Playlist for a celebration.
Today was certainly a tough day. I know it might not look that way to some. I tend to be very hard to read on the surface sometimes. Especially when I have to deal with lots of unfamiliar people, like I did today.
You see this past weekend, Saturday night to be exact, my father died of a heart attack. Came as a shock to everyone, as these things often do. Not really gonna talk about that here.
Lets just skip to what this post is actually about. In the process of planning for my fathers celebration (i.e. memorial) it was suggested that we can bring some of his music to play during it. So my mom asked me to make a playlist of my dad's music to play at it.
Mom, you are a genius. Probably one of the most theraputic things I could have done. It was nice uploading all of his CDs to his laptop. Gave me a chance to listen to, or for most of it, relisten to a lot of what he listened to. I got to pick out what I thought were some of my dads favorite songs. I tried to stay away from the rock format for the most part. To be honest, I just didn't feel Styx or Frank Zappa was apporiprate for this occassion.
So I heard a lot of cool stuff, a lot of interesting stuff, a few things I still don't get, and then I heard my dad. It happened while I was doing stuff around the house on Tuesday afternoon. I had on some John Pizzarelli, "Our Love Is Hear To Stay" to be exact. Out of no where came my dad. It was clear as day. The exact moment was "Honey Pie" (linked below), a simple cover cover of the The Beatles tune. What struck me about that song was they general feeling of his cover I feels caputres the way he felt about my mom. Starried eyed and in love. But with a jazzy feel. hehe.
It's a song him and I had talked about a few times. I've also heard him humming/whistling it several times. And there I had it, how I would make this mix for him. So while I finished uploading his music, I thought of song that I talked to dad about, or would hear him whistle or whatever.
My dad being a trumpet player in his younger years made me lean (and it was an easy lean at that) towards the Jazzy side of music.
So here it is, my attempt at a Musical Eulogy for my father, Steve Larry.
"Playlist for a celebration"
- The Chieftains - "Sea Image"
- The Philadelphia Orchestra - "Pomp And Circumstance"
- Michael Bublé - "That's All"
- The John Pizzarelli Trio - "The Frim Fram Sauce"
- Tony Bennet "Body and Soul"
- Simon & Garfunkel - "Homeward Bound (Live)"
- Eric Clapton - "Tears In Heaven"
- Harry Connick, Jr. - "He Is, They Are"
- Barry Manilow - "Moonlight Serenade"
- Louis Armstrong - "Dream A Little Dream Of Me"
- Harry Connick, Jr. - "Save The Last Dance For Me"
- The Manhattan Transfer - "Tubby Meets A Jazzy Band"
- John Pizzarelli - "Avalon"
- Harry Connick, Jr. - "Funky Dunky"
- The Manhattan Transfer - "Java Jive"
- Blood, Sweat & Tears - "Spinning Wheel"
- The Manhattan Transfer - "Route 66"
- Tony Bennett - "Old Count Basie Is Gone (Old Piney Brown Is Gone)"
- John Pizzarelli - Honey Pie
- John Coltrane - All Or Nothing At All
- John Pizzarelli - "Rhythm Is Our Business"
- Neil Diamond - "Forever In Blue Jeans" *Wedding Song
- Blood, Sweat & Tears - "And When I Die"
- The Manhattan Transfer - "God Only Knows"
- Harry Connick, Jr. - "With Imagination (I'll Get There)"
- John Pizzarelli - "Coffee, Black"
- Jelly Roll Morton & His Red Hot Peppers - "Dead Man Blues"
- Gunther Schuller, The Incredible All Star Band - "Semper Fidelis"
- Chuck Mangione - "Amazing Grace"
So there you have it. If you are at all curious as to why I picked the songs, please feel free to ask. I have a reason for all of them. Might not be the most interesting reason, but I picked everyone on purpose.
Maybe if I'm feeling adventerous tomorrow I'll upload the playlist. Anyone have any good ideas on how to do that?