Playlist – “The Promise of Spring”

March 20th, 2023

My shadow on a Northeast Portland sidewalk; March 19, 2023

…..I have a strong sense I’m not alone in proclaiming that this year’s winter weather has been awfully gloomy. In Portland, Oregon, where I live, we have experienced unusual amounts of cold, wind, rain, snow, ice, fog, flooding and seemingly endless gray. It has been an emotional slog.

…..Last month, in my attempt to find natural light and escape this seasonal despair (some refer to it as “seasonal affective disorder”), I drove south to Phoenix and then to Palm Springs, but even the desert provided little in the way of relief. In these normally pleasant and sunny locales, cool weather and high winds forced me indoors for much of the time, and my drive back north was made challenging because mountain passes were often closed and driving wind, rain and snow made what should have been an enjoyable experience an ordeal. When I returned home the gray remained, and so did my mood.

…..This past weekend, however, out of nowhere the sun appeared and its warmth broke through. A layer of clothing was shed. I even saw my shadow, and a lively bounce appeared in my step while walking the neighborhood, which as of today is painted with signs of new life emerging from the soil in the form of daffodils, camellias, azaleas and tulips. The result is that, for now, my winter-long despondency and exasperation has been replaced by hope and inspiration.

…..So, all evidence points to spring being near, and it has also begun showing up in the music I’m listening to, and on Saturday my spirits soared to the point of putting together a playlist of songs devoted to this most beautiful and optimistic of seasons.

…..Over the years, of course, spring has been a topic of many a popular music composition because it inspires so much of the human condition –rebirth, joy, remembrance, love and heartache. Composers and composing teams like Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hart, Frank Loesser, Vernon Duke, and Michel Legrand all took the topic on, and a plethora of legendary performers – Bill Evans, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Clifford Brown, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, Dave Brubeck and Nina Simone a small sampling of them – interpreted these compositions and contributed their own.

…..The handful of recordings on this hour-long Spotify playlist – some well-known, others not-so-much – is a minute reminder of the gifted performers who have been creatively moved by this season, and who help inspire our promise of it.

I hope you enjoy…

Joe Maita

Editor/Publisher