Pop repertoire

[e_del]

Hello everybody,
after some decades of noodling on the instrument, I find myself more and more deeply into jazz guitar, continuously struggling between the old bop and the more modern style, that I find very inspiring and intimidating at the same time...

But having been my first steps in the blues, rock, pop from the 70-80', (some years ago in a guitar-centric online chat one kid discovered my over-40 age at that time, and I discovered the term "old fart" ) I still get caught on youtube listening to all the hits that for one reason or another placed a mark in my life.

Now, I tend to dislike the various tributes "in jazz" that lately appeared... Paul Anka "rock swings" was fun, but I think (personal opinion!) that 80% of what came after didn't add any new real value to the original pieces.
(nonetheless I like Brad Meldhau and Tori Amos personal reinterpretation of Nirvana, Depeche Mode, etc.)

So, as a guitarist, improvisor, and not-only-jazz music aficionado, I'm asking myself if there aren't any other new "modern standards" that deserve (an should) to be learnt and played by hart, like we do with "Stella by starlight" or "All the things...".

What you think?
Are there (and what are) pop-rock classics that anyone should be able play on the fly in a gig, in any key, without even thinking?
Last flashback trip I had was about Sting and The Police, but I could talk about David Bowie, Queen, Hendrix, Clapton, 80's pop, etc..

[pierre richard]

any song can be made to "sound" jazz...but you have to work on it...

the way the notes are played and the sound you get from using "jazz" chords will get you started...

using the jazz language instead of pop language....make any sense to you?

a good tune is a good tune no matter what the original recording sounds like...now make it your own...

I play (for one)..theme from Swan Lake..!!...not to fast in Am...to the feeling and sound of "Fever"...ala Kenny Burrell...

Beatles "Day Tripper"...mod swing..melody notes played staccato...chord accents at end of each segment of the melody...ala Kenny Burrell...also rhythmically altered intro riff...

I know....yea Kenny Burrell was my first inspiration on Jazz Guitar....

time on the instrument...

[fep]

This isn't necessarily jazz, more like jazz guys playing pop tunes. A Beatles tune:

[e_del]

the Beatles of course!.. I was forgetting...

Ok, so what tunes could fit in a "new standards" list that anyone should know and play, like we know and play ATTYA, or Stella, or Solar, or ... any well known jazz standard?

[ecj]

Almost any Motown hit will have a nice chord progression and melody that you can easily jazzify. Early country music is a good source to mine from, as well. Modern rock and hip hop tend to be the least fruitful mediums to take songs from IMO, because everything is so simple. It's hard to do anything with it but just turn it into a modal jam, which can be fun, but after a while everything starts to sound the same.

I do a ton of pop songs in my solo act, and am gradually adding more. There's really no difference at the end of the day if you distill things down to their melody and basic harmonic roadmap. In fact, I think creating arrangements of pop tunes is a way easier (better?) way to learn how to reharmonize, because everything is so simple from the start.

[TH]

Jimmy Webb is a composer Ben Monder has mined the riches of.

Tim Ries had a band called the Rolling Stones Project. Wild Horses is a good one to do.

Ben Monder plays World Of Pain originally done by Cream. There's a version on youtube but I won't post it because the capture quality is sinfully crappy (this is why artists don't want their stuff put on YouTube)

Bill Frisell will take from the Americana pool, songs of Bob Dylan, Dionne Warwick, Lucinda Williams (he's done a gorgeous version of Ventura)

There are Beatles tunes that aren't often covered, they wrote some great lyrical pieces.

For a little while Ben had some Badfinger tunes in his book. (Day after Day)

lots more... If you love it, you can make it into something you can play with and over.
David

[mja]

sadly we don't get to hear songs of the same equivalent these days

at one time those standards were the pop of the day, everyone knew them.

tunes like all the things are 36 bars long, when do you hear a song like that in the charts?

the rainbow connection from the muppets is all I can think of right now...but there are hopefully more

[TH]

There's actually a lot of broadway that we don't listen to or know about. How many out there go see new Broadway shows? There's some really good stuff there but the radar is set at popular hits, catchy country or electronic beat based. Not melody.
Melody is too much effort to listen to I guess.
Write your own. People used to. Serious leaders these days recognize that writing your own material is an integral part of having an engaging set list.
Maybe it's a new school jazz thing but original material is just waiting to be written. Standards aren't your only option
David

[mangotango]

This is quite interesting timing, because I've been doing some of this lately.

Last week i rehearsed with the quartet and we added Van Morrison's "Moondance" to the repertoire. Straight away, we were able to add a great jazz feel and it was almost too easy to start chucking in some chord subs that made it sound even more so. A bit of work and it walks straight into the set list for some of the venues that we will do. What makes it work so easily for jazz muso's is of course that it is "Midnight Blue" in a very thin disguise.

Then, in last night's rehearsal with the duo with the double bass, we tried "Time After Time" - the Cyndi Lauper one, not the standard. Have always maintained that this would work in jazz and not just 'cos Miles did it - he played it pretty straight, after all. Anyway, for a first crack at this, it worked brilliantly - possible because, rather than sitting there working off a chart, we went with a "sort of" knowing feel, and when we got to the improvisation part in the middle which was reached by using our ears rather than anything else, it was both of us stretching out without any pre-arranged parts. Each of us listened to what the other was doing and pushed what we were doing, and it sounded fantastic. Then we eased back into the head and out.

Now doesn't that sound like jazz to you? Did to me.

So, 70's and 80's covered - something from this century perhaps? Next on the list is "Like A Star" by Corinne Bailey Rae. Which already is jazz-able, albeit in pop form. Also "Love Is A Losing Game" by Amy Winehouse/Mark Ronson.

These songs are out there, MJA - you just have to cut through the bland XFactor chart formula karaoke sh!t and the robot disco club music to get to them. (Please note that in that last comment, I am not downing Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" which manages to combine popularity, danceability and credibility at the same time IMO - a rare feat!)

[TH]

There've been some really nice songs written by Elvis Costello. And do you know who Stephen Merritt is? He has a group called Magnetic Fields, and his writing is, by his admission, heavily steeped in his love for old show tunes. I've found some amazing vehicles in The Carpenters, in Barry Manilow, in Art Garfunkel's releases, in Tim Moore (check out Second Avenue), in Billy Joel (Jill Seifers and Kurt Rosenwinkel did a really great version of And So It Goes)... and the list does go on and on.

Now if you limit yourself to the pop that everyone listens to commercially and readily available for public consumption, yeah you're going to get the lowest common denominator, but if your ear and tastes are wide enough to listen to college radio, and you can get this stuff on streaming internet these days, there are songs the equal of anything ever written in the days of tin pan alley. And harmonic sophistication? Have you looked at Send In The Clowns? Modern Jazz composers are great sources too. Do you know how rich Steve Swallow's body of compositions is? Carla Bley? For both of them, you can get their music free and easily downloadable from them directly.

There is SO much that you don't ever have to run ATTYA unless you have something special you want to say.
Believe me, you need only look in the right place. Be aware and explore what is available before you pronounce that "the good old days are in the past."

David

[ronjazz]

Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb, Anthony Newley, Beatles, Steely Dan, plenty of material with interesting harmonic movement and real melodies. If you're in a jamming mood, Hotel California, Black Magic Woman, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Don't Know Why, She's Not There, This Magic Moment, etc. Do a bit more than backbeat int he rhythm section, add some nice melodic tensions and sub chords, play it as if you mean it, and your audience will grow.

Also, the whole Brazilian thing, from Jobim to Bonfa to Almeida to Djavan, etc.

[Little Jay]

Some jazzed-up pop songs on my repertoire:

- Isn't She Lovely - Stevie Wonder (check out a great version by Sylvain Luc and Bireli Lagrene!)
- Apparently Nothing - Young Disciples
- Come Together - Beatles (great version by Dr Lonnie Smith and I think Peter Bernstein on guitar)
- I Wish - Stevie Wonder
- Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
- What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
- Purple Rain - Prince
- Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix
- Englishman In New York - Sting

Of course, these song are already quite old themselves, being from the 70ies and 80ies, but most people know them. They work great playing restaurant gigs and alike, 'cause people respond to them. And - more important even - they are fun to play! (And challenging too!)

[Bill C]

this tune - actually, this performance ...

[Bill C]

Stevie Wonder's "Golden Lady" by Kurt Elling ...

[teok]

The Bad Plus has many jazzy interpretations of pop songs that I think are quite nice.

[GuyBoden]

Great thread, there's so much pleasure in creating Jazzier versions of my fav pop songs, but also there's a lot of pleasure in creating Pop versions of my fav Jazz standards.

Jazz is constantly changing, it's not set in stone, I think that just playing the old standards gets boring for players.

Again, great thread.
Guy

Lovely Day by Bill Withers is my fav to convert from pop to jazz.

[Strickland]

I would normally never post a clip of myself playing because I am nowhere near the caliber of player of most on this forum, but here's a clip of me jamming with a group from this past Friday night. This is a cover of a BRITNEY SPEARS tune!!!!!. I think it's rather jazzy at least up to my solo which falls apart completely. I normally play in a Western Swing group and just did this for the fun of it, and it was indeed fun.

Adam_Strickland : Oops Mp3 - Upload Audio - Listen to Audio - YourListen

[edh]

Hey Strickland, I think you did well. thanks for the link.