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Here's a challenge. Can you suggest any recent popular hit songs that are interesting enough from a musical perspective to be worth playing in a jazz context?
Most recent pop hits seem to be musically uninteresting. Both melody and harmony seem to consist of a short sequence of notes and chords repeated endlessly. There's often not much of a form -- i.e., if there's a bridge it's often just a slight variation with no change in key or much else to make it interesting.
I'd like to know if there are any exceptions -- musically interesting compositions that were hits in the past 5 years or so. If there are, I might take a crack at "jazzifying" some of them to amaze my kids.
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04-03-2014 04:22 PM
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Give it up and play what you like. Your kids will reject you anyway for "trying" to be cool... that's even worse than not being cool. I'm just sayin'...
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Sorry, that comment about amazing my kids was just an offhanded joke. This exercise isn't about looking cool. What I want to know if whether there are any recent pop hits that are musically interesting enough that I might actually enjoy performing them. I'd like to add some variety to my repertoire, but wouldn't think of performing a tune I didn't like!
Originally Posted by jasaco
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It's ok, I was just kidding (I think...)
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If there's no key change, feel free to make one.
Last edited by Vladan; 04-03-2014 at 08:34 PM.
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How about Royals by Lorde. (First of the two videos on this link.)
Last edited by GaryCorby; 04-03-2014 at 07:04 PM.
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I think there a good number that would be greatly improved with a little jazzing. Afterall, that's what many of the "classic standards" started out as...Pop tunes of the day.
Finger stylist Michael Chapdelaine did a cover of the Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball hit which works quite well. The melody is a bit limited in scope but I think that might do well for some reharmonization and stylish soloing...beyond my time allotment at the moment but I'm sure possibilities abound.
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ANY pop song can be worthy of 'jazzifying'...what makes it worthy is what YOU bring to it...or do to it...or hear in it...etc.
that said, some current pop i could imagine teleporting into jazz settings would include stuff performed and/or written by
--pharrell williams/daft punk
--pitbull
--katy perry
--pink
--coldplay
--bruno mars
--one republic
--owl city
--martin solveig
--edward maya
--romanian team who produces victoria stan's stuff like 'saxobeat'.
many, many more....i hear lots of other ear-candy pop but dunno the producers/writers thereof
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Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Do the intro with Wes-style octaves over a Latin beat. It will either sound great or like a train wreck, I'm not sure which.
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Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
oops..yer so right!!..i forgot gaga...ever seen-heard the vids of her doing her songs solo at a grand piano? before getting her record deal she'd been a staff songwriter for a publisher/producer for several years..i.e. under all the production there's solid stuff.
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I heard a wonderful chord melody version of Maroon 5s Sunday Morning, seriously. Its on my list of future endeavors.
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This is going back a decade or so, but current artists:
Beautiful by Christina Aguilera
Hero by Mariah Carey
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Thanks for the great responses! I'll check them out and see if something grabs me.
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I don't have much to contribute per se, but your post got me wondering if there are any lessons or case studies of taking a normal pop song and "Jazzifying" it.. I'm still a baby in the jazz sense and would love to see how a pro jazzer would go through the process of re-harmonizing a song like that..
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tons of jazz through the years came from gifted instrumentalists transforming pop songs....there's a good bio of louis armstrong, where this maxim was gotten, paraphrased from memory Originally Posted by Jeremy
'first state the melody, then embroider it, then embroider your first embroidery, THEN go to town"
or words to that effect...anyhow, sounded like good advice to me.
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I listen to A LOT of music all over the spectrum. While there's a case to be made that virtually any song can be jazzified, some work better than other, especially with instrumentals. It helps if you have a strong melody to play against sophisticated chord changes.
A couple of contemporary artists/composers put out pop music in a jazz vein, like Norah Jones--"Don't know why" is already a jazz standard. Anything by Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner (Sting). Coldplay is kind of a pianistic band with some good jazzy stuff. I would love to work up some arrangements of Radiohead, but that's pushing my boundaries.
Adele has some lovely songs out, in fact, I was going to work up a version of "Make you feel my love", written by Bob Dylan btw, which is just a beautiful song. Almost makes me cry every time I hear it.
Mumford and Sons...The Lumineers...Band of Horses...Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros...there are a lot of groups making melodic music with interesting chord changes.
That said, I think the melodies and structure of music from the 50's and 60's works best. A tune like "Ferry cross the Mersey" or "Yesterday" or "I can't help falling in love" or "River" (Joni Mitchell)--now THOSE are memorable tunes.
My rule is if Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald could sing it and swing it, it could be jazz.
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You've heard Brad Mehldau? He's done some great Radiohead covers Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
This is fun too:
More:
Radiohead Jazz Covers - YouTubeLast edited by JonR; 04-09-2014 at 10:36 AM.
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Jack Reichbart offers a 2-hour DVD on how to arrange any tune for solo guitar and another on harmony. I haven't watched them, but seems like he'd at least touch on how to re-harmonize a tune. I've posted the links below. You might enjoy his many other videos of "jazzified" pop tunes. Originally Posted by Jeremy
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I agree with Doctor Jeff. A strong/interesting melody is the most important factor I consider when deciding whether a tune is worth playing. Most current popular tunes have banal melodies -- often noodling around between a few notes. My original post was looking for exceptions -- recent hit tunes that actually have interesting melodies. Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
I'm not sure how to define an "interesting melody", but it should take the listener somewhere (e.g., implying a changes in key or major/minor/diminished/augmented chords). A melody that takes the listener out of the original key is much more fun to harmonize than a melody that noodles around a few notes. Many other factors can add interest to a melody -- the search terms "melody theory" bring up a wealth of info. Many modern composers write great melodies (e.g., as someone mentioned, Sting). I just wish more hit tunes had strong melody.Last edited by KirkP; 04-09-2014 at 07:21 PM.
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Originally Posted by KIRKP
Believe it or not, but there is this "Youtube sensation" band from Sweden (high school music program graduates) who have done this with... GASP.. non other than JUSTIN BEAVER'S music.
The band is called DIRTY LOOPS.
I think they took their name from the popular recording program that the EDM kids use to make million$... it's called FRUITY LOOPS!
Check out their video view count, it's insane!!!!! They did what you were thinking so you're on the right track!
Granted, they also sing but BOY OH BOY do they do a fine job of "jazzifying" his song (Bieber's) and other's like that.
Super producer DAVID FOSTER who goes from Jazz to Pop is now one of many backing the group.
Note: This version of jazzifying may not be to your taste but it shows the possibilities when imagined in a different jazz context.. and maybe minus singing.
Your quest to impress your kids might lead you to paradise! ;-))
Baby (Justin Bieber cover - That bass solo is the real deal.. that kid can play)
Rolling in the Deep
The band's site
Dirty Loops Home » Dirty Loops
David Foster (introducing the group in Jarkarta - Audio is terrible but Foster is a machine creatively and commercially)
Last edited by West LA Jazz; 04-09-2014 at 03:01 PM.
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I enjoy playing modern tunes in a jazz context, maybe not so many from the last 5 years, and they may not be top 10 chart hits...
When I started playing jazz I got to a stage that I think a lot of people get to; where I could get through the chord changes in a solo and 'survive' it without playing 'wrong' notes, but I wasn't playing anything musically interesting. I think playing over songs I had a footing in helped me to develop what a solo is really about (I was born in 1990, so as much as I've grown to love some standards I can't say that I knew of these songs before I took up jazz guitar).
I guess it depends on what counts as 'jazzifying' - obviously a strong melody is paramount because then you're given free reign to reharmonise, play around with the rhythm/time signature etc, whilst keeping the essence of the song in place, and keeping it recognisable to the layperson. It can be interesting to focus on other aspects too, maybe the melody of a particular song isn't the most engaging part of it, but the groove is hypnotic or there's a harmonic quirk you can exploit.
I do versions of these songs in various combos; I like to condense it down to lead sheet form as in the real book and see what people come up with.
(really anything by elliott smith or radiohead)
A lot to be taken from songs like these if you approach from a different angle than the great american songbook.
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I have never understood why jazzers aren't more interested in jazzifying classical tunes. Operatic arias in particular would be a natural place to start. If you take a look at late romantic operatic arias you can see that they are much more advanced harmonically than standards. After all, that's where the Broadway writers learned what was possible. I would love to post the chart for a Strauss aria but copyright concerns have stopped me. Three chord changes per bar rather than just one or two, all manner of inversions, etc., etc. I really don't know what explains the lack of interest. Is it bias against tunes that aren't in English? That aren't American? That are too hard? That sound too classical? The Swedish guys are awesome, but I'm sorry, I'll take Strauss over Bieber.
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Originally Posted by jster
"RE: " I have never understood why jazzers aren't more interested in jazzifying classical tunes".
Your answer may lie in part in a little anecdote that Chick Corea shares here about his classical piano teacher who was Italian and spoke english with a Italian accent that Chick obviously remembers fondly. This was when Chick was a boy.
His teacher was shall we say condescending about what was then the "new music" that Dizzy and his contemporaries were playing. If there is anyone who would have jazzified classical music earnestly it would have been Chick Corea ( a most prolific composer) and Wynton Marsalis. Wynton as you know was trained at Juliard and is also a fantastic Classical Coronetist who has recorded classical albums. That being said, I'm sure it has been done but as you know music is now a business and perhaps has always been a business. Mozart wrote minuets to "pay the bills" while people scoffed at them. These minuets would afford him the luxury of writing the bigger grand pieces like Operas etc.
All in all, this would be a great question to pose to one of America's pre eminent Jazz trumpeters and Classical Coronetist. That being said, we should investigate to see how many classical turned jazz albums have been recorded. I bet there have been more than a few.
Favor please. Can you post a video of the Strauss piece in question? My first question would be how long is it?
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Art Tatum and Dave Brubeck famously recorded many pieces based on classical works. Mile Davis' Sketches of Spain is based on Tarrega's guitar concerto. Keith Jarrett spent several years playing nothing but classical piano in concert and recording--his Mozart recordings are particularly nice. And of course don't forget Gershwin!
That said, I don't think classical necessarily leads to nice jazz transcriptions because for the most part it is too regimented. I think it is easier to take a silly little think like A Tisket A Tasket and work with that than to take a Bach prelude and jazzify it.
Re' melody and modern music--I have observed the loss of melody and conventional chord changes in all forms of music, especially pop music. I blame Prog Rock and fusion and Philip Glass for this. (He says half-facetiously.) Nevertheless, it's true. Much as I like Coldplay, try to hum one of their songs, vs humming It Might As Well Be Spring or Michelle by the Beatles. Or hum an Ornette Coleman tune vs anything played by Louis Armstrong. Or think of the first measures of Beethoven's Fifth vs a John Adams piece. Modern opera? Mostly a travesty compared to Puccini and Verdi.
There are some beautiful pieces out there. Some of them are throwbacks to earlier styles, some of them (like the Adele piece mentioned above) are written by sexagenarian rock musicians who started out writing simple folk tunes.
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Most of the notes have chord changes. You can see a lead sheet for it in the classical fake book. I really wish I could just post it. You can search around the web perhaps and find it. But basically, it is like a page from the Real Book, only denser and more sophisticated. You can pick it up around 0:50. It's just one example. I had always heard how everything in standards can be found in late romantic music. I had always been a fan of late romantic music, so I wanted to see what people were talking about.
If you look at earlier romantics, like say Verdi, the chord changes are probably less sophisticated than most standards. But by the time you get to Strauss, every trick gets used, and judging by the chart for this aria, the changes are more sophisticated.
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