Is it just my taste, or has anyone else noticed how few between effective versions of his compositions are when he's not somehow involved? For all the covers of his stuff, I can think of relatively few that worked -- Roland Kirk and Bill Evans both did good "Alfie"'s, Steve Kuhn's "Windows Of The World", and just about anytime Luther Vandross has covered a Burt tune. But, mostly, something goes missing when Burt isn't waving the stick over it, I think. Am I missing some stuff? skip h
On Mon, Jul 01, 2002 at 08:11:22AM -0700, skip Heller wrote:
Is it just my taste, or has anyone else noticed how few between effective versions of his compositions are when he's not somehow involved?
For all the covers of his stuff, I can think of relatively few that worked -- Roland Kirk and Bill Evans both did good "Alfie"'s, Steve Kuhn's "Windows Of The World", and just about anytime Luther Vandross has covered a Burt tune. But, mostly, something goes missing when Burt isn't waving the stick over it, I think. Am I missing some stuff?
The final tune of "Ground Zero plays standards" is "A Better Tomorrow" mixed with "I Say A Little Prayer", but it's cheating, because it is actually based on the Roland Kirk version! It is great nonetheless, as is the rest of the album (I also think it was recently reissued, so it should be available). Julien
-----Original Message----- From: zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of skip Heller Sent: Monday, July 01, 2002 8:11 AM
Is it just my taste, or has anyone else noticed how few between effective versions of his compositions are when he's not somehow involved?
Geoffrey O'Brien makes the exact same argument in a piece in the New York Review of Books just after the Tzadik tribute came out (possibly the finest thing I'd ever read on Burt and Hal). It had to do, in any case, with the Bacharach paradox: how to make a complex melody sound catchy and effortless. O'Brien argued (I'm totally paraphrasing here) that Bacharach melodies simply did not lend themselves well to any sort of improvisation. Untrue, of course (a performance of "What The World Needs Now" by the Susie Ibarra Quartet comes to mind), but it makes sense that a "straight" run-through by either him or Dionne Warwick perhaps sounds best of all. Later, Ben http://members.tripod.com/~tamad2/ ICQ: thewilyfilipino / Yahoo!: sunny70
on 7/2/02 9:20 AM, Benito Vergara at bvergara@sfsu.edu wrote:
O'Brien argued (I'm totally paraphrasing here) that Bacharach melodies simply did not lend themselves well to any sort of improvisation. Untrue, of course (a performance of "What The World Needs Now" by the Susie Ibarra Quartet comes to mind), but it makes sense that a "straight" run-through by either him or Dionne Warwick perhaps sounds best of all.
Later, Ben
I had read that piece myself (and it was great), and I don't think it's automatically the problem of improvising over such a thorny and specific structure. I'm convinced there's some kind fommagic that takes over when he's there, just for the strength of his personality. very few other musicians have that kind of strength that way. Which is why -- when you look at it -- the best covers of his material are generally done by people whose style and vision are so totally their own that maybe they look to Burt as more of an attitude role model instead of a guy whose licks they can cop. skip h
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skip Heller