Ella Fitzgerald – Blue Skies (Maya Jane Coles Remix)

The weekend is off to a flying start! The Verve Remix Series album The First Ladies is out next week and on it this gem can be found! Ella Fitzgerald's 1958 take on the 1926 Irving Berlin classic Blue Skies becomes a 2013 deep house anthem by amazing Maya Jane Coles. We're wild for that bass line and Ella sounds perfectly comforable on it. Since she was a master at any genre really we're sure she'd be up for singing this in a club. At least we can dream it! Tell us; how happy does this track make you?

Update: Here's the full album version! 

Nina Simone - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Zeds Dead Remix)

As far as utter classics go, one of 'em would have to be Nina Simone's 1964 single Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood. Shockingly it failed to chart anywhere when first released! Thankfully it's been resurrected majorly since on compilations, in remixed form and in cover form. Its latest incarnation is as a drum n' bass (!) track by Zeds Dead for Verve Music's The First Ladies album. Good for us and Nina the Canadian electronic indie duo put her voice front and centre leaving plenty of room to enjoy her superb skills. Pretty insane to hear this though! As Ms. Simone hated the way her various labels treated her back catalogue we cannot even imagine the things she'd say about this one, haha! Listen below! Thoughts? 

Premiere: Ella Fitzgerald - Too Darn Hot (RAC Mix)

Ella Fitzgerald's voice was one in a billionth truly. Her pitch, warmth and versatility is unparalleled. Verve's new remix album The First Ladies which we wrote about a few days ago is out on July 16th and we're real curious to hear more. Remix collective RAC has had the pleasure of remixing Ella's 1956 take on Cole Porter's 1948 song Too Darn Hot from his musical Kiss Me, Kate. The remix changes the upbeat swing feeling and infuses it with a dark beat and takes it down a notch. The result we imagine will be perfect for cocktail parties and runways. The vocal transfer from the original recording seems to have been a bit tricky as Ella is a bit processed, but hey, we'll take ANY chance to write about her and fellow frickin' genius COLE PORTER! Listen below! Thoughts?

Premiere: Billie Holiday - My Man (Toro y Moi Remix)

Billie Holiday's work is forever and we cannot not listen to her - she's with us for life! We listened to the first two of the Verve Remixed series from 2002 and 2003. It's hard to do jazz songs justice as the soul easily gets lost in the mix - but there are exceptions of course! The series gets a new lease on life in the form of The First Ladies release. First taster is chillwaver Toro y Moi's take on the sadness heavy 1926 hit My Man. A hit for several artists, Billie's various versions laced with incredible blues are iconic. This new one uses Billie's voice as an instrument rather than staying true to the song. Somewhere deep within the heavy beats, pitches and chopped vocals hides that sadness though and it's actually a bit mind blowing. Sadly, violence in a relationship can be as true nowadays as 87 years ago - the music and settings might change, but emotions are still the same. We imagine Billie as a contemporary rapper and spoken word artist sending this message to the future with her art that will never die. For the full album tracklist click here!