The Jazz Version of....

[paul secor]

I think this topic has been discussed here before, but perhaps not in a specifically dedicated thread.

Some personal favorites:

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Former member Mike Fitzgerald helped to compile a list some years back:

Jazz interpretations of show or movie scores

crisp posted the same list in post #14.

[Chas]

Don't have this one so this isn't a recommendation, but there's this one as well :

[B. Goren.]

No mention of the jazz version of My Fair Lady? This Contemporary session by Previn, Manne and Vinnegar started all this stuff.

Another version:

[B. Goren.]

One of my favorite Terence Blanchard's recordings:

This one is a real treasure:

[B. Goren.]

In Jazz in Paris series, there 4 or 5 volumes of "Jazz & Cinema".

Edited December 7, 2010 by B. Goren.

[DMP]

How about some television music? Mundell Lowe & His TV Action Jazz All-Stars!

[sidewinder]

Thanks to Tooter for making me aware of this one (UK Colpix):

Based on 'Blithe Spirits'

Edited December 7, 2010 by sidewinder

[Mark Stryker]

I can think of at least four versions of "Guys and Dolls."

Harry Allen-Joe Cohn: http://www.amazon.com/Music-Guys-Dolls-Harry-Allen/dp/B000RPHCNG

Eddie Costa: http://www.amazon.com/Guys-Dolls-Vibes-Eddie-Costa/dp/B000059QAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291751232&sr=1-1

Manhattan Jazz All Stars (Woods, Brookmeyer, Charles, etc): http://www.amazon.com/SWINGING-GUYS-AND-DOLLS/dp/B0019RU2E2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291751451&sr=1-2

Michael Hashim (with Mike LeDonne, Peter Washington, Kenny Washington): http://www.amazon.com/Guys-Dolls-Jazz-Michael-Hashim/dp/B000006KPB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291751663&sr=1-2

[B. Goren.]

Of course there are jazz versions of classical music:

The Classical Jazz Quartet Play Rachmaninov:

The Classical Jazz Quartet Play Tchaikovsky:

The Classical Jazz Quartet plyas Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker:

The Classical Jazz Quartet Plays Bach:

[Larry Kart]

I can think of at least four versions of "Guys and Dolls."

Harry Allen-Joe Cohn: http://www.amazon.com/Music-Guys-Dolls-Harry-Allen/dp/B000RPHCNG

Eddie Costa: http://www.amazon.com/Guys-Dolls-Vibes-Eddie-Costa/dp/B000059QAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291751232&sr=1-1

Manhattan Jazz All Stars (Woods, Brookmeyer, Charles, etc): http://www.amazon.com/SWINGING-GUYS-AND-DOLLS/dp/B0019RU2E2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291751451&sr=1-2

Michael Hashim (with Mike LeDonne, Peter Washington, Kenny Washington): http://www.amazon.com/Guys-Dolls-Jazz-Michael-Hashim/dp/B000006KPB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291751663&sr=1-2

The Eddie Costa is a gem -- for Eddie on vibes and also because it's some of the best first-period Bill Evans. The rhythm section is half that of "New Jazz Conceptions," with Motian but with Wendell Marshall instead of Teddy Kotick.

[jeffcrom]

How about some television music? Mundell Lowe & His TV Action Jazz All-Stars!

I picked this one up for a dollar a few years back, thinking it was going to be total camp. But it's actually very good - Donald Byrd, Eddie Costa, and Jimmy Cleveland are among the All-Stars.

[crisp]

Paul Horn did one on Cleopatra didn't he? I have it at home but I'm having a TIA and I can't remember if it's Cleopatra or another version of Lawrence of Arabia.

Impressions of Cleopatra (Columbia, 1963). Paul Gonzalves also did the score in the same year for Impulse, released as a bonus on the CD version of Tell It the Way It Is.

[six string]

Thanks for that.

[Chuck Nessa]

Gotta admit the line "Paul Horn did one on Cleopatra" gives him more credit than he deserves.

Edited December 11, 2010 by Chuck Nessa

[Bill Nelson]

If Paul Horn "did one on Cleopatra", she's not likely to press charges.

Still, with all that messy DNA he left, I hope he doesn't expect her servants to clean it up.

[JSngry]

I thought that Porgy & Bess was an opera.

Judges?

[Larry Kart]

I thought that Porgy & Bess was an opera.

Judges?

Opera, but it's also kind of the only one if its kind.

[Bill Nelson]

Because it's an opera doesn't mean 'Porgy' gets classified as 'Classical'. (Neither does 'Tommy'.)

At this point, a Dictionary of Music's definition of 'opera' might settle Sangrey's curiosity.

Let me just say 'Porgy' has routinely been listed in record guides under 'Musicals'.

The Osborne 'Guide to Movie/TV Soundtracks and Original Cast Albums' (1997) lists more than 65 separate recordings of 'Porgy' in 10-inch and LP formats.

[JSngry]

So it is an opera. Thought so.

And an opera has to be classified in a "record guide" and as "classical" or else it's a musical, even though it's an opera.

Gotta keep those gates safe, apparently.

[Fer Urbina]

How about some television music? Mundell Lowe & His TV Action Jazz All-Stars!

I picked this one up for a dollar a few years back, thinking it was going to be total camp. But it's actually very good - Donald Byrd, Eddie Costa, and Jimmy Cleveland are among the All-Stars.

If you like those two TV-themes albums, you'll probably enjoy the soundtrack to Satan in High Heels, originally on Charlie Parker Records, it came out with two titles (Blues for a Stripper is the other) and two different covers. On CD you have it by Collectables and Fresh Sound, possibly others too. The title track is quite catchy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbWE4O3cBCs) The album can be heard on Spotify

Regarding Porgy & Bess, I looked into it a bit for an article on 1959. There were two previous jazz versions (the Bethlehem all-stars, and the Satchmo-Ella), but it seems that the MGM film (a flop despite André Previn's Oscar for the score, featuring Sidney Poitier and sung by Bobby McFerrin's father) sparked a small furore: Miles Davis with Gil Evans (Columbia), Hank Jones Quartet (Capitol), Ralph Burns (Decca), Bill Potts (United Artists), and Mundell Lowe (RCA). Down Beat even devoted their Jul 23 issue to the film and the music adaptations.

F

[Fer Urbina]

I can think of at least four versions of "Guys and Dolls."

Harry Allen-Joe Cohn: http://www.amazon.com/Music-Guys-Dolls-Harry-Allen/dp/B000RPHCNG

Eddie Costa: http://www.amazon.com/Guys-Dolls-Vibes-Eddie-Costa/dp/B000059QAK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291751232&sr=1-1

Manhattan Jazz All Stars (Woods, Brookmeyer, Charles, etc): http://www.amazon.com/SWINGING-GUYS-AND-DOLLS/dp/B0019RU2E2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291751451&sr=1-2

Michael Hashim (with Mike LeDonne, Peter Washington, Kenny Washington): http://www.amazon.com/Guys-Dolls-Jazz-Michael-Hashim/dp/B000006KPB/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291751663&sr=1-2

The Eddie Costa is a gem -- for Eddie on vibes and also because it's some of the best first-period Bill Evans. The rhythm section is half that of "New Jazz Conceptions," with Motian but with Wendell Marshall instead of Teddy Kotick.

Agreed, although I would have loved to hear both Costa and Evans, who were friends, playing a piano duet (Evans would do it with Bob Brookmeyer, and Costa had done it with John Mehegan).

Evans intro to "Adelaide" is something else. Sounds like he's quoting Chopin's Heroic Polonaise to me.

F

[Man with the Golden Arm]

always hoped that this might be issued on CD.

[Chas]

Here's a handy list.

Here's an obscure one not on that list :

[Chas]

Hmm....this one isn't on the list either, and it's not even obscure (or groovy for that matter) :

[Chas]

Another one that should be on the list but inexplicably isn't :