One tune to the tune of another

[David Ayers]

Ok so my new game is as follows. Anecdote. I was thinking about the reissue of Jarrett's Arbour Zena. Never heard it. Perhaps bizarrely, I am curious to hear it. Could um internet-is-your-friend it but not my style. Instead I listened to André Previn's Violin Concerto. And pretended it was Keith Jarrett. Now, in many ways it couldn't have been. But in some ways it could. And listening to it as if it were made me hear it differently. So. A new game.

Bev will tell you where I got the name for the game.

[JSngry]

Hell, this is the way I live my entire life.

[jeffcrom]

This thread/concept confuses me. I would like to point out, however, that you can sing the lyrics of the "Green Acres" theme to the tune of the Beatles' "A Day In the Life." Try it.

If you're too much younger than me, or not familiar with U.S. television from the 1960s, you probably don't have any idea what I'm talking about. But those who understand will be amazed.

[JSngry]

This thread/concept confuses me.

Take hearing Ornette or Jimmy Lyons, not as "Bird-like" in moments, but as Bird, i.e. - no, that's not them, that is Bird, and extrapolate it out as far into life as you enjoy, making the necessary adjustments to keep it true, if not always real (truth in this case being not the first casualty, but the ultimate outcome). Of course, reality has no choice but to intervene, but as we all come to learn eventually, "reality" in non-Newtonian matters is as much about what you're able to reference in interpretation of data as it is the content of the data itself.

Of course, if you put The Shape Of Jazz To Come on your turntable, it will never be Bird With Strings that comes out of your speakers (pretty sure this can be proven with mathematics or something like it). But that's not the point here.

What I think might be unreachable is hearing Previn playing the songs from My Fair Lady as Standards Live, but I still have, hopefully, many years left to hear many kinds of musics in many different ways, and I've lived long enough (so far) to never rule out anything ever happening, if only abstractly.

So, you just never know!

[John L]

Another way to think about this thread is through the benefits of sometimes listening to jazz with a blindfold. You start to think "who is this?" Then one possible artist comes to your mind, then another. In the end, all of this pondering has forced you to listen to this music differently than you would have otherwise, and notice some things that you probably would not have otherwise noticed. Then you find out the correct answer: "Wow, I wouldn't have thought that X would have played that." You gain something from it.

[A Lark Ascending]

One of the benefits of occasionally using the iPod random. Amazing how often you get a 'What is that?' moment, get it quite wrong and then want to re-explore. Random radio listening can do the same. I often have that happening to me when I tune into BBC Radio 3 in the car.

(Don't expect much of 'Arbour Zena', David. There are some nice moments, but it suffers from what I think of as 'block string writing' - all the strings seem to be moving at the same time, creating a wearying texture.)

[JSngry]

Ok, here's one - try listening to the 2nd movement of Andrew Imbrie's Trio # 2 (1989, as performed by The Francesco Trio) as if it's Andrew Hill. That gets really interesting...

[Rooster_Ties]

Whenever I get bored listening to a live performance of Haydn or Mozart when attending the symphony (particularly if it's an actual Haydn or Mozart symphony, so NOT something with vocals (or chorus), or a concerto with a solo instrument out front) -- I've sometimes tried to imagine what Ornette would do trying to play over whatever the form is (on alto, if it matters).

I figure that's better than snoring, and getting a swift elbow to the ribcage from my wife. [speaking as one who's gotten that swift elbow a time or two.]

I think I've done this 4 or 5 times over the years - true story.

Ok, here's one - try listening to the 2nd movement of Andrew Imbrie's Trio # 2 (1989, as performed by The Francesco Trio) as if it's Andrew Hill. That gets really interesting...

And speaking of Andrew Hill, Hank's "No Room For Squares" session (the complete session, from the McMaster edition, with just that one session only) never made even half as much sense to me until I started listening to it like it was an Andrew Hill album.

Which is to say that it never made sense to me as a Mobley album, but when I 'adjusted my ears' - it suddenly made a LOT more sense.

Edited December 8, 2013 by Rooster_Ties

[A Lark Ascending]

Try listening to Rimsky-Korsakov and pretending it's early Stravinsky. Not difficult.

[JSngry]

Try listening to Rimsky-Korsakov and pretending it's early Stravinsky. Not difficult.

Try listening to Ormandy's Rite Of Spring and ask yourself, damn, why is he trying to make it sound like Beethoven and how is he making it actually do so?

That's one of those things where you scream to yourself NO NO NO THIS IS NOT HAPPENING THIS CAN NOT BE HAPPENING IT IS NOT POSSIBLE but it keeps happening anyway, so hey, stay in that zone until you come out of it, because you will, but just getting there in the first place, that's trip enough for the day, trust me.

[Steve Gray]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYGMvH2FBR4

[Larry Kart]

Ok, here's one - try listening to the 2nd movement of Andrew Imbrie's Trio # 2 (1989, as performed by The Francesco Trio) as if it's Andrew Hill. That gets really interesting...

Hey, another Andrew Imbrie fan.

[JSngry]

Well, that's a bit of a stretch...just heard the one work, and then only because it was on a collection of "modern American piano trios" or some such that I found because of looking for Mel Powell, and then on top of that, the material itself, I'm not totally sold on, but that might be the interpretation (although the Powell is just dandy, imo). I can hear the math too clearly/easily/readily, if you know what I mean. But I did hear a touch of kinship to Hill in that one movement, so, who knows, maybe in the hands of another group, it would be more of a jump-out-and-grab-me kind of a thing. I'll reserve judgement (no Hill-pun intended), but for right now, yes, I'll take Hill, without question. But still, not without interest in Imbrie, perhaps.

That Mel Powell, thing, though, that's got some meat to it. Him, I will be pursuing with some vigor at some point soon.

[fent99]

One of the benefits of occasionally using the iPod random. Amazing how often you get a 'What is that?' moment, get it quite wrong and then want to re-explore. Random radio listening can do the same. I often have that happening to me when I tune into BBC Radio 3 in the car.

Not to derail the thread but this is one of the changes in how we listen to music. I don't have a big ipod only 16 gb on my mobile but I change the music regularly sticking on albums freshly bought etc. It is amazing how often something comes on and I have to check who it is esp contemporary jazz. Only loaded it on last night and already I can't remember.

I think I get what you mean by this. I was thinking I'd like to hear Kenny Burrell: Ellington is Forever so I just looked for other interpretations on my itunes some with guitar some by Ellington bands. Realised I generally prefer Ellington playing Ellington so problem solved and no more money to Amazon...

I know somebody is going to burst my bubble and say you have to hear this...

PS I kinda like Arbour Zena and enjoy the monolithic blocks of sound, when I'm in the mood

[Larry Kart]

Well, that's a bit of a stretch...just heard the one work, and then only because it was on a collection of "modern American piano trios" or some such that I found because of looking for Mel Powell, and then on top of that, the material itself, I'm not totally sold on, but that might be the interpretation (although the Powell is just dandy, imo). I can hear the math too clearly/easily/readily, if you know what I mean. But I did hear a touch of kinship to Hill in that one movement, so, who knows, maybe in the hands of another group, it would be more of a jump-out-and-grab-me kind of a thing. I'll reserve judgement (no Hill-pun intended), but for right now, yes, I'll take Hill, without question. But still, not without interest in Imbrie, perhaps.

That Mel Powell, thing, though, that's got some meat to it. Him, I will be pursuing with some vigor at some point soon.

I've got that LP. Will have to listen again to the Powell work.

[danasgoodstuff]

Didn't Rod the sod do something like this early on? His "Street Fightin' Man" and "Drinking Again" started out as other songs to which he just started singing those lyrics...IIRC.

[David Ayers]

The other day I put on Curtis Amy, who was just blazing hot, I was amazed. I had really no idea he had those kind of chops. Lasted a few tunes before he turned out to be Bill Barron. Quite an educative mis-click.