Mar 29 2009
When Jazz Meets Rock and Roll
Of course, I would love to believe that this was the one and only place you could go to get information about jazz and blues music. It would sure do a lot to raise the amount of money I get from Today.com, that’s for sure. The sad truth is, however, that if that were the case your knowledge of jazz and access to information would be sad, indeed. I am just one man and I can barely scratch the surface of the things going on in the worlds of jazz and blues music.
There is a website called simple Jazz.com and they have a ton of information and articles. They have a ton of stuff there for you to check out. The number of interviews and profiles of artists they have there is truly staggering. However, the one series of articles that I truly find interesting is known as “The Dozens.” These are a series of articles that discuss a dozen albums centered around a certain topic. For example, the dozen Herbie Hancock tracks that are truly essential for any jazz fan to know.
The one that struck me is the latest one. It is entitled “THE DOZENS: WHEN JAZZ CATS MEET ROCKERS” and it discusses the twelve essential albums and tracks where a great from the world of jazz met with a someone in the world of rock and roll. Some of them you might not even have known about.
Some examples:
1. The Rolling Stones and Sonny Rollins on the song “Waiting on a Friend.” While this has never been my favorite Stones tune, I didn’t even know Sonny Rollins was on the track until I read this article. It makes me appreciate it a bit more.
2. Billy Joel and Phil Woods on “Just the Way you Are” which explains that sax part on that track and why I always liked it.
3. Steely Dan and Wayne Shorter on “Aja.” This seems like a natural. Steely Dan was always more jazz than rock and roll anyway.
4. Cameo and Miles Davis on “In the Night.” Now, Cameo may be little more than a footnote in the annals of music history, but Miles must have thought enough of them (or him) to have appeared on this track.
5. Huey Lewis and the News and Stan Getz on “Small World Pt. 2.” I hardly know what to say about this one. It was just so odd that I had to mention it.
So, there are 7 more tracks on the list that you should really check out. Some of them seem to make sense and others, like the Cameo one above, will probably just make you scratch your head. It’s always interesting when two styles of music mix, that’s for sure.
