According to his website, Andrew Axenov is "a fingerstyle guitarist and composer from St. Petersburg, the author of an educational YouTube channel, the author of guitar courses and music writing courses." All I can say is, thank God for Google Translate, because his website and the comments on his YouTube channel are all in Russian. No matter, the guy’s an excellent fingerstyle guitar player. Here is his arrangement of Ivan Dorn’s "Живописный мост" ("The Picturesque Bridge").
I just started following Cruz & Jobim on Instagram, and I have to be honest, I don’t know much about them other than they’re from Brazil and speak Portuguese. Jean Cruz is a vocalist, Marcos Jobim is a vocalist and plays guitar and double bass. Their most recent album, Desencontro (which translates either to "hate" or "mismatch") was just released and can be heard on Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, or Soundcloud. They also have a Facebook page, which looks mostly in English. This is "O Mundo É Só" ("The World Is Only," according to Google Translate).
Nova started posting videos of themselves on YouTube in 2011, and since then has received worldwide acclaim. They do bossa nova and samba music in both private and public settings and bring the classic sounds of Brazil into the 21st Century. Their lineup is Laura Vall (vocals), David Irelan (guitar), Thomas Hjorth (bass), and Mike Papagni (drums). "Wave" was written by Antonio Carlos Jobim and was the title track for his 1967 album. You can hear more by Nova on YouTube.
Gypsy jazz didn’t die with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. In fact, there are a few bands out on YouTube that are breathing new life into the genre. The Avalon Jazz Band out of New York City, for starters, fronted by vocalist Tatiana Eva-Marie and violinist Adrien Chevalier. "Ménilomontant" is a song writtn by Charles Trener in 1938 in honor of the Parisian neighborhood of the same name. The link above will take you to their website, and this link will take you to their YouTube account.
Jim’s got us back to body parts, prompting us with "Ankles/Hands/Feet/Fingers/Toes/Wrists." I found what I thought would be the perfect song, Denise LaSalle’s "Feet Don’t Fail Me," then about drove myself crazy trying to find the lyrics. And I couldn’t do it, so I did the next best think: I transcribed them myself. I think I did pretty well, but if you see any errors, let me know.
As I mentioned Friday, when her song "Now Run And Tell That" was #9 on my Friday 5×2, Denise was a blues/R&B/soul/disco singer, songwriter, and record producer, who had been recognized as the "Queen of the Blues" since the death of Koko Taylor. She passed away in 2018, and I don’t know who the reigning queen is. Anyway, "Feet Don’t Fail Me" is on her 1978 album Under The Influence. I’m going to guess that she wrote it.
The lyrics, as well as I could transcribe them:
That’s Song Lyric Sunday, and Song of the Day, for February 23, 2020.
