It occurred to me over fifteen years ago that I wanted to give jazz treatments to the pop and rock songs I grew up with and even to current some ones I was playing to pay the bills. There was much president set for this tradition from the 40s through the early 60s but the British Invasion seemed to for the most part herald the waning of it. Shortly after starting to think about reviving it Herbie Hancock came out with The New Standard. It was something of a disappointment to me not to be able to hear those simple pop melodies like I could like Miles playing Someday My Price Will Come. Some nice playing but damned if I can tell what most of those songs are without looking at the liner notes.
Apparently though I was far from alone in wanting to make jazz with the pop music I grew up with and much new president has and is being set by many players: Tuck & Patti doing a Cyndi Lauper tune, The Bad Plus and Alex Skolnick covering hard rock, Scofield playing Ray Charles, Bill Frisell covering John Hiatt just to scratch the surface.
So, what are your New Standards? Songs written after your birth that youve done or would like to do is one definition. Another is hits from the late 60s to the present that have been given a jazz treatment by someone else. Other definitions? Anything goes.....theyre your new standards.
Apparently though I was far from alone in wanting to make jazz with the pop music I grew up with and much new president has and is being set by many players: Tuck & Patti doing a Cyndi Lauper tune, The Bad Plus and Alex Skolnick covering hard rock, Scofield playing Ray Charles, Bill Frisell covering John Hiatt just to scratch the surface.
So, what are your New Standards? Songs written after your birth that youve done or would like to do is one definition. Another is hits from the late 60s to the present that have been given a jazz treatment by someone else. Other definitions? Anything goes.....theyre your new standards.
