St Vincent just wrapped up a three-night stand at the Cafe Carlyle and each night featured a unique cover as part of her setlist. On the opening night, Clark performed jazz standard “Lush Life,” by Billy Strayhorn. (Other songs she covered during the stand were Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,” and Rufus Wainwright’s “Poses.”) Video of her “Lush Life” performance from the Carlyle hasn’t surfaced yet, but thankfully her warm-up show at The Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, CT has surfaced. (The introduction to the song begins around one hour and fifteen minutes into the performance.)
In her introduction, St Vincent said her pianist insisted on practicing it, with her responding, “this one’s easy… It was written by a 16 year-old Billy Strayhorn. I’m sure we can fudge our way through it.” In reality, the song is known as a challenging song with complex chord changes with chromatic movement and modulations. And then, as you can see in the video, she performs the song wonderfully. Her version perfectly captures the song’s melancholy.
Strayhorn wrote the song in 1936 while working at a drugstore in Pittsburgh. It was one of the first songs he played for Duke Ellington, before joining his orchestra as composer and arranger. It is also a frequent cover for singers, and has been performed by Bud Powell, Sammy Davis Jr and Stan Getz among others.
