Andrew Bird has announced Sunday Morning Put-On which will be out May 24 via Loma Vista. The record is Bird’s tribute to mid-century jazz, featuring his versions of songs by Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Lerner & Loewe, Rodgers & Hart and more. The album was made primarily as a trio with drummer Ted Poor and bassist Alan Hampton, and also features contributions from Jeff Parker and Larry Goldings.
“When I was in my 20s, I lived in an old apartment-hotel in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago,” Bird says of the album’s genesis. “It was cheap and inhabited mostly by retired Jesuit priests and nuns from nearby Loyola University. The gym had old Schwinn 10-speed bicycles up on cinder blocks for low-rent pelotons, an old swimming pool where they played opera, and the steam room was a clubhouse for the local Russian mob. Most Saturday nights I’d stay up listening to a radio show called ‘Blues Before Sunrise’ on WBEZ from 12-4am. The DJ, Steve Cushing, played old rare 78rpm records of blues, jazz and gospel. Then I’d sleep for a few hours and wake to Dick Buckley’s show, also on WBEZ, featuring what he called ‘Golden Era’ jazz from the 30s and 40s. My love for a certain era of jazz up through the mid-20th Century has been constant through many transmutations in my own work, the bulk of which is not jazz at all. Once I had some distance between myself and this time when I was under its spell, I wanted to immerse myself in it again.”
You can check out Bird’s take on Chet Baker’s “I Fall In Love Too Easily” and Lerner & Lowe’s My Fair Lady classic “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face” (also a hit for Nat King Cole) below.
Bird will be on tour this summer, including runs with Nickel Creek and Amadou & Mariam, and stops in NYC with A&M at the Rooftop at Pier 17 on August 16. All dates are listed below.
Sunday Morning Put-On:
I Didn’t Know What Time It Was
Caravan
I Fall In Love Too Easily
You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To
My Ideal
Django
I Cover The Waterfront
Softly, As A Morning Sunrise
I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face
Ballon de Peut-etre
Andrew Bird Tour Dates
May 29 – Chicago, IL – Green Mill !
May 30 – Milwaukee, WI – The Pabst Theater %
May 31 – Chicago, IL – Chicago Humanities Festival
Jun 2 – Denver, CO – Outside Festival
Jun 3 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room !
Jun 8 – Healdsburg, CA – BloodRoot’s The Ramble
Jul 5 – Jacksonville, OR – Britt Fest Pavilion*
Jul 6 – Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater*
Jul 7 – Boise, ID – Idaho Botanical Garden*
Jul 8 – Missoula, MT – Big Sky Brewing Co*
Jul 10 – Sandy, UT – Sandy Amphitheater*
Jul 12 – Omaha, NE – Astro Amphitheater*
Jul 13 – Minneapolis, MN – Surly Brewing Co*
Jul 14 – Bayfield, WI – Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua*
Jul 15 – Interlochen, MI – Kresge Auditorium*
Jul 17 – Charlottesville, VA – Ting Pavilion #
Jul 18 – Asheville, NC – Rabbit Rabbit #
Jul 19 – Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy #
Jul 20 – North Charleston, SC – Firefly Distillery #
Aug 8 – Indianapolis, IN – Rock The Ruins at Holiday Park^
Aug 9 – Grand Rapids, MI – Meijer Gardens^
Aug 10 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre^
Aug 12 – Montreal, QC – L’Olympia^
Aug 13 – Schenectady, NY – Frog Alley Brewing Summerstage^
Aug 15 – Deerfield, MA – Summerstage at Tree House Brewing Co^
Aug 16 – New York, NY – Pier 17^
Aug 17 – Westport, CT – Levitt Pavilion^
Aug 18 – Kennett Square, PA – Longwood Gardens Open Air Theatre^
Aug 20 – Raleigh, NC – NC Museum of Art^
Aug 21 – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap at Filene Center^
! Andrew Bird Trio
% with Elizabeth Moen
*with Nickel Creek and Haley Heynderickx
# with Nickel Creek and Mike Viola
^with Amadou & Mariam