Ascension day and the following weekend is one of the highlights of spring. A long weekend where things slow down. Usually a chance to catch up with things one has been postponing for a while. For me this meant some work at home and also to get a acquianted with a new sound card I recently got. Earlier in the week there had been flying exercises from an airbase not too far from my studio so everytime I went outside I would see fighter jets do rolls and loopings. Quite a sight but unfortunately also a lot of noise. With that and ascension weekend coming up, when Christ flew to the heavens, I thought that flying would be an fun theme for this stream.
First up, an invitation to all viewers and listeners. “Come fly with me”! A song that I have heard so many times but never played.
One of the birthdays this day that just had to be recognized was that of Stevie Wonder. When I just had started to play the Hammond there was a late nate talk show “Sen kväll med Luuk” on Swedish television, inspired by the American shows with Letterman, Leno and such. And of course there was a house band with a Hammond. The theme song for this talk show was Stevie Wonder’s “Yester-me, yester-you, yesterday”, played instrumentally with the Hammond as lead instrument. So that was my first choice of Stevie Wonder songs.
The next band stream coming up will be with Arnesen Bluesband, a band that I have been playing with for almost 20 years. So I did a little plug for that by playing “Early in the morning”, a tune we’ve been playing quite a lot with that band.
Earlier this week, one of Sweden’s great jazz singers, Svante Thuresson, passed away. His career spans 60 years and I have listened to him a lot over the years. One of his most famous recordings was a Swedish version of Burt Bacharach’s “This guy’s in love with you”. The Swedish title was “Du ser en man”. It felt nice to play this song to honor Svante.
Then for some more Stevie. It’s hard to talk about favorite tunes because you would have to make that list quite long, but one song that I have always loved is “Sir Duke”.
Speaking of passing away, I was around this date that Frank Sinatra passed away in 1998. So, another song to honor both him and the theme was “Fly me to the moon”.
I have always admired Tania Maria and her Brazilian style of music. “Yatra-Ta” is quite challenging but a lot of fun and a bit hysterical.
Then for a wartime classic – “Flying home”.
The set ended with some more blues. On concerts with Arnesen Bluesband, there are usually a few tunes where I would have most of the spotlight and kind of tear the organ apart. “Confessin’ the blues” is one of those. A lof of nice block chords and a medium slow tempo.
BBs boogie is also a tune we usually play with the blues band. A more upbeat blues to end the show.
Hope you enjoyed the show and see you at the next!
