St. Vincent has covered Billy Strayhorn’s jazz classic ‘Lush Life’ – watch the performance below.
The singer-songwriter (real name Annie Clark) wrapped up a run of three intimate shows at the New York City jazz restaurant Café Carlyle last night (Thursday October 30), following a set at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Connecticut on Monday (October 27).
She played a rendition of the 1930s jazz standard by US composer Strayhorn in Connecticut and at her first gig in New York. The latter also included stripped-back versions of St. Vincent’s ‘Los Ageless’, ‘Violent Times’, ‘Happy Birthday, Johnny’, ‘Slow Disco’ and more.
At Wednesday’s show (October 29), Clark delivered a cover of Lou Reed‘s classic track ‘Perfect Day’ (1972).
Watch St. Vincent perform ‘Lush Life’ at the one-hour-16-minute mark in the video below. You can check out a series of photos and videos from the special performances from Clark’s Instagram page, too.
Café Carlyle, which originally opened in 1955, “offers a classic cabaret experience” for visitors. “Last night, St. Vincent was extraordinary,” a post on the venue’s official Instagram page reads (see above).
“Fresh from her ‘All Born Screaming’ world tour, Annie Clark delivered an ethereal performance that was achingly beautiful and at times disarmingly funny. Her luminous rendition of ‘New York’ will be remembered as one of the most captivating moments of the Platinum Jubilee season.”
Last month saw St. Vincent play an orchestral concert at the historic Royal Albert Hall in London as part of this year’s BBC Proms. The show was organised with conductor, arranger and orchestrator Jules Buckley, with the pair reimagining songs from Clark’s discography.
“The concept here is not just to slap an orchestral wallpaper behind an artist,” Buckley said ahead of the event.
Over the summer, St. Vincent brought her ‘All Born Screaming’ tour to Glastonbury 2025, where she played the Woodsies stage. She also played headline gigs across the UK and Europe in support of her 2024 album.
In a four-star review of ‘All Born Screaming’, NME called the collection Clark’s “most generous and open statement yet”. The artist followed up the LP with a Spanish-language version, titled ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’.
Speaking to NME about the latter project, Clark explained: “It was always the plan [to translate the whole record]. But you ask why, and I’d ask the same question of myself! It was a beautiful exercise and an attempt to offer a little thanks to Spanish-language fans who have met me in my native tongue for seven records.”
The post Watch St. Vincent cover Billy Strayhorn’s jazz classic ‘Lush Life’ appeared first on NME.