Paul McCartney sings classic standards in new album

Paul McCartney will debut the songs from his new album "Kisses on the Bottom" in a free live streaming performance on iTunes.

The performance takes place at 10 p.m. EST Thursday from Capitol Studios in Los Angeles where much of the new album was recorded.

"Kisses on the Bottom" features McCartney's interpretation of several beloved standards like "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive" and "Bye Bye Blackbird," and has two new songs, "My Valentine" with Eric Clapton and "Only Our Hearts" with Stevie Wonder.

The album's title, "Kisses on the Bottom", comes from the album's lead track "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," originally a hit for Fats Waller in 1935. Said McCartney on the album, "I worked with Diana Krall, and great jazz musicians like John Clayton. This is an album very tender, very intimate. This is an album you listen to at home after work, with a glass of wine or a cup of tea."

Paul McCartney to team with Diana Krall for Great American Songbook album !

Diana Krall

Interesting item about Paul McCartney and the Great American Songbook:

It seems that despite a busy schedule of touring throughout 2010 and this year, the former Beatle, Paul McCartney has been working on an album of standards with Canadian chanteuse/pianist Diana Krall at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.

He told USA Today that he'd hesitated to do such an album before, lest it look as if he were jumping on a rather tattered bandwagon.

He's got legitimate roots in the genre; father Jim McCartney headed up a dance band in the '30s and '40s, so McCartney already knows a slew of classic songs.

"It's my dad's style of music," he says. "I've wanted to do that kind of thing forever, since the Beatle days. But then Rod [Stewart] went mad on it. I thought, 'I have to wait so it doesn't look like I'm trying to do a Rod,'" he told Rolling Stone magazine.

"And I've written a few tunes in the genre," he said. "We're going all sorts of ways, and I'm having a ball."

Diana Krall and her quartet took part in the proceedings, which also included orchestral arrangements, but the number of songs to be used is uncertain and the titles remain strictly confidential. Other tracks will be recorded in London later this year.

 Should be a great collector's item.

Photo: album liner

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