New Jazz Standards

[Riff]

In the "Golden Years of Jazz" many perormers took popular, Broadway, and Hollywood tunes and adapted them to the jazz idiom for use as improvisational vehicles.

Tunes such as "On Green Dolphin Street" and "Someday My Prince Will Come" were taken from some unexpected sources.

What suggestions do you folks have for newer tunes that can be used in the swing context?

[-j.]

Well, since no one's answered so far, I'll take a stab at it...

Whitney Houston's "Saving all My Love for You" (was actually covered by Don Braden a while back, very well done).

Shanice's "I Love Your Smile," in waltz time!

maybe Carlos Santana's "Maria" as a shuffle, with that strong bass line.

The neo-soul movement (Musiq, Marcy Gray, etc.) could be a veritable goldmine, as well as some of the contemporary R&B stuff in general. It's a neat little mindgame that I play while listening to the radio on long drives, figuring out if any song currently playing would be suitable for a jazzy rearrangement and what it would sound like. (Mind you, I'm just a hobbyist, and I don't do any arranging at all.)

It was, I believe, Herbie Hancock who released an album a while back entitled "The New Standard" or something similar, where he did exactly what you're thinking about doing. Also, Blue Note used to have a special 'cover series,' where jazz acts covered a pop/rock album in its entirety. Charlie Hunter's "Natty Dread" is not only great fun to listen to, it might also give you a couple ideas what one can do if you compare it to Bob Marley's original.

Good luck!

-j.

[paulwl]

Tunes such as "On Green Dolphin Street" and "Someday My Prince Will Come" were taken from some unexpected sources.
Weren't they Hollywood tunes, too?

What suggestions do you folks have for newer tunes that can be used in the swing context?
Is there anything out there with changes? Find someone who's still writing CHANGES.

So-called Urban Contemporary (what -j. calls "neo-soul") is nothing but grooves. Most of contemporary show music sounds like it was written for a focus group. Most of contemporary film music WAS written for one.

What about They Might Be Giants? Or are they too close to swing already, with the fetish-y retro stuff like bass saxes, accordions, Ray Scott covers etc.?

[-j.]

Paul: Yes they were. "Some Day" was written for the 1937 (?) Disney full-length animated movie "Snow White." "On Green" was penned by Warsaw-born Bronislau Kaper, about 10 years later or so, as the title song for the movie "Green Dolphin Street." I still say that, if spiced up a little with, yes, changes, Jay Z's "Big Pimpin'" could make for a great Stan-Getzish samba...............

-j.

[Riff]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Joey DeFrancesco did a swing version of "I'll Always Love You"- a Taylor Dayne tune from the eighties.

There's a tune in Disney's animated Beauty and the Beast that I think would work well as an up-tempo jazz tune. Its called "Something There".
Haven't written down any ideas yet but they're germinating in my head.

I also think the old Bobby Vinton tune "There I Said It Again" would work as a jazz ballad.

Any other thoughts?

[Riff]

I'm surprised at the lack of response here. Don't you folks have any imagination? :?

[Andrewfus]

i used to play "a whiter shade of pale" as a reggae. not really jazz.. but very imaginative;)

[RatBatBlues]

How about all the older (Detroit-based) Motown songs? They have great melodies, and the changes are fairly interesting, and open to reharmonizing. Almost anysongs that are considered great vocal tunes could be used - check out the material used on American Idol.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the standards we learn in our jazz education nowadays. It seems like so many are showtunes with schmaltzy melodies and lyrics. There are a lot of tunes to instrumentalize and improvise over which were written post 1960.

[bruce]

Not sure these will ever be considered standards, but there is a trio (no Sax) call The Bad Plus that recently released a CD with Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and Blondie's Heart of Glass.

They do some interesting improv and rhythmic changes to these very modern song's melodies that blew me away.

- Bruce

[jazziz1]

My husband and I often perform together--sax and piano plus drums/bass--and we've recently decided to try to update our repetoire a bit. So far we've played Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" (great for a medium swing), Sade's "Smooth Operator" (bossa), and George Michael's "Careless Whisper" (smoooooth). We've also got a list of tunes we want to do. I'd love to work out an arrangement of Toto's "Africa" and use some extra percussion. Whatcha think?

[stitch]

Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" (great for a medium swing), Sade's "Smooth Operator" (bossa), and George Michael's "Careless Whisper" (smoooooth). We've also got a list of tunes we want to do. I'd love to work out an arrangement of Toto's "Africa" and use some extra percussion. Whatcha think?

Bland..... sorry, but you did ask!!

[jazziz1]

Awwww...I always liked that song. :(

I dig jazz, but there's a few of those 80's tunes that I kinda like, too...shhhh...don't tell anyone! 8)

[Tim Price]

rE-HARMONIZE A bEATLES TUNE-
For instance- I do "From Me To You" ...as a jazz waltz.
Also I do "Lady Madonna"...as a jam tune.Startin' off with a drone on a Indian raga....then goin' into the bass figure of the tune.
Miles tune " Fat Time"..is a great funk tune.BTW-I do "Time After Time"...
on electro-bassoon with a slight chorus pedal..like Miles in the mute...and
just hit the tune al A MiLES ...but on jazz bassoon...with solos.
You can git a hip schuffle blues groove on alto on Steely Dans "Prezel Logic"...with the first chord on intro bein' Ami7...then after everything you can TAG end organ group style with: Ami7/Fma7/ F/ g}} wOrKs GrEaT!
Or do "Norweigen Wood" like Hancock &Brecker did with the intro on Bma7#11...then first chord of melody bein' Ebma7 etc- Nice 3/4 tune!!!

PLus- Don Henlys "New York Minute" in Cminor..makes for a hip jam tune.
Sometimes that can get into a really funky modern thing with the minor groove.
AND, these are easy tunes to rehearse, even ON THE SPOT on the set.
Check it out...its only music 8)
Most of all- HAVE WITH THE MUSIC :idea:

[JL]

For a great example of what can be done with a Beatles tune, check out the Jazz Crusaders version of "Eleanor Rigby," that they recorded back around 1969 or '70.

[Anonymous]

I'm still lookin' for Coltrane's ballad version of "Yackety Sax"! They say it'll bring tears to your eyes!

[Tim Price]

For a great example of what can be done with a Beatles tune, check out the Jazz Crusaders version of "Eleanor Rigby," that they recorded back around 1969 or '70.

Yes- That is a great example- AMEN 8)

[LBAjazz]

I think a lot of Elvis Costello's ballad type stuff would make great jazz tunes. The guy writes some killer melodies.

[bruce]

I'm still lookin' for Coltrane's ballad version of "Yackety Sax"! They say it'll bring tears to your eyes!


Is that tears of laughter, joy, pain, sadness, or fear??? :wink:

[BobH]

Remember the cartoon movie "An American Tale"? One of the tunes out of that movie, "Somewhere Out There," has the same classic characteristics as "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." There's a real family resemblence--I've gotta believe the composer had "Rainbow" in mind.

[Billy The Fish]

How about Fred Neil's Dolphins ?

[frankbiff]

Joni Mitchel tunes.

[saxmann]

how about Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple. here is a video of a nice rendition of Smoke on the Water. chachacha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5tRIG6KBZM&mode=related&search=

[Rick Adams]

how about Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple. here is a video of a nice rendition of Smoke on the Water. chachacha http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5tRIG6KBZM&mode=related&search=Good old Senor Coconut, where would be without them (even if all their songs - even rock dinosaur ones - end up sounding very VERY similar? ;) )

[cleger]

I think the Beatles is a good source of potential as already mentioned. Check out Ben Allison's "Across the Universe" on his Buzz CD. The thing with these sorts of tunes though is that it can come across as cheesy if you're not careful. Also the world of jazz is so fragmented (and that's a good thing, imho) that the idea of a real "standard" is probably something we won't see again.

[davevillajr]

Two words. Richard Cheese.

More loungy than jazzy, but he takes modern "pop" tunes and big band lounge jazz-es them.

Welcome to the Jungle, Jin and Juice, Another Brick In The Wall, Ice Ice Baby, Bust A Move, Rock the Casbah, Fight For Your Right, Freak on a Leash, Enter Sandman, etc.

clever and swingin'.....

You can find him on iTunes for sure......

dv

[Swampcabbage]

Really there's a lot of stuff out there. For classic stuff with changes there is obviously the Beatles. There's XTC, Radiohead (Chris Potter does Morning Bell on Underground), just about anything by a "power pop" band. But, even stuff from Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, etc..

Skerik had a band called Crack Sabbath that did large band arrangements of metal tunes.

Weezer, Duran Duran, whatever you like. And with reharms you can do anything with changes. But, nothing wrong with staying modal either.

You could cop just about anything off of modern radio, it's tough to cover the monotone stuff, but you can always add melody notes to it if you want.

[RootyTootoot]

I'm always surprised more Dylan tunes haven't been covered. Could this be a permission/royalties issue? My fantasy band/cover is Mingus (with Dolphy)/Nobody Can Sing the Blues Like Blind Willie McTell. Imagine that!!

[docformat]

I've heard a couple of jazz versions of electronic/dance classics recently - Derrick May's 'Strings of Life' (oridinally detroit techno) and Goldie's 'Inner City Life' (originally drum'n'bass). Both worked really well.

[DD]

Hello-Lionel Ritchie as a bossa
At 17 - Janis Ian - up

[altoist]

Joey "G-Clef" Cavaseno has a jazz tribute to the rock band Evanescence, using just guitar, bass and alto sax.

I guess they enjoyed some popularity, but that kind of music isn't really my
cup of tea. No matter, Cavaseno sounds really good to my ears.

[TMadness1013]

Robert Glasper has recorded a really nice rendition of Maiden Voyage that also incorporates Radiohead's "Everything in its Right Place"

Very tasteful & very hip. You can give it a listen on his latest CD: In My Element

[Swampcabbage]

Ive seen interviews where Radiohead metnioned listening to Bitches Brew constantly while recording OK Computer. A lot of songs on the record would work. "Creep" is begging for a jazz cover as well.