Just in time for Cupid’s favorite holiday, Onyx Collective has released a stripped-down rendition of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s “My Funny Valentine.” Check out the cover above, which also features vocals by Nick Hakim.
The song is the first single off the NYC jazz group’s upcoming album Manhattan Special: Onyx Collective Plays Rodgers & Hart / Rodgers & Hammerstein which is comprised entirely of reimaginations of songs from the influential songwriting duos. No release date has been set for the collection.
“Within each of these songs lives a conversation within a conversation,” said the group. “An ongoing collaboration that over time has left just enough room for our interpretation. The music having been written for the theatre, carried a naturally dramatic tone that after meditating on the lyrics and melodies, we realized could still be seen from multiple perspectives.”
“My Funny Valentine” appears in the score to Babes in Arms, which originally opened on Broadway in 1937 and became a popular 1939 film starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. The musical also includes the songs “Where or When,” “Johnny One-Note,” “The Lady is a Tramp,” and “I Wish I Were in Love Again.”
A 1999 New York City Center Encores! production, directed by Kathleen Marshall, starred A Chorus Line Tony winner Donna McKechnie and Grand Horizons scene-stealer Priscilla Lopez.
Listen to the recording on digital streaming platforms here.
