Rachael Yamagata and John Medeski worked together to cover “Let’s Begin Again” by filmmaker Robert Altman. The song will be featured in a documentary called Altman.

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat

The documentary, directed by Ron Mann, celebrates the life and art of the legendary filmmaker. Mann asked Medeski to record “Let’s Begin Again” for the movie, then Medeski asked Yamagata to record vocals for the piece, while Ben Perowsky plays drums and Jesse Murphy plays bass on the track. The result is a modern interpretation that keeps the class of the original jazz standard.

Medeski says, “It was an honor to be invited to record this classic song by Robert Altman for a documentary about his life. Rachael really blew my mind with her performance. She’s a natural jazz singer. I hope we get to do more of this in the future.”

Altman wrote the song in the late 1940s, intending to use it in a musical about Hollywood called Rumors are Flying, but he later ended up using it in several of his films. The cover is now out as a digital single through all major digital music retailers, and you can listen to it below.