Our musician of the day - Cam Porter did such a lovely job of this tune in an arrangement by our very own Don Buchanan, that I wanted to feature a version of this jazz classic today.

There are so many great recordings of this song - and I know that Cam being a bit of a traditionalist might even prefer the one by John Coltrane with Duke Ellington on piano, but having actually met Nick once, I decided on this beautiful rendition.

I met Nick when I was working at the Kincardine Summer Music Festival Jazz camp and Nick was the guest artist. He had one of those larger than life personalities and, man, could he play. Nick may be the only musician I have met who not only told me he was the best in the world, but who actually convinced me it might be true.

Doing this little blog always seems to take me to fond memories from long ago. So many great musicians, fun experiences, and so much learning happened at that camp. I guess maybe I am getting a bit sentimental too. Hope you enjoy this recording.

So I think we can all agree that this was maybe the most overplayed tune at stage band festivals. I think because it was seen as a "real" jazz tune but didn't require teaching young musicians how to really swing?

This tune brings back so many memories of the 70's for me. Weather Report brought out Heavy Weather in 1977 when I was just beginning my Music Degree at Queens University in Kingston. And Birdland was the BIG hit!