Mixtape: Wrap Your Troubles in Cream
Jazz To Get Cookin’
Mary, is it just me or does it already feel like a long winter? Jazz is a huge part of my life and these joyful classics are my natural antidepressants. Great for cooking and pure dopamine. No paywall. Just click play!
Jazz is an inherently Queer genre. Before we had “official” Gay bars, Jazz clubs provided safe spaces for many Queer folks. From the birth of Jazz in New Orleans, inside the red-light saloons of Storyville at the start of the 1900s, to New York’s Harlem Renaissance of the ‘30s, to the lesbian lounges of Los Angeles and San Francisco in the ‘60s. Jazz has been a massive influence on the Queer experience, especially the Black Queer experience. Openly Queer artists like Tony Jackson, Bessie Smith and my personal hero, prodigy Billy Strayhorn (Duke Ellington’s main collaborator) shaped music in a way we still feel today.
Song listing below.
Wrap Your Troubles in Cream
Pavane, Eroll Garner - 1962
Moonglow, Benny Goodman - 1934
I’m In the Mood For Love, Duke Ellington
Lila, Luis Bonfa - 1962
September Song, Cal Tjader - 1957
When Johanna Loved Me, Paul Desmond - 1965
Petit Fleur, Chris Barber - 1957
Rosita Coleman, Hawkins - 1959
Charlies Prelude, John Kirby - 1938
Yellow Days, Cal Tjader - 1967
Loie, Ike Quebec - 1962
Coming Home Baby, Herbie Mann - 1961
Funny People, Gianfranco Plenizio -1972
Silvia, Lalo Schifrin - 1962
Wanderlust, Duke Ellington & Coleman Hawkins - 1962
Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams, Louis Armstrong - 1931
I had never thought of jazz as an inherently Queer genre... And now I will keep that as food for thought, thank you very much!
Now I'm going to dig through my old CDs in search of my Duke Ellington pieces. Thank you for this gift!