I’m not referring to any jazz/SF thing at the moment — though I like that title, maybe it could work in another context — but rather to Brad Mehldau Trio’s rendition of Black Hole Sun on their album Brad Mehldau Trio Live. I don’t know why I’m amazed it can be done: plenty of old jazz standards were cheesy Broadway showtunes. Still, I guess the shocker is that someone, post-Wynton Marsalis jazz-fascism-era, is actually daring to do it, and doing it well. The following aren’t the album version, as far as I can tell, but they give you some idea: …
Tag: jazz
Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians has long used that line to describe their music: “Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future” and their membership has, over the years, included people who I’d say deserve that appelation: music I hope is remembered, is fundamental to the interesting things that come in the future of innovative, intelligent music. But for the latter half of the phrase, “ancient to the future,” it’s always brought to mind Steve Coleman’s music. Coleman is a badass alto saxophonist, as you can see in this clip: … and with his various groups over the …
Hollyday?
UPDATE: Hollyday apparently is still out there. He’s been teaching school for a while now, but (according to articles more recent that the one I linked, but which I can’t find now) he is apparently thinking of recording again, maybe making a comeback of sorts, though not on the scale of his original, brief career as a professional performer… There are a few updates out there, if you search for them. ORIGINAL POST: Surely I’m not the only person who remembers this guy? Well, Christopher Hollyday now apparently works as a band teacher but still gigs occasionally. (He was always …
Pedal Up
Rahsaan Roland Kirk, 1975. Damn!
Joe Sample & Randy Crawford
Quite a while ago, Lime discovered that the Seoul Jazz Festival was happening (I blogged about it here) and asked me what show I’d like to see. IF you look at the program, you’ll see that it’s dominated by Japanese jazz fusion and Pat Metheny (whose music I despise), so the sensible choice was to see whatever else didn’t fit that category. She ordered the tickets, and that was that. Well, the other night, the day finally arrived, so we went and saw Joe Sample and Randy Crawford, who were accompanied by Joe Sample’s son Nicklas Sample on bass and …