Whether or not you’re wearin’ the green today, here’s a group of “Danny Boy’s” that’ll make you feel as Irish-born as my ancestors.
With arpeggios rippling “from glen to glen,” here’s Art Tatum in 1944 playing the tune that was first published in 1855 in a collection of Irish folk songs as “The Londonderry Air”
Tony Bennett’s tender reading of “Danny Boy” is from the session he made with Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Elvin Jones in 1964.
Here’s a new favorite by Diana Krall’s guitarist Anthony Wilson with Jack Nimitz featured on baritone saxophone.
A comment on the YouTube page where I found Bill Evans’s 1962 recording of “Danny Boy,” says, “The best ten minutes of Danny’s life.”
And just this morning, I found what I’d call the jazz equivalent of a four-leaf clover: Ben Webster on film 50 years ago in his adopted home of Copenhagen sounding even better than he did when he first recorded “Danny Boy” in 1953 with Oscar Peterson.