The first song is "Something to Live For," written by Billy Strayhorn (who arranged the music, too, I think) and performed by Duke Ellington, his big band, and Ella Fizgerald. Not a song I know but I liked it, and I think we all know that yearning. The second is "Jazz Samba." I don't know who wrote it, but this performance is brilliant. Fantastic arrangement (again by Billy Strayhorn) and absolutely superlative vocals by Ella Fitzgerald--made all the more admirable by the occasional strain in her voice. We know it's human, not effortless.
This is how Sundays should feel: slightly melancholy and then marvelling at the heat and rhythm, the joy and reach life.
