King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown

If you list off all of the conventional jazz rhythm styles,(swing, waltz, bossa, samba/fusion, funk, etc...), one genre is conspicuously absent, Reggae.
I know few jazz drummers/bassists who are comfortable playing reggae,(they can DO it, sure, but they don't really grok it).

Why do you suppose reggae was gleefully incorporated into the popular music of the 70's and 80's and yet never penetrated into jazz idiom?
Well...
By the time reggae music exploded out of Jamaica, the jazz stylistic canon was established and jazz musicians had splintered off into their own niche, free from pop/dance band obligations.
There are no reggae songs in the Real Book, as a result, while any self respecting rock or R&B player,(or even mediocre campfire guitarist), knows at least a few Bob Marley songs well enough to jam over, your typical jazzer does not.
I think this is unfortunate. Reggae is perfect for jazz re-interpretation, it's fun to play and rhythmically free,(for everyone except the poor sucker who has to go ...chank...chank... on 2 and 4 for the whole song).
Anyway, if jazzers are fairly ignorant about reggae,they are utterly
stupified at the mention of dub.
This song is to dub what 'Summertime' is to jazz.
A song that everyone 'just knows', without having to read it.

It's been covered a million different times by a million different artists a
million different ways.
It was sung as a conventional reggae track by Jacob Miller,(as 'Baby, I Love You So'), and produced by Augustus Pablo, the early dub pioneer.
The dub version is the same song with the lyrics rubbed out and a whole range of trippy studio effects added,(which is all dub is really).
Retitled as 'King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown', it is THE classic dub track.
So, you can play the Jacob Miller version by playing the provided melody, OR do the Augustus Pablo version by ignoring the melody line and playing whatever the fuck you want on top.
It's the bass line that's important for this one, melody is secondary.
And if you happen to have a melodica and/or a really good delay pedal banging around in your toy chest, bring 'em out and have fun

My Red Hot Car

It's hard to believe this song is almost 10 years old.

Unlike most techno/electronica produced since the mid 90's, this song still sounds fresh.

This is a simple song where the drummer gets a chance to let loose.

I haven't played it myself yet, but it has everything that I would want in a jazz cover song.

It's easy to sight read and is amenable to creative interpretation, it's also a little subversive,(thanks to the pseudo-pornographic lyrics), and is totally off the radar of most jazz players.

Many fans of Squarepusher,(AKA, Tom Jenkinson) may not know that he is quite an accomplished bassist and has released some interesting jazz/avant-garde solo stuff which is not too hard to find.

Here is a video featuring some vintage kung-fu.

Ass like that

I don't think anyone has done a jazz cover of an Eminem song yet, and for good reason.

Hip-hop doesn't usually lend itself well to instrumental re-interpretation, given the lack of strong melody, but I've developed a grudging respect for Eminem's cleverness with wordplay and this song in particular is built around a catchy, Eastern/Oriental riff that could be fun to jam over.

Would anyone actually recognize this in a jazz club audience? I think that would be part of the fun of doing it,(it certainly isn't a complicated song).

You might be the only one in the room who knows what this song is all about,(nice asses, lusting after Hillary Duff, Jessica Simpson and the Olsen twins, and being peed on by Gwen Stefani).

It's not often you get to solo over altered dominant chords like this for any length of time, so you can pull out all of those cliched, snake-charmer riffs without having to play Nardis or Caravan.

Claude Bolling - Picnic Suite

This might be the first jazz record that ever caught my ear, but it was not under enjoyable circumstances.
In 1986 my dad and step-mom drove my sister and I to Expo '86 in Vancouver.
They only had a few tapes. This one, Seals and Crofts greatest hits and a few others.
They also chain-smoked throughout the drive, wouldn't let us open the windows, and had the audacity to wonder why we were so crabby back there.
The trip was about 12 hours each way.
I suppose I should credit them for instilling in me a lifelong aversion to tobacco,(who says you can't acheive anything through torture?), but like Alex, the protagonist in 'A Clockwork Orange', they could have also turned me away from music at the same time.
In spite of the fact that listening to this record brings forth the image of my sister and I breathing through our shirts, trying to filter out the billowing stench issuing from the front of the car, I still really enjoy it, even if it is one of the whitest jazz records in my collection.
I still like that Seals and Crofts record too.


Claude Bolling was a prominent composer/arranger/performer from Cannes.
His biggest success in North America came from releasing 'Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano' in 1975, a chart-topper that blended jazz and classical music.
More recordings in this style followed and this one, recorded in 1980 is my favorite of them all.
Claude Bolling - piano
Alexandre Lagoya - guitar
Jean-Pierre Rampal - Flute
Guy Pedersen - bass
Daniel Humair - drums
http://rapidshare.com/files/361659373/claude_bolling_-_picnic_suite.rar

Spiderman

I grew up watching shitty cartoons like this and eating Cheerios.
At the time, the animation didn't seem so cheap and I didn't notice the various cost-cutting measures taken by the obviously under-funded studio like re-using footage from other episodes as well as re-using footage from other cartoon series'.
But fortunately, they didn't skimp on the music.
The theme song in particular has become well known even by those who are too young to remember the cartoon.

The background music for the show was a cool mix of surf-rock and bongo heavy crime jazz, and even though I haven't seen the show in years, I can still remember how some of the tunes went

Thanks to Youtube, I can fill in the gaps in my memory and scribble out this song, (title unknown).





The tune in question happens at around 1:53 in the video, it's hard to hear over the action, and I've never been able to find a recording of it but it's fun to play as a bluesy 6/8.

Also, if anyone wants the .MUS files so they can transpose the charts or do anything else with them let me know.

Ahmad Jamal - Tranquility

This record has been with me for a long time and as a result, it's a little beaten up,(well loved, you could say).
I searched for years for a cleaner copy but for awhile, it was almost non-existent.
While some used copies have shown up online recently for a reasonable sum, I've actually come to appreciate the trace of snap-crackle-pop on my copy.
the orignal tunes have always been the standouts for me,(Tranqulity and Manhattan Reflections), but the Bacharach covers are good also.
A very nice, full sound, especially for a trio.
1 - I say a little prayer
2 - The Look of Love
3 - When i look in Your Eyes
4 - Illusions Opticas
5 - Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You
6 - Emily

7 - Tranquility
8 - Free Again
9 - Manhattan Reflections

Piano - Ahmad Jamal
Bass - Jamil Sulieman
Drums - Frank Grant

http://rapidshare.com/files/358648128/ahdjam.rar

john scofield - east meets west

I had always admired John Scofield's playing, but when he teamed up with Medeski Martin & Wood in 1998 and produced 'A Go Go', I went from admirer to devotee.
I still think it might be the best jazz recording of the 1990's, and anyone who doesn't own it, should.
But while 'A Go Go' is fairly easy to find, this recording isn't.
It is Scofield's first recording as band leader,(recorded in 1977), and features some awful production(the bass in particular sounds like it was made out of cardboard), but some fine playing.
The solo guitar tracks stand out in particular for me as well as a notable cover of the Carla Bley penned 'Ida Lupino', which is one of those many songs in the Real Book which no one ever plays.
1. Public Domain
2. Amy(who else?)
3. Blues for Okinawa

4. V.
5. Un Toco Loco-Ballet
6. Ida Lipino

John Scofield - guitar
Clint Houston - bass
Motohiko Hino - drums
Terumasa Hino - trumpet on 'public domain' and 'V'

I found some old links for this recording floating around but none of them work anymore, here is a new one, enjoy.
http://rapidshare.com/files/358626354/john_scofield_-_east_meets_west.rar

Electropic

Ok, so this is supposed to be a jazz-oriented blog, and I want to post some good vinyl, but as I am a little late to the blogging game, most of my good shit is already available courtesy of the many other fine music blogs out there.
But that doesn't mean I don't have some worthy bits of obscuria lurking on the shelves and this is one of them.
Found by my wife in a bin in a used record store in Montreal, this was worth the price based on the cheesiness of the cover alone.
It is a bizarre mix of early 80's disco, French pop and cha-cha.
The lead singer,(simply referred to as 'Lise' in the liner notes), really works the breathy, coy, french-sex-kitten angle to great effect.
More campy French music is on the way.
aimer!
http://rapidshare.com/files/358613080/electropic_-_tu_veux_ou_tu_veux_pas.rar