The Cosmo Sessions … what are your favorites?

[Jastal]

It has certainly been a fun weekend for the Haliens and as I continue to download and listen to the unbelievable videos taken by our resident Halien Hero (a.k.a. Tusk). After I listen to each song (again) I decide on a new favorite. So here are my top 5 (at the moment). I would love to hear other favorites – from those attending via the cloud and in person.

All answers are correct. Based on videos, here are my top 5 today:
1. Moanin (can't stop listening to it)
2. God Bless the Child -II (Keith and Courtney additions are amazing)
3. Free (OMG the song has so much more emotion and punch)
4. Song for my Father (or as we Haliens like to call it..Brazil)
5. Mercy, or Benny, or HOTRS, or..etc.

p.s. I need to confess, I didn't have time to listen to some of the LU songs since life sometimes intrudes and I just needed to listen to the new stuff multiple times. I also wanted to save some surprises.

[john]

Moanin' is my #1 and I'd put it among my all time favorites. At the beginning it was a little tough for Courtney and Keith, but they quickly got into the flow. Haley was simply superb.

Things tighten up for the spots that follow that and I'm not ready to order them but the ones you mentioned are contenders. One thing that was cool about these performances is that Haley put the musicians forward. They had more influence on the overall listening experience than before and Haley looks happy and relaxed in her interactions with the musicians. Summertime, Song for My Father and Mercy could be 2-4.

Of her LU songs I enjoyed hearing "Let's run away" and I like the way she did KCB. Free sounded great.

[ISCAT4HALEY]

Right now my favorites are, and they could and probably will change after continual listening, are:

All Blues – It has everything, the Haley jazz, blues, soul, sultriness, scatting – It is so smooth. Plus Haley allows Courtney and Keith to shine and it’s over 11 minutes of pure joy.

Walking On Heaven – One of my Haley written favorites!

House of the Rising Sun - Need I say more

Mercy – I like Duffy and Haley’s voice fits the song perfectly.

[Tusk]

Looking back on all the performances I've watched, and especially because I've heard LU songs so much at this point, I have to agree, I've found myself enjoying the 'newer' 'fresher' performances (for me).

I've said many times that I'm a noobie at 'Jazz appreciation' so I think I might have to vote for their Jazz performances. The biggest thing that comes to mind is Haley letting 'her boys' take the reigns, show more of what they got for us. It might have been a necessity since they played longer sets, and not confined to only 30 minutes or 40 minutes at a time.
So maybe a combination of needing to fill the time and no longer being restrained by whatever limitations they had previously, resulted in a more free flowing and relaxed feeling of the performances.

Even though she didn't give me much notice, I was so glad to have recorded 'Moanin'' from the second night. Haley's scat was more playful, sensual and uninhibited. I also loved what Keith and Courtney did in that song.

Like Swansteel had posted earlier, I found myself closing my eyes so I could listen more intently to the music, taking in what it was doing to my body as I swayed, bobbed my head and tapped my feet (on the second night, when I wasn't recording).

In the Jazz playground, they performed as a band in waters they were familiar with, which resulted in an exceptional outcome.

[Swansteel]

For the purposes of this post, I will focus on the songs that had the biggest emotional impact on me or that just plain ol' got me excited.

Before choosing specific songs, I would also say that I would rank entire evenings in reverse order, with my favorite being the third night, the second coming in second and the first night third. I don't mean to lessen the individual pleasures of each night. I only mean that it seemed to me that each night seemed to build on the one before, becoming progressively freer, more "open" and maybe more daring in song interpretation. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every night, but, for some reason, it is the third and final night that really stands out in my mind (possibly because it was last and is fresher in my memory).

As for individual songs, I can easily chose the ones that hit me the hardest. They are the ones to which I had the greatest emotional response (tears, chuckles of joy, exhilaration). One performance that stands out to me was the Saturday performance of Free. Folks, I cannot tell you just how beautiful and powerful this was. I watched Haley as she reached the emotional peaks of the song and I saw genuine, aching emotion expressed in her face and her physical interpretation. The slowed pace of the song along with the vampy, torchy feel of it gave to what at first seemed to be a simple story of a difficult breakup real emotional heft and maturity. Suddenly this song could have been a classic standard from the forties or fifties. I remember this song, in particular, as one I simply couldn't not stand up at it's finish in appreciation.

For pure excitement, it would be hard to top Saturday's final song trio of Bennie and the Jets, Mercy and Oh, Darlin'. The combination of Haley's powerhouse vocals and Keith's and Courtney's inspired and spirited accompaniment served to get the heart racing and forced those smile muscles to work overtime. Each of these songs, of which I have viewed countless times prior, became something more thrilling and powerful than I ever remember them being before. It was a perfect way to end what was a satisfying musical adventure.

And, although it can't be considered it a song choice, I also have to single out all of Haley's scatting throughout the three days of shows. Her extended free forms were artistic to the extreme, never throw away or repetitive. I could almost survive entirely on a diet of Haley Scats alone, so luxuriously pleasurable are they to my ears, heart and soul.

Actually, I have more songs I could rhapsodize about,but I just realized how long this post is getting. So, I will end it here saying, all three nights at the Cosmopolitan displayed Haley at her very best, a true artist with unlimited potential.

PS: Can I also add Friday's middle set of jazz standards as a memorable high point. That night's jazz section ended up running longer than any other (actually significantly shortening the final set) and might have been my overall favorite section of the show. It was also a big part of the reason why I was chanting the Haley jazz album mantra for the rest of the night. LOL.

[john]

^ Thanks Swansteel. In the videos I am so impressed with her scatting. Like you say it is all very artistic, with no throw away or repetition filler. Very impressive. Exciting. Fresh.

I also love the look of delight she has at the end of the Moanin' video right after some guy in the audience says "YEAH Haley!" (I think).

[Jastal]

Thanks Tusk and Swansteel for letting us live the performances through your eyes. I was glad you called out Haley's scatting as an aspect of many of the songs that stands alone. I am somewhat new to this type of performance and it's like finding a new color in the rainbow...so devine.

[Himm2]

Seems like for most of the "Listen Up" set performances that I've watched on Tusk's awesome captures, Haley turned them down from 45 RPM to 33 1/3 RPM. It gives them an interesting new flavor but since I tend to sing along, at least in my brain, It's easier for me to follow the way I've heard them at least 100 times each on my ipod. I sense it was done mostly to adapt to an older jazzy audience and it was a cool new way to hear them sung.