Where Flamingos Fly ...
stops you cold, it grabs you gently and whispers, sit quietly and listen. It's
not a Gil Evans tune at all, though he made it feel like it was always his. It was
written by John Benson
Brooks, Harold Courlander and Elthea Peale - and began life as a
vocal ballad. Second Hand Songs lists
Peggy Lee as first to record it, Helen Merrill as first release, June 8 1956.
Gil recorded it twice in definitive form.
1957 vocal version - Helen
Merrill again, on Gil Evans & Ten later reissued on Out of the
Cool sessions - a strange, beautiful vocal arrangement.
The 1960 instrumental version
- the one on my desk. Picking out the Coles solo, others have described,
exactly as, heartbreakingly fragile - is the word everyone reaches for and
still isn't enough, playing with this breathy,
almost cracked tone, Gil just leaves him completely exposed.
It's
funny, the tune later got a second strange life – when it later appeared as a section of The Beatles' Eleanor Rigby, though
whether John and Paul lifted it or George Martin did has never been settled.
It's
been called one of the most beloved blue jazz ballads for exactly that slow,
melancholic quality - but the 1960 version is more than a ballad. Its Gil
proving you can make a big band whisper.
If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go back to
my chair and listen again to ‘Where Flamingos Fly’ again, you’re welcome to join me,