“Jump for Joy” is a small collection that refused to die. Shelved for more than ten years - after Callie released her second Jazz standards album - this new release delivers a fresh and authentic perspective on five Jazz standards.
Callie Cardamon is a #US West-Coast songwriter, standards singer, and writer whose distinctive interpretations of #Jazz and #FolkPop standards have earned her a global following. Let's see what Callie has to say about her new release.
I couldn’t find the artistic space to complete a jazz standards record, so these five songs were in limbo, waiting to be officially released.
'Jump for Joy'
Duke Ellington’s “Jump for Joy” makes my ears jump for joy! The lilt, the exuberance, the thrill of freedom—wow! My go-to music is usually slow and sad, mostly because up-tempo, major key songs don’t tug at my musical heart, but “Jump for Joy” grabbed me the minute I heard it. It’s my all-time favorite “happy” song. “Jump for Joy” was the title song of Ellington’s 1941 musical revue, which he referred to as “the first ‘social significance’ show.” I like to say that if God has a playlist, “Jump for Joy” is in heavy rotation!
'Summertime'
I’ve been singing versions of this song since a friend introduced me to Dave Edmunds and Love Sculpture when I was eighteen. It was the fifth track on “Blues Helping.” Dave’s guitar and vocals blew my mind and hooked me on “Summertime” for life. This is probably my favorite song in the world, but I can’t tell you why because I’m not sure myself. It’s something about the combination of despair and jubilation. . . it seems to contain every painful and beautiful sensation of being human.
I can’t fail to mention the irony of “Summertime” following “Jump for Joy” on this collection. Duke Ellington had some pretty harsh things to say about Gershwin and “Porgy and Bess,” and the opera has been controversial since its inception. Gershwin’s thinking was considered liberal at the time, but as Gary Younge writes in The Guardian, “liberalism . . . is not absolute but relative. As attitudes change and conditions progress what looked like noble intentions curdle into condescension.” Still, Ellington recorded Gershwin’s tunes and respected his work.
I believe that music can transcend the moral shortcomings of its creators. It had better, or there would be little left to listen to.
'On the Street Where You Live'
This track snuck onto the collection. Although I l love the song, it wasn’t one of my all-time favorites. Still, I kept hearing different ways to phrase it until I finally had to record it. When I sing, I see little bursts of shapes in my head, which show me where the notes want to go, and I draw the shapes in the air as I sing (this passes for sheet music for a musician who has always played by ear!). This song has lots of strange little shapes that interest me.
'Peel Me a Grape'
This funny and entertaining song is a joy to sing. David Frishberg is a genius. Enough said!
'Why Try to Change Me Now'
I heard Fiona Apple’s cover of this on an episode of “House” a few years ago and loved the song. It has everything I require for ear titillation: lushness, dreamy melodies, stately movement. Oh, and Tom Izzo’s guitar!