In 1952 Norman Granz of Verve Records convinced Fred Astaire to record some jazz versions of tunes he sang onscreen. The band leader was Oscar Peterson. The featured image shows Astaire at the piano and Oscar with Ray Brown’s bass. I have no idea why.

A Fine Romance was written in 1936 by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields for the George Stevens directed Astaire-Rogers movie Swing Time. It was a duet between Fred and Ginger. We’re skipping that and beginning with Fred jazzing it up.

We begin our survey of A Fine Romance with The Astaire Story:

Speaking of Oscar Peterson, he plays on this Ella-Satchmo duet.

I assume nobody objects to a double dose of Ella. This time with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra:

Next up Joe Williams with the Count Basie Orchestra.

It’s time for a duet with Sammy and Carmen

Making her Friday Cocktail Hour debut, Susannah McCorkle.

What would the Friday Cocktail Hour be without a jazz instrumental version of the week’s song? This time around, Oscar Peterson followed by some well-known fiddlers Stephane Grappelli and Yehudi Menuhin.

Presumably nobody objects to a triple dose of OP. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Oscar Peterson?

That’s it for this week. Raise your glass to the people hunkering down as Ida approaches the US. It’s what Bogie, Betty, and Frank would want. Never argue with them.