I fell in love with the song “My Favorite Things” in 1993, the year my daughter was born, after buying Al Jarreau’s live-in-studio recording. He performed the song with operatic soloist, Kathleen Battle, and the combination, made in one take, felt flawless. I could immediately conceive of any number of interpretations of the song, it that had previously been relegated to The Sound of Music and Christmas albums. Jarreau and Battle’s “My Favorite Things” wasn’t my favorite recording — that is either “A Horse with No Name” by America; “As,” by Stevie Wonder; or “Nessun Dorma,” by Luciano Pavarotti. (My musical tastes are diverse.)

It was a long way from the version originally penned by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein for the musical, The Sound of Music, in 1959. I have always, oddly, hated musicals, with only a few exceptions, most notably the first one I saw, West Side Story. As in West Side Story, the protagonist in the Sound of Music is named Maria, and maybe that’s the link. The universe had been pointing me to my favorite person all along.

Still the song, while lovely, was a bit too cotton candy, a tad to saccharine for my tastes. Actually, thinking of it, maybe it was Julie Andrews’s RP accent that turned me against the song or the fact they only dribbled 90 seconds of it into the 1965 movie. (I was also pre-disposed, by the universe, towards a ‘Souf London accent and artists capable of improvisation, it seems.)

When Al Jarreau, whom I saw perform live several times, sang it, I could see the glorious power in the melody and the overall composition. Rogers and Hammerstein had created a brilliant framework that allowed artists to spill outside the lines, get paint all over the carpets, but still be restrained by the powerful melody. Over the years, I’ve collected a few more favorite versions of the tune, of which I’ll share a few. (Sorry, Bob Marley just popped into my head and no, he didn’t record it.)

John Coltrane recorded multiple versions of the song. Here he’s with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. But if you want the best version, that follows: 13 minutes and 47 seconds of pure mastery. His 17-minute version is also outstanding.

I love Leslie Odom, Jr’s version, despite being annoyed that he managed to turn it back into a Christmas song. Notice: no one else is ever authorized to sing a different version of this during the holidays. Please?

Finally, another, jazzy improv version I was turned onto by a mate on Bluesky. In this version, Billy Sheehan, Clint Strong, and Mike Gage open an impromptu, unrehearsed session by improvising the song and going from there.

If you have others I should know about, tell me in the comments. Cheers!