Throwback Thursday Musical Showcase: Billy Joel and Itzhak Perlman Play "Downeaster Alexa"

Two Jews, two instruments, one voice, and beautiful music. That's what the audience saw and heard on March 9, 2015 when Billy Joel introduced Itzhak Perlman as his musical guest at one of his Madison Square Garden concerts.

After calling him the world's greatest violinist, Joel and Perlman blended their piano and violin with Joel's voice singing The Downeaster Alexa. 

This wasn't Perlman's first connection with that song. He can be heard playing an uncredited violin solo on Joel's album Storm Front, which included the song. Joel named the song for his boat, The Alexa, which was in turn named for his daughter.

Joel and Perlman performed the song in Madison Square Garden again on February 20, just before most concert performances were canceled in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

Enjoy!

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#Throwback Thursday   #TBT