Carelessly by Norman Ellis and Nick and Charles Kenny as Sung by Billie Holiday

This is a recording from a local jazz gig that took place at the Student Prince Restaurant in Springfield, MA, not too far from where I live, that took place in January 2020 just before the lockdown. It is a song made famous by a singer. In this video, I was performing with a wonderful group of musicians from New England. For me, as a jazz guitarist, this was a wonderful opportunity to delve into the singer, Billie Holiday’s repertoire and the music of a far older time. Carelessly with music by Norman Ellis and words by Nick and Charles Kenney become famous because of Billie Holiday’s rendition from 1937. The repertoire of Billie Holiday is preferred by the wonderful singer on this recording, Robyn Lloyd, who is featured in this piece. In addition, the performance of Carelessly that is captured in this video is a great example of the continuing tradition of jazz musicians of modernizing a song from the Great American Songbook of the past. Listening closely, you can hear that the band is playing Carelessly in a more modern style than the original from 1937 both in the accompaniment and the solo improvisations. As with most jazz performances, nothing is written down. All the musicians are improvising all the accompaniments, improvisations and to a large extent, the arraignment by following the basic outline of the song on sheet music.