For our last Sunday song selection of 2024, we present a special video edition dedicated to a great friend of The Mark Steyn Show, the late Russell Malone, who died in August far too young, from a heart attack while on tour in Tokyo.
As many Mark Steyn Club members will recall, we presented this great Frank Loesser song on stage in Montreal five Christmases ago - just before the Covid shut down all live music. Carol Welsman is one of my favourite singers and Russell Malone was one of my favourite guitarists and a great mainstay of our Yuletide observances. We sort of combined two totally different arrangements here - Carol does the chorus as a breezy shimmering bossa nova, but I have always loved the somewhat dark verse. So I do that with Russell, which is quite a comedown for a chap who's played with Diana Krall, Andy Williams and Harry Connick, but he was, as always, very sporting about it. And then Carol and Russell take off with the band and the second biggest New Year number after "Auld Lang Syne". Click above to watch.
Rest in peace, Russell.
Carol Welsman, vocals;
Russell Malone, guitar;
with The Mark Steyn Show Band:
Geoff Eales, piano; Michel Bertiaume, drums; Jon Geary, guitar; Mathieu McConnell-Enright, bass; Bill Mahar, trumpet; and Jean-Pierre Zanella, saxophone
arranged by Carol Welsman
verse arranged by Kevin Amos.
