Why this tune?
I’m starting to get ready for my May 27 show at Blues Alley in Washington, DC, celebrating
the release of my new EP “Grown Up Since Tuesday.” We’re going to play the songs from the EP plus more of my tunes, and songs by composers who have inspired me.
This song is a tribute to the late Dave Frishberg, whose influence you can probably hear in many of my songs. The lyric takes some inspiration from the New York Times obituary, which called him “an anomaly, if not an anachronism in American popular music.” As the song says, I have some of that anachronistic tendency in my own songs and performances.
I included one of Frishberg’s songs in the Blues Alley set as well, plus an Ellington tune
and a piece by our tenor player Lionel Lyles. You can buy tickets for the show at bluesalley.com.
Oren Levine, jazz pianist and songwriter 