Amazing Grace

Okay, embedding was disabled, so I'm gonna have to give you the link to see this. I PROMISE YOU, it will be very worth your time to just click on over here.

I got an email this week from Mama with the link for this. I have never heard of Il Divo, but I'm a new fan! This is a breath-taking rendition of Amazing Grace.

A happy in my day. . .

Joshua Bell - At Home with Friends

I have to be honest with you. . . before I was contacted by the One2One Network about reviewing Joshua Bell's latest album, I had never heard of him. I'm sorry about that - he is a very gifted Grammy Award winning violinist - a true artist!

At Home with Friends includes classical, pop, bluegrass, Broadway, jazz and ethnic World Music. Every song features Joshua with one of his friends/fellow musicians including Sting, Josh Groban and Chris Botti.

Here's the lineup:

I Loves You Porgy featuring Chris Botti

Come Again featuring Sting, vocals

Oblivion featuring Carel Kraayenhof

Cinema Paradiso featuring Josh Groban, vocals

Para Ti featuring Tiempo Libre

My Funny Valentine featuring Kristin Chenoweth, vocals

Maybe So featuring Edgar Meyer, Sam Bush and Mike Marshall

Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 3, Movement II featuring Sergei Rachmaninoff

Eleanor Rigby featuring Frankie Moreno, vocals

Rachmaninoff: O, Cease thy Singing, Maiden Fair, Op. 4, No. 4 featuring Nathan Gunn, vocals

Il Postino featuring Carel Kraayenhof

Left Hand Song featuring Regina Spektor, vocals

Chovendo na Roseira featuring Dave Grusin

Look Away featuring Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile

Bariant Moods: Duet for Sitar & Violin featuring Anoushka Shankar

I'll Take Manhattan featuring Marvin Hamlisch

My favorites were definitely I Loves You Porgy, Oblivion, I'll Take Manhattan, and Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 3. They had the power to really mellow me out. Honest, I could feel my heart rate slow down, my limbs relax. Trust me, that is NEVER a bad thing! Come Again was not a favorite, but it was a VERY different sound from Sting - I enjoyed seeing a different side of him although I didn't love the song itself.

Emma loves Para Ti' - she calls it Chinese Fast Play. "Because most of the songs they do in Chinese are fast - I learned it in Kindergarten. And they call it Fast Play. That's all!" Spoken from someone who really seems to know what they're talking about! :)

Most of the other songs with vocals were just okay for me. I've never been a big opera fan, and a few were, uh, operatic. Others were just not my style.

All in all, I do enjoy this CD. It's great music to have on in the background throughout the day. I usually don't add a lot of extra noise to my day, but I can with this. It's such a diverse conglomeration of songs, styles and artists - a nice potpourri to simmer through the day.

Some helpful links:

http://www.joshuabell.com

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Joshua-Bell/62686889648?Ref=ts

This CD was provided for review by the One2One Network.

Harry Connick, Jr. - Your Songs

Friends, I am a sucker for those old crooning love songs. When I was given the opportunity by the One2One network to review good ol' Harry's new album, I jumped at the chance!

Oh my, isn't that nice?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE "All the Way" and "Can't Help Falling in Love With You." Oh, and "And I Love Her", "The Way You Look Tonight", and "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." And maybe "Some Enchanted Evening" and "And I Love You So" also.

If you know me at all, you know how much I love Michael Buble'. Harry Connick Jr. comes in at a close second. Many of these songs, Michael has done. I enjoyed hearing the differences in their arrangements, and I thoroughly enjoy both of them.

Here's what you can expect from the album.

Album Tracklisting (Originally performed by):

All The Way (Frank Sinatra)

Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)

Can’t Help Falling In Love With You (Elvis Presley)

And I Love Her (The Beatles)

(They Long To Be) Close To You (The Carpenters)

Besame Mucho

The Way You Look Tonight

First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack)

Your Song (Elton John)

Some Enchanted Evening

And I Love You So (Don McLean)

Who Can I Turn To? (Tony Bennett)

Smile (Charlie Chaplin)

Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole)

Here's a behind the scenes "Making of" the album.
Here's Harry's website and Facebook pages.

So, if you're an old romantic like me, it is well worth your hard-earned dollars to purchase this album. I recommend it to anyone!

Sing, Sing, Sing!

Oh, I love this song! When we sing it at church, I end up with it in my mind all week. I always have such joy when I sing this song, and I know that must make my Father happy. It's so easy to just sing sometimes without really thinking about what we're singing. I never have that problem with this song!

Aren't you grateful that we can sing to Him, and grateful that He hears us? Lift high His name!






Don't forget to go see Amy at Signs, Miracles, and Wonders for more musical inspiration!

Then Sings My Soul Saturdays - Lay It Down

What a great meme this is! I'm going to try to participate each week. The song that has really been speaking to me this week is an older song by Jaci Velasquez called Lay It Down. Some of the words are a little difficult to understand, so here are the lyrics.

I've been lookin' til my eyes are tired of lookin',

Listenin' til my ears are numb from listenin',

Prayin' til my knees are sore from kneelin'

on the bedroom floor.

I know that You know that my heart is breakin'

I'm runnin' out of tears and my will is breakin'

I don't think that I can carry the burden of it anymore.

All of my hopes and my dreams and my best laid plans,

Are slowly slippin' through my folded hands

Chorus:

So I'm gonna lay it down

I'm gonna learn to trust You now

What else can I do?

Cause everything I am depends on You

And if the sun don't come back up

I know Your love will be enough

I'm gonna let it be, I'm gonna let it go,

I'm gonna lay it down.

Verse:

I've been walkin' through this world like I'm barely livin'

Buried in the doubt of this hole I've been diggin'

But You're pullin' me out

I'm finally breathin' in the open air.

This room may be dark but I'm finally seein'

There's a new ray of hope, and now I'm believin'

That the past is past, and the future's beginning to look brighter now.

Oh, cause all of my hopes and my dreams and my best laid plans

Are safe and secure when I place them in Your hands.

Sometimes it is so difficult for me to give ALL to my Father. I try to tightly grasp little things in my hands - thinking that I can manage them so much better than He. How ridiculous!

He knows me. He loves me. He has plans for me. Plans to prosper and not to harm me. Slowly but surely, I'm learning to Lay It Down.

Go see Amy at Signs, Miracles and Wonders for more inspiring music!

The Piano Man

I read about this video over at I'm an Organizing Junkie. I haven't heard either of the songs that it's taken from, but it is just beautiful.

It made me happy, so I wanted to share!

I did a little more searching, a found another great piece. This great piano man is Jon Schmidt, and the following is "All of Me".