Bart – VA – “Popcorn” – Gershon Kingsley – Lots of Moog Synth progressions over the years, mostly, the Steel Pan version rules. Bart starts with a “Song Hole” (when you start collecting a myriad of versions of a song on a playlist, click the VA above to access). I’ve heard the song before, but in the periphery and Bart’s work here offers a kind of electronic hit evolution for this ear worm. I’m into the Steel Pan version though, despite its lack of electronic influence, because they are really working those pans! Fun beginning.
Asides: Gershon Kingsley doesn’t seem like a booty shaker creator…
And there is a curious situation with covering electronic music songs, I think because its programmed that the creation is the “publishing” of the score, so to speak. You can make a sheet music version of course, but the content is really in the programming aspect. I think that affects the concept of cover versions, most of these sound like technologically updated versions of the original.
Dan – “Ode to Billy Joe” Jaki Byard, and then the Bobby Gentry’s original version. I heard the Jaki version and thought it a weird song choice, though evocatively played. I then traced it to the original Gentry version, which is a lot more famous than I knew – if you peruse the hit lists from back ion the day and there are lots of forgotten hits strewn across the paths of history. This was a big, Grammy award winning song. And then a film, Ode to Billy Joe (official spelling correction!), that was released about a decade after, which created a second life for the song. It is still odd that Byard’s version is from 5 years after the film, meaning the song wasn’t really in the air at the time he recorded it, but there are some other Jazz/Instrumental versions. In any case a surprise song choice pushed me into a “Song Hole”.
Nawi – Archie Shepp – “Sorry ‘Bout That” – Archie! So raw, so intense! He is a formative influence on my saxophone playing and none of the contemporary “Energy” music that I hear brings this vibe, which is addictive (Thanks Beaver Harris!). I met Archie in a music store in NYC 20 years ago and it was inadequate opportunity to express my admiration, but we did confer on our mutual connections of Philadelphia, Odean Pope and UMass Amherst. I also had a vivid saxophone playing dream (the saxophone was tiny, and restraining, but I was bringing it just the same!) in which dream-Shepp graced. In that his legs were twisted and he had crutches, similar to some Arnette Cobb pictures I have seen.
He also (in reality), had health issues with his teeth/gums/tongue/jaw(?) a friend saw him live and said he seemed to be playing with the reed resting on his tongue, which is unusual for saxophone playing. In the dream this was also a factor, but we were jamming until the horns split asunder.
Shepp to me cuts everything with his sound, it embraces pre-Trane Tenor players and it does sound like the horn is about to split asunder. I think the health issues have sadly limited his elder career. Great music!
Found Sounds 