Harmony and Hijinks with Duchess

In this week's episode we talk about Johnny Mercer's "Strip Polka." It's about Queenie, a stripper with a heart of gold and features tenor saxophonist, Jeff Lederer.

In this week's episode we talk about "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" by Cole Porter. We talk about discovering the verse and rediscovering this song, interpretation as a group in a ballad and sing the praises of Cole Porter for the second time this season.

We discuss the Ray Charles' classic, Hallelujah I Love Her So.

We discuss Duke Ellington's "Creole Love Call" arranged for us by Wycliffe Gordon.

We catch up with Janis Seigel, founding member of the Manhattan Transfer.

What do James Bond's Goldfinger and Melissa's rendition of Where Would You Be Without Me have in common? All will be revealed as we continue our song-by-song exploration of Laughing at Life, with this episode's chat about the Stylianou vehicle Where Would You Be Without Me.

Is Amy Cervini "unsentimental?" What influence did Blossom Dearie have on Amy's career? And what do we think of Cole Porter? All this and more is revealed as we continue our song-by-song exploration of Laughing at Life, with this episode's chat about Give Him The Oo La La.

We continue our song-by-song exploration of our newly-released album, Laughing at Life, with this episode's chat about Stars Fell on Alabama. We talk about special guest Wycliffe Gordon and discuss the arrangement by Oded Lev-Ari.

We continue our song-by-song exploration of our newly-released album, Laughing at Life, with this episode's chat about the Everybody Loves My Baby. We talk about the Boswell Sisters version, our own original lyrics, and special guest Anat Cohen on clarine

We continue our song-by-song exploration of our newly-released album, Laughing at Life, with this episode's chat about the title track made famous by Ruth Etting in 1930. Our producer/arranger, Oded Lev-Ari, talks about his concept for the arrangement and some of the tricks he used including inspiration from a thesaurus, Count Basie and Duchess' own phrasing.