Pat Azzarello Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 I rediscovered "Two Rooms" this weekend. It's the Elton John/Bernie Taupin tribute made quite a few years ago (1991). I'm not a big tribute fan, but some of the tunes here really struck me (and some were really lame). I was pleasantly surprised at the gospel influenced "Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me", Bruce Hornsby soloing and syncopated kicks on "Madman Across the Water", Greg Phillinganes piano on Clapton's rendition of Border Song (though I thought it was Bill Payne originally). The other thing this little journey did for me was to question the word "Standards." I've got to say that we often use "Standard" to refer to tunes from the 40's, 50's, and rarely the 60's. However there are some great tunes from the rock era (Elton/Bernie and elsewhere) that will certainly stand the test of time. Anyway, thought I'd post this and maybe motivate some people to pull out CD's they haven't listened to in a while and share with us. Pat http://www.patazzarello.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Heins Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 Speaking of taking a trip back in time I just pulled out Mountain- Nanatucket Sleighride Darkon the Incandescent http://www.billheins.com/ Hail Vibrania! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Horne Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 Patazz, >>>The other thing this little journey did for me was to question the word "Standards." I've got to say that we often use "Standard" to refer to tunes from the 40's, 50's, and rarely the 60's. However there are some great tunes from the rock era (Elton/Bernie and elsewhere) that will certainly stand the test of time.>>> I'm curious, Which rock tunes from the 60's/70's would you label as standards? No guitarists were harmed during the making of this message. In general, harmonic complexity is inversely proportional to the ratio between chording and non-chording instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Analogaddict Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 Check out Herbie Hancock´s The New Standard, for some great examples on "new standards". Jazz needs new influences in order not to stagnate, and there´s a lot of great tunes of all genres that are newer than the "standard" repertoire but with equally strong melodies and chordal arrangements. For instance, one frequently covered rock song (not on the Herbie album) is "Blackbird". I´ve also heard bands do Nirvana´s "Come as you Are", and Brad Mehldau covering Supertramp and Radiohead tunes. /J nas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Azzarello Posted March 23, 2004 Author Share Posted March 23, 2004 Originally posted by Dave Horne: I'm curious, Which rock tunes from the 60's/70's would you label as standards?I guess I'm still trying to identify some... I'm definitely open to suggestion. As mentioned earlier, Blackbird is a good example, as are a number of other Beatles tunes. Billy Joel and Elton John have had a lot of tunes that could be standards. Miles did a version of "Time After Time" and even a Scritti Politti tune (though I wouldn't classify that as something that would likely be a standard). I was thinking about this more last night (after my post) and started to separate "standards" into two camps: 1. Tunes where the arrangement has/can be changed with some success. 2. Tunes where the arrangement is an integral part of it being a standard. "In the Mood" falls into the latter category, while "Song for my Father" is probably in the former. I'll have to think about the rock tunes some more. Pat http://www.patazzarello.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Zeger Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 Originally posted by Dave Horne: I'm curious, Which rock tunes from the 60's/70's would you label as standards?Plenty of Beatles songs Santana recorded a few. "Black Magic Woman" (penned by Peter Green), which is just a minor blues, right? Also, I've heard the ii-V based "Europa" played as a standard. Curtis Stigers has a recent album, "You Inspire Me", on which he does some clever takes on several rock/pop songs we wouldn't consider standards: Joe Jackson's "Fools In Love", The Kinks' "Tired of Waiting", among others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted March 25, 2004 Share Posted March 25, 2004 CDs I've "rediscovered": Every time I put on Kind of Blue, I always get something different out of it and hear new things. Same with Mingus Ah Um -- especially after seeing bassist Kieran Overs' Masters' colloquium on Mingus and having him show a tape from the CBC archives, I definitely got more out of Ah Um now more than ever. There was a long period of time when I couldn't stand Billy Joel's The Nylon Curtain, but now it's one of my favourites. Re: new standards. Without hesitation I would put Stevie Wonder's 70s output in that category. Mehldau's covered a lot of Paul Simon tunes with great success (I do a version of "The Boxer" with my trio). Nick Drake is also someone who I've found can translate really well into jazz. Radiohead works, too -- I love Geoff Keezer's solo piano version of "Let Down" (from Zero One). Obviously the Beatles repertoire falls into that category. David My Site Nord Electro 5D, Novation Launchkey 61, Logic Pro X, Mainstage 3, lots of plugins, fingers, pencil, paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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