Take Five: Spring Fever Edition

Two fresh podcast drops, and five new albums you need to know.

Eight decades after the premiere of the Technicolor musical State Fair, it’s easy to take for granted the wonders of its most lasting contribution. I’m referring to the Rodgers and Hammerstein song “It Might As Well Be Spring,” performed onscreen by Jeanne Crain (with a vocal dub by Louanne Hogan). In a movie generally regarded as a lukewarm corndog — “no more than an average screen musical,” per the Times — this song stood apart, fast becoming a hit¹, and then an Oscar winner.

It always comes to mind this time of year, as the crocuses and snowdrops are starting to enliven my morning dog walk. There’s such an incipient feeling in the air. Maybe I’m more attuned to it because I grew up in a place where there was no notable shift from winter into spring. Anyway, the song is a standard for good reason. If you’ve read my book Playing Changes, you may recall that it sets the scene for Chapter 2: “It Might As Well Be Spring” is the opening track on Introducing Brad Mehldau, which (as I wrote) “arrived in 1995, precisely half a century after the line ‘I am starry eyed and vaguely discontented’ made its way into the popular lexicon.”

There’s a hint of springtime in two podcast episodes that dropped today, from separate but related corners. First, I’ll point you to The Late Set, where Josh Jackson and I had a fine conversation with Renee Rosnes, the wonderful pianist and composer. Rosnes has a new release, Crossing Paths, that comes out of her longtime fascination with the music of Brazil. She’s also the organizing force behind Artemis, which just released an excellent third album, Arboresque. It was great to catch up with her.

I’m also the guest host on a new episode of the Big Ears Podcast, featuring an interview with banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck. He is as sharp and generous in conversation as he is on the bandstand, and we had fun talking about the festival, its guiding principles, and musical output that amounts to “a minority taste.” You can catch the Big Ears pod on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or Pocketcast. We are just over a week away from wheels down in Knoxville, which is sort of mind-blowing.

In the meantime, I’m here with the first Take Five of 2025, heralding releases that are either brand-new or — like the spring bloom — just around the corner. Every track, every album, has been on heavy rotation in my household. Together they cover a sweeping expanse of style. So here’s to some great listening. Let’s get into it.

Take Five: Spring Fever Edition

March 18, 2025

Hedvig Mollestad, Ellen Brekken and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad. (Julia Marie Naglestad)