Incredibly important and exciting news. My friend, colleague, and fellow blogger, Mrs. McPea, recently found this oddly familiar-looking thing in her bag of Cheetos: That, ladies and gentlemen, is Miles Davis. Oh yes it is. Look at the cover of one of his most celebrated albums, Sketches of Spain: See?? Miles died in 1991. What we have here is nothing …
Road Trip
I’m off to New York on Tuesday morning for a book-related jaunt. When I was living in London I was part of a writers’ group. We all got together once a month to read and critique each other’s work. I found the process really helpful – after you have been laboring over a book for ages you begin to suffer …
Woke Up This Morning
I’m pretty sure Tony Soprano was no jazz fan, but even he would have enjoyed this version of his theme song, from the debut CD of Taylor Eigsti. Eigsti is an interesting player, who has been lumbered with the “prodigy” soubriquet for years, but seems to be wearing it well. As with many first outings, he’s trying to cover a lot …
Now What?
I’ve spent the last two weeks polishing the manuscript of THE SONGS OF OUR FATHERS and yesterday sent it off to Bruce the Agent, who is still reading. Final polishing is a curious exercise. On one level it’s very satisfying. All my little tweaks should (in theory) make the manuscript a little better, and that obviously feels worthwhile. On another …
Don’t Talk. (Listen.)
After posting this video of Stefano Bollani earlier this week, I was reminded of this gem off his first solo piano album with ECM, which is titled, appropriately enough, Piano Solo. I’m not aware of the Beach Boys getting too many jazz treatments, but given the complexities and richness of much of Brian Wilson’s work, I’m now wondering why not. …
God Bless You Tube
Here’s a wonderful clip of two of my favorite musicians playing a duet together at a jazz festival in Italy. Someone once called the clarinet “an ill wind that nobody blows good”, but Anat Cohen disproves that theory. She came to Columbia, MO a couple of years ago and was just delightful. As you can see from this clip, she …
Wrapped Around Your Finger
Of course, yer man Sting has many jazzy connections (Branford Marsalis, etc. In fact, now that I come to think of it, he once even appeared on a Joe Henderson album). Lesser known, but probably more musically interesting, are Andy Summers’s excursions into jazz territory with albums like Peggy’s Blue Skylight and his Thelonious Monk tribute album. Really. Still, when …
Alone Again, Naturally
Little late with the Thursday post this week, so here’s a good one that I’ve been saving up. This week’s example of pop/jazz crossover is one of the oddest songs I know. It was written by Irish songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan, he of the alarming 70s ‘fro. You wouldn’t know from the jaunty, upbeat feel of the original version that this …
Beatles, Jazz, or What?
Finally, on this Thursday morning spot, some Brad Mehldau. Mehldau is perhaps the musician most responsible for the recent vogue of adopting pop songs and transforming them into a jazz idiom. I could do several months’ worth of posts just with him. He’s covered everything from Oasis and Paul Simon to Radiohead, Nick Drake, and Soundgarden. And he does it …
Last Train…
Jeepers. It is Thursday again already? Time for some more pop/jazz confection, then. I have written before in these pages about Cassandra Wilson. I actually met her once, backstage at the Royal Festival Hall, when she performed with Wynton Marsalis. Clang. Drop that name, son. Anyway, this is from one of her earlier albums, New Moon Daughter, and I love it. …