This is a beautiful mashup featuring one of my favorite Nina Simone tracks on her “Baltimore” album (1978). “My Father” was written by Judy Collins.

The first time I heard Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father” was in my junior year of college when two of my college and also high school classmates performed it as a vocal duet for one of our student jazz recitals in Finney Chapel at Oberlin College. This classic bossa nova styled tribute is performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Nat King Cole was one of my father’s favorite performers and this was one of my father’s favorite songs. My high school/college friend who was on the gig for “Song for My Father” sang this song at my father’s memorial service. Nat King Cole recorded “Unforgettable” in 1951. It became one of his signature songs and later posthumously remastered in a track featuring a duo with his daughter Natalie Cole. [Nat King Cole died of lung cancer in 1965.] Nat King Cole is a class act for all time.

To all Fathers, Happy Father’s Day!