There are probably lots of Hendrix tunes that can work on a jazz gig, but this is one played by the most important tenor player of our time.
I've played "Little Wing" with a variety of groups. It's basically a standard at this point.
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Double Bass Pop songs for a jazz gig?
- Thread starter Greg Scheer
- Start date
There are probably lots of Hendrix tunes that can work on a jazz gig, but this is one played by the most important tenor player of our time.
I've played "Little Wing" with a variety of groups. It's basically a standard at this point.
I've played this one a bunch of times on gigs. The one I remember most was at a masterclass in Quito, Ecuador. I was with the faculty ensemble from my U., and we wanted to feature our virtuoso guitarist on a tune. He called Little Wing, and it went to mars. The students paid attention to everything we did - standard jazz or not - after that.
Many of Bob Dylan's greatest hits can work.
There is an advantage to playing tunes that Ahmad Jamal or Miles Davis already arranged as jazz vehicles. If you call "Green Dolphin Street" you're probably doing the A section latin and swinging the B section, or you're using the bass line from the Miles Davis Quintet recording for the A - you don't have to go to the original motion picture soundtrack and be creative in arranging it yourself. Also, jazz players know the tune and the arrangement. If you want to play a Bob Dylan, Hendrix, or Lady Gaga tune, there is some upfront work that isn't required for the older tunes, because someone already did the work for us. If you're going to play Johnny Cash on a jazz gig, there is definitely rehearsal and arranging required. It's probably not going to be appropriate to play "Ring of Fire" with a country feel on a jazz gig.
I was completely unfamiliar with Rufus Wainwright when I first heard this. Before I heard Mehldau's version of "Exit Music," Radiohead wasn't on my radar. Mehldau's Nick Drake and Elliott Smith covers helped lead me to those songwriter's original recordings. Sometimes the pop song is a way for listeners to get into jazz. In my case it was the other way around.
"Exit Music" works so well because it is in the same harmonic world as "How Insensitive" and Chopin.
We're all entitled to our ideology. I find the meeting of "Wynton Marsalis conservatism" with the punk rock "no covers" thing a little perplexing, in the context of a music that is defined by a commitment to freedom and breaking down the high/low art barrier. I'm in the Keith Jarrett camp for the most part.
For me, the ultimate goal of playing a contemporary pop song in a jazz context would be to play the song so well, in such a creative way, that someone who didn't like the original is won over, and someone who doesn't know the original enjoys it as well. That's a high bar.
I think there are degrees of difference between pop hits and all of rock & pop music. Clearly, there are more thoughtful ways of doing it than others.
IMO, BM's versions of Radiohead is not worth all the "___________ Plays Radiohead" it spawned. So, there is a zoomed in view and a zoomed out view. Like I said, it is rarely as simple as people want to make it. These things have power and what you put into to the world matters.
One of my points no one seems to want to address is the fact that when you use a pop hit, you have something people have formed an opinion about - you are betting on people liking it but you can sure people there will not. We like different pop/rock music and we all dislike different pop/rock music. Whereas most jazz material is fairly neutral.
It is also good to remember that you are trying to do something that didn't work for Miles Davis - you will find few TUTU defenders in the world!
IMO, BM's versions of Radiohead is not worth all the "___________ Plays Radiohead" it spawned. So, there is a zoomed in view and a zoomed out view. Like I said, it is rarely as simple as people want to make it. These things have power and what you put into to the world matters.
One of my points no one seems to want to address is the fact that when you use a pop hit, you have something people have formed an opinion about - you are betting on people liking it but you can sure people there will not. We like different pop/rock music and we all dislike different pop/rock music. Whereas most jazz material is fairly neutral.
It is also good to remember that you are trying to do something that didn't work for Miles Davis - you will find few TUTU defenders in the world!
Nope. Tutu is almost all original material - only "Perfect Way" is a cover.
Fixed it for you...
A Tutu fan/defender, FYI.
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Right - Time After Time is on "You're Under Arrest". Thanks.
I'd like to ask everyone who keeps saying, "use some creativity and make these pop songs jazzy" if any of you do this yourselves? Have you worked out pop tunes for a jazz group? Have you ever gigged with a group doing this?
I'd like to add, that citing the artists I see on this thread does little to make your case. They are all masterful musicians and I personally wouldn't pretend I could play on that level.
Also, it takes a lot to make up for the lack of production that many pop/rock songs have, even the original artists can be disappointing live. An acoustic jazz group has to work hard to make it happen.
I'd like to add, that citing the artists I see on this thread does little to make your case. They are all masterful musicians and I personally wouldn't pretend I could play on that level.
Also, it takes a lot to make up for the lack of production that many pop/rock songs have, even the original artists can be disappointing live. An acoustic jazz group has to work hard to make it happen.
Yes - I have dabbled in this area. I arranged the Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter" for a singer and her group, and played on the recording.
Thx.
I ask because there is a lot of talk here about people's thoughts on this subject. I just want to know who has done this. I have, and it wasn't very good. A lazy band leader and basically trying to pull off the tunes like we were playing with a singer, no real arrangement, and playing as vanilla as possible.
I was lucky that the singer was open-minded & looking for non-standard "jazz" material, and the pianist and drummer were receptive to, and supportive of, my arrangement (which took me a LONG time to construct!)
I had a pretty clear idea of what the concept would be and was lucky that it worked out.
Thanks for your interest and Good Luck.
From the same recording project - the pianist (Ed Czach) reharmonized this Beatle's tune - I think it works...
Thanks.
Thanks.
Stevie Wonder - isn’t she lovely , you are the sunshine of my life
Beatles- yesterday
Jonathan Butler - falling in love with Jesus
Glen Campbell - Wichita lineman
Johnny Taylor - who’s makin love ( Christian McBride arr)
All sung/played and well received at Bakers Keyboard Lounge - the worlds oldest operating jazz club
Beatles- yesterday
Jonathan Butler - falling in love with Jesus
Glen Campbell - Wichita lineman
Johnny Taylor - who’s makin love ( Christian McBride arr)
All sung/played and well received at Bakers Keyboard Lounge - the worlds oldest operating jazz club
Okay, maybe this isn't super jazzy (some people don't really consider Django to be jazz at all - strange!), but here's a Beatles tune one of my projects arranged a little while ago. We play this tune quite regularly (often at jazz clubs) and people seem to dig it.
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I do lots of Bad Plus like versions of older pop tunes from 60s-2000s. Usually one, never more than two, per set. They can be fun to introduce something the crowd recognizes, add polyrhythms, take way outside and bring it back. Frequently here comments like “wow I never thought of Nirvana or Paul McCartney like that before. Currently we do lots of Beatles stuff mixed in.
