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Reggae tunes similar to �Jammin� ?


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I have enjoyed playing Jammin by Bob Marley in solo piano and small groups for many years. It is a sort of perfect tune, imo. It has a catchy melody, jazzy R@B-ish chord vamps like Sunny and that great tempo 125 Reggae shuffle. Was that tune an rarity for Marley? When I survey his repertoire it seems to be stylistically unique from his other compositions. Is there another Reggae tune with that catchy jazzy shuffle quality that is both bright and R&B-ish?

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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.... This reminds me of the time I was looking for another Mercy Mercy Mercy by Zawinul. I concluded that that perfect tune doesnt really have a companion piece that is very similar.

 

 Find 660 of my jazz piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Harry was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book."

 

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Waiting in Vain no. Not many songs like that all. There is a lot more to Reggae them Bob Marley.

I defer to the gentleman in the reggae band. I was looking for commonly known reggae tunes that might fit. Not sure how many people would recognize a jazz cover of Burning Spear. :D

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Of course you know that Monty Alexander has done jazz versions of much of Marley songbook, as well as other reggae tunes. But if you're looking for commonly known reggae tunes that people will recognize, I don't think you could get more recognizable than "No Woman No Cry" and "Stir It Up." Monty does a good job on both of those. There's also Toots & the Maytals "Pressure Drop."
These are only my opinions, not supported by any actual knowledge, experience, or expertise.
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If youre just looking for reggae-style hits to cover, rather than just songs that specifically sound like Jammin, theres mostly Bob Marley, some of the UB40 stuff (most of which was moderately well-known before they covered it and turned it into pop hits) - Kingston Town, Red Red Wine, plus some of their original stuff, Sunshine Reggae, Sweat by Inner Circle (at least until that particular weaponised ear worm is formally banned by the Geneva Convention), maybe Do You Really Want to Hurt Me by Culture Club...yeah, I went there.

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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Do You Really Want to Hurt Me by Culture Club is a great song. People think "Red Red wine is easy to cover for a band and it's not. That band know s a lot about Reggae as they started out playing a lot of it. Mikey Craig is a wicked bass player. It's an odd tune because the bass has move the song...it's also not intuitive but people love it when we play it. Jazz and Reggae don't mix that well I have always thought.

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People think "Red Red wine is easy to cover for a band and it's not. That band know s a lot about Reggae as they started out playing a lot of it. Mikey Craig is a wicked bass player.

I'm not knocking UB40 - their first album, "Signing Off", is absolutely marvellous. Not too fond of their later stuff though, except for "Rat in My Kitchen".

"The Angels of Libra are in the European vanguard of the [retro soul] movement" (Bill Buckley, Soul and Jazz and Funk)

The Drawbars | off jazz organ trio

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Speaking of Stevie Wonder, at the jam I attend, a couple of the guys like to pull out "Boogie On Reggae Woman" which has a nice jazzy shuffle and is fun to solo over.
These are only my opinions, not supported by any actual knowledge, experience, or expertise.
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