Post-1950s Pop Done as Jazz

[jdaguitar2]

Hello Friends,

I think it is a fun idea to put together a list of tunes that could/have been arranged as instrumental jazz tunes; i.e. play the melody as a "head" and then solo over the changes. Here are a few I can think of:

Isn't She Lovely- Stevie Wonder
We've Only Just Begun- Carpenters
Yesterday- Beatles
Spill The Wine- War
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life- Stevie Wonder
Just The Way You Are- Billy Joel

[mangotango]

Hello Friends,

I think it is a fun idea to put together a list of tunes that could/have been arranged as instrumental jazz tunes; i.e. play the melody as a "head" and then solo over the changes. Here are a few I can think of:

Isn't She Lovely- Stevie Wonder
We've Only Just Begun- Carpenters
Yesterday- Beatles
Spill The Wine- War
You Are The Sunshine Of My Life- Stevie Wonder
Just The Way You Are- Billy Joel

Check out Paul Anka's "Rock Swings" album. You'll soon realise that a whole lot more works as jazz than you thought.

Interestingly, there's an identically-titled album, with an identical concept, by British singer Paul Young. Not as good, but more ideas there.

[RClegg]

Brad Mehldau did an interesting cover of "Black Hole Sun" as well as several Radiohead tunes. He tends to get abstract and away from the tune, but hey he is Brad Melhdau. I though Pat Matheny's "What's it all About" was pretty neat. I have had some success with Little Wing and the Needle and the Damage Done--by which I mean improvising a bit over the form of the song.

[RClegg]

There's a couple of other tunes I am itching to try over the coming year: "Constellations" by Jack Johnson; "Third Stone from the Sun"; "Dear Prudence" and "Blackbird" by the Beatles, I already use "Julia".

Improvising on these will be interesting to try, assuming I can get a chord/melody going. AND, they aren't going to "swing" in any meaningful sense, but that is okay as long as there is some kind of a pulse.

Russ

[jdaguitar2]

I also remembered that Chuck Loeb did a version of "Rock With You" by Michael Jackson, I'd like to try that one too.
The tunes I like most will have either; simple changes to allow very exploratory improvisation; or have hip enough changes that it is interesting to play over.

[rkwestcoast]

Check out Leibman's New CD:

LINEAGE-ROCK AND POP CLASSICS REVISITED: DAVE LIEBMAN/MIKE STEPHANS with Vic Juris, Evan Gregor, Bobby Avey, Matt Vashlishan-Whaling City Sound


Liner Notes
The Lineage of Lineage


How the Path Led to This Moment by Mike Stephans


About twenty years ago, award winning saxophonist David Liebman began making a list of rock and pop songs that he loved and wanted to revisit someday, in order to re-create them in a contemporary series of settings that would be consistent with his approach to improvisational music. For a variety of reasons – notably that life intervened – Liebman shelved the “pop project” and went on to follow a wide variety of musical pursuits, from world and classical musical genres to liturgical Jewish music and, of course, jazz of all sorts.


The idea of deconstructing / reconstructing pop songs didn’t resurface until 2009 when Lieb and I began talking about our mutual love of the music that we grew up listening to in the late 50’s and 1960’s: Early Elvis, groups like The Platters, The Surfaris, and The Champs, romantic pop crooners like Johnny Mathis, and popular singers like Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Joe Cocker, Simon & Garfunkel, and of course, The Beatles.


We selected the songs we both loved and began making plans to record some of them in unique contemporary settings. What we’d hoped to do was to “put old wine in new bottles,” using the language of contemporary improvised music to re-clothe “the oldies” in new harmonies and new rhythms, without destroying the original integrity of the originals. Hence, you’ll find The Champs’ “Tequila” as a quirky, angular, and space funky re-take in 7/8 time; “Love Me Tender” as a reharmonized, Satie-like ballad centered around tenor saxophone and piano; surfing’ favorite “Wipeout” as a genre-bending group improvisation bordering on free jazz; and two by the Beatles: “Here, There, and Everywhere” re-defined as a mysterious, floating piece of musical ephemera; and “Eleanor Rigby,” with its beautiful, almost pastoral tone colors and vibrant improvisations. And this is just a few of the pieces we’ve recorded.


To pull this kind of project off successfully, Lieb and I – no spring chickens in the age department – agreed to enlist the talents of two of the best and the brightest stars of this current generation’s improvising musicians. We had been playing in a quartet setting with 20-somethings, pianist Bobby Avey and bassist Evan Gregor, both of whom were originally students of both David and his wife, Caris since high school. Bobby and Evan went on to complete their degrees in music and have become a part of the busy and exciting New York jazz scene where they are gaining solid reputations as both instrumentalists and as exciting, original composers.


For this Project, Lieb, Bobby, Evan, and I arranged a number of songs each. And to expand the musical timbres and palette of the quartet, we invited the venerable and brilliant Vic Juris (who has played in Lieb’s band for over 20 years) to play electric and acoustic guitars on a number of tracks, and also asked another ex-Liebman student (and young talent), Matt Vashlishan, to lend his sonic and creative skills on various woodwinds, to a number of tracks. Again, two *guys from different generations coming together with the rest of the ensemble to create some unique musical visions.


The joy of this group is that it is totally inter-generational; that is, it’s three older guys and three guys who are 40 years their junior, collectively bringing their original musical viewpoints to the table and working toward the center of a combined musical outlook. Bobby, Evan, and Matt deliver freshness to these pop tunes, all of which were written and performed before they were born. In that sense, the lineage of Lineage is an unbroken line from the past to the present and is an entity of musical fathers and sons, creating sound-visions together onward into the future.


Lieb writes:


1950’s rock’n’roll is what got me interested in music. Beginning with classical piano lessons at nine years old I loved early rock. I listened all Saturday morning to Martin Bloch’s Make Believe Ballroom as I remember it on WABC radio. I even had my own top 25, collected and traded 45s and loved Elvis. In early rock, there was a lot of soloing for the tenor sax, coming out of the rhythm and blues tradition that coexisted with bebop. I just wanted to play tenor which finally happened after the piano and clarinet around 13 years old. As I have written about so much, seeing Coltrane when I was 15 at Birdland put the proverbial nail in the coffin, although I didn’ t know that at the time. The main thing I remember about seeing Trane that first time was how could that be the same instrument I have back under my bed in Brooklyn??


Notes about the tunes:
“Mr.Sandman” and “I Only Have Eyes…” were reharmonized using the harmonic language I have been involved with for decades; “Tequila” originally recorded by a group called the Champs featured the tenor and would be one of those tunes that directly lead me to the horn (as did “Rock Around The Clock”); “Love Me Tender” was the first “pop” tune I played on the piano reading the left hand chords with the symbols above for the first time…what a revelation; Stevie Wonder’s “Visions” is a beautiful tune that I slightly altered harmonically and used to play with the Dave Liebman Quintet that featured John Scofield in the late 70s; the Beatles “Here, There, Everywhere” and “Eleanor Rigby” (beautiful counter point arrangement by Evan Gregor) are anthems of sorts since the Beatles changed the culture for sure in the 60s and were some of the best songwriters in popular music ever; “Walk, Don’t Run” and “Wipe Out” come from guitar oriented rock area; Bobby’s arrangement of “Woodstock” lifted from Joni’s original version is a masterpiece of reharmonization.


This is a look back but cast in the sound of now. You will be surprised at the direction some of these classic tunes took. Enjoy.


August 2012
Stroudsburg, PA USA http://www.daveliebman.com/newreleases.php

[JazzDreams]

Wow - "Make-Believe Ballroom" I grew up with that on the radio - (and for the record it would have been on WORin NY - 710 AM which was 'parents land' vs 770 AM WABC which would have been 'rock and roll land...')

John Pizzarelli has done several LPs (I still can't get used to calling an album a 'CD' and the next one I buy will be my first...) of Beatles tunes and similar. They work very well.

Jake Reichbart kills on tunes of the 60s and beyond in finger style solos.

ETA: Just read the liner notes on the release - Vic Juris does the guitar work. Nice!

[gitrman]

Ain't No Sunshing
Feel Like Makin' Love
Killing Me Softly
Moondance

[edh]

Teach Me(tonight)

IIRC, was a 50's/60's tune.

[medblues]

Human Nature by Vijay Iyer
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Bad Plus
We Are The Champions by Bad Plus
etc.

[JazzDreams]

Just saw a really fun jazz-funk-blues version of "Oh Happy Day!" which crossed over and got a lot of Top 40 radio play in the late 60s. (The Version by The Edwin Hawkins Singers) Seems like it would have great potential for a jazz treatment.

[Biff]

'Rock With You' by Michael Jackson

[David B]

Bobby Broom:

'Modern Man':
Superstition ('Modern Man')
I'll Never Fall In Love Again ('Modern Man')
Layla ('Modern Man')

'Wonderful' (Deep Blue Organ Trio)
1 TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD
2 IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME
3 JESUS CHILDREN OF AMERICA
4 MY CHERI AMOUR
5 GOLDEN LADY
6 YOU HAVEN'T DONE NOTHIN?
7 IT AIN'T NO USE
8 AS
9 YOU'VE GOT IT BAD GIRL

Dave Stryker:
Billie Jean (on 'Blue Strike')
Pure Imagination (on 'One for Reedus')
'Can't Buy Me Love' (on Keystone)

Mike LeDonne:
The Backstabbers (on 'Keep the Faith')
The Way You Make Me Feel ('Keep the Faith')
Someday We'll All Be Free ('Keep the Faith')
Rock with You ('The Groover')
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me ('The Groover')
On The Street Where You Live ('The Groover')
Could It Be I'm Falling In Love ('On Fire')

Kurt Elling:
Matte Kadesai ('The Gate')
Steppin' Out ('The Gate')
Norwegian Wood ('The Gate')
After The Love Has Gone ('The Gate')
Golden Lady ('The Gate')

[ronjazz]

On my last CD, I recorded While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Don't Know Why, both were very well-received by reviewers and audience alike, and are great vehicles for improv, as are She's Come Undun, She's Not There, Norwegian Wood, and many,many others.

[jdaguitar2]

My trio is going to try "Tell me something good" by Rufus tomorrow night. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Vladan]

Maybe not Jazz in pure sense, but this is one of covers I did:

Trippin' on the street (pseudo): Day Tripper cover

[Stevebol]

Some things I'm working on;

Suit and Tie- Justin Timberlake
Always and Forever- Heat Wave
Sweetest Taboo- Sade
Ode to Billy Joe- Bobby Gentry

Not to go OT but are there any good pop or R&B tunes in the last couple years? Something with a bit of a melody?

[Vladan]

I've just heard one in the nightshop, I find it beautifull -

Something Beautifull by Robbie Williams,

it's already kind of retro, I think it'd find it's place in jazz quite easilly.

[cosmic gumbo]

Best Beatles cover ever. I really miss Thomas...

[jdaguitar2]

If anybody wants me to e-mail them my chord/melody version of the Rufus tune "Tell me something good" just send me a PM and I'll be happy to pass it along.

[bluemusic4us]

Check out Paul Anka's "Rock Swings" album. You'll soon realise that a whole lot more works as jazz than you thought.

This is a great album. The big band really swings, love the arrangements.