It was recorded last February by Thomas Lauderdale for Pink Martini’s next album. Diller died Monday in Los Angeles at age 95.
You can listen to the the track here.
In a media release Lauderdale says he may add strings and a clarinet to the simple piano-and-voice recording before the album, “Get Happy,” comes out next spring.
“But as it now stands I love it,” Lauderdale said. “I think it has a lot of heart. I think it represents her in a beautiful and comforting and lovely way, and respectful. And I guess I just feel entirely lucky and honored to have these brief moments with her. Everybody seems to have a Phyllis Diller, and I feel just lucky to have had a small moment with her.”
Lauderdale met Diller through a mutual friend while in Los Angeles for New Year’s Eve concerts. He asked Diller, who had formal music training in her youth, if she would be interested in recording a song. To his surprise she said yes and he returned a month later with recording engineer Dave Friedlander. They set up a studio in her living room and two hours later had the song.
“She had a great time,” Lauderdale said. “She was a perfectionist. Every time she didn’t get a phrase just as she wanted it, she went right back to redo it. So it required no coaching at all from me. She did it all on her own.”
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