Too Sense

I'd like to chime in about The Bad Plus' post about their choice of covers, which was probably brewing for a while since it's not the first time I've heard the issue of "seriousness" and "irony" applied to their repertoire.

I'll go ahead and say what they've already said, which is that the original music they're interpreting is just as worthy as anything else in the jazz canon, melodically and harmonically. Furthermore, the only thing that would lead someone to believe that their playing of the tunes was ironic or not-serious would be misjudging the original material. I can't believe some people still cling to this notion of the high art of jazz being too good for the profane melodies found in any other number of genres of music.

To me, having that ear for melody and harmony in any context is a distinguishing feature of a great musician, and to be able to translate it into an instrumental context where the melody can still stand on its own apart from the lyrics is a test of that ability. It's about having open ears to hear music as music. If anything, I wish more musicians would adopt the practice of playing modern music. There's tons of great songs recorded in the last 40 years that would make excellent instrumental tunes, and it's a shame that some people would rather ossify the existing repertoire than let it grow to include them.

If jazz (to anthropomorphize for a moment) has any interest in attracting a non-balding, osteoporosis suffering, hip replacing crowd, then maybe it should consider playing tunes a younger audience has some kind of real understanding of.

I'd certainly rather hear Life On Mars than Surrey, that's for sure.

On Grant Green's souljazz funk workout Live At The Lighthouse album, he covers Betcha By Golly Wow, and there's a moment when the crowd recognizes the tune and goes wild. It's great - a fantastic melody that they get to revel in, hearing the words in their head and sharing in their appreciation of it with the artist.

Was Jimmy Smith derided for covering Let's Stay Together on Root Down?

Furthermore, I think it would be great if young musicians started covering the covers so the tired jam session repertoire could gain some new tunes.