James Taylor’s 19th studio album is a collection of 14 American standards titled ‘American Standard’.
“I’ve always had songs I grew up with that I remember really well, that were part of the family record collection – and I had a sense of how to approach, so it was a natural to put American Standard together,” explains James Taylor.
“I know most of these songs from the original cast recordings of the famous Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, including My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, Carousel, Showboat and others.
“In terms of how they were performed and recorded before, we paid attention to the chords and melody, but we were interested in doing something new, and in bringing something new to it, we’ve reinterpreted the songs, that’s what makes it worth doing.”
AMERICAN STANDARD – Track List:
1. My Blue Heaven (Walter Donaldson-George A. Whiting)
2. Moon River (Henry Mancini-Johnny Mercer)
3. Teach Me Tonight (Gene De Paul-Sammy Cahn)
4. As Easy As Rolling Off A Log (M.K. Jerome-Jack Scholl)
5. Almost Like Being In Love (Frederick Loewe-Alan Jay Lerner)
6. Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ The Boat (Frank Loesser)
7. The Nearness Of You (Hoagy Carmichael-Ned Washington)
8. You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught (Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein II)
9. God Bless The Child (Billie Holiday-Arthur Herzog Jr.)
10. Pennies From Heaven (Arthur Johnston-Johnny Burke)
11. My Heart Stood Still (Richard Rogers-Lorenz Hart)
12. Ol’ Man River (Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II)
13. It’s Only A Paper Moon (Harold Arlen-Yip Hardburg-Billy Rose)
14. The Surrey With The Fringe On Top (Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein II)
The album comes on the heels of Taylor’s previously announced Break Shot, a deeply personal and authentic audio-only memoir, for Audible. This one-of-a-kind music and storytelling experience is the first-ever Audible Original performance by James Taylor and will be available on January 31st, 2020.
American Standard will follow on 28 February.
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