daybreak
Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald "They Can't Take That Away from Me"
I love to hear two great artists performing together, because it is like an idealized version of love for me—timeless, harmonious, beautiful. There's no question that these qualities are perfectly embodied in Ella & Louis. This song, with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, feels like the first impression of a lifelong love affair. It actually inspired me to write a rock song with a similar theme, and well, I married the person I wrote the song about! – Brandy Wood, Marketing Manager
