| The playlist: The musical dreams are on Johnny Mercer |
| Updated 11/16/2009 10:11 PM ET |
pick of
the week
Skylark
Maude Maggart
with Jamie Cullum
Johnny Mercer would have turned 100 Wednesday, but this new recording (from TCM's documentary The Dream's on Me) proves that time hasn't diminished the visceral pull of his lyrics. Maggart's shivery vocals bring out its aching loneliness, while Cullum's piano work serves the wistful beauty of Hoagy Carmichael's music. – Elysa Gardner
the playlist
USA TODAY's music critic Elysa Gardner highlights 10 intriguing tracks found during the week's listening.
| Trav'lin Light Queen Latifah | She channeled Peggy Lee on the Mercer-penned title track of her 2007 album, also featured on The Dream's on Me. |
| Ninna Nanna Pink Martini | Splendor in the Grass opens with this pulsing, pining showcase for singer China Forbes' throaty warmth. |
| Carousel Chita Rivera | At 76 years young, Rivera brings a breathless joie de vivre to Jacques Brel on And Now I Swing. |
| In Buddy's Eyes Barbara Cook | This legend covered the Sondheim gem at the Metropolitan Opera in 2006; it's now on The Essential Barbara Cook. |
| Summer With You Rebecca Luker | One of Cook's truest inheritors wraps her caressing soprano around a lovely John Kander tune on Greenwich Time. |
| He Wasn't You Kate Baldwin | A gleaming musical-theater voice meets a sumptuous Burton Lane/Alan Jay Lerner ballad on Let's See What Happens. |
| Almost There Anika Noni Rose | Her creamy tone and easy spunk are ideal for this Randy Newman tune, from The Princess and the Frog's soundtrack. |
| Maybe Angie Stone | The soul survivor seeks commitment, sweetly but firmly, on this elegantly plaintive cut from Unexpected. |
| Guilty The Bee Gees | A live acoustic version of the Barry Gibb/Barbra Streisand hit is among the goodies on The Ultimate Bee Gees. |
| Come Rain or Come Shine Frank Sinatra | In a 1984 concert captured on the new box set Sinatra: New York, he sparkles on this Mercer/Harold Arlen tune. |
| Posted 11/16/2009 7:07 PM ET | |
| Updated 11/16/2009 10:11 PM ET | |