Favorite Collaborations


Your favorite collaborations.  Not song writers who compose together (Lennon, McCartney; Becker, Fagen....).
Two or more extraordinary talants who come together to create  extraordinary music.
Some of my favorites
Joe Sample, Randy Crawford
Linda Ronstadt, Nelson Riddle
Johnny Hodges, Billy Strayhorn
Jobim, Sinatra/ Jobim, Gal Costa 

mas1951
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As @viridian  said. I was going through my personal list to pair with her and he nailed it.
I was listening to Radio Paradise today and they played Tom Jones and the Cardigans doing a cover of Burning Down the House.  It was amazing!  I looked it up and it came out in 1999.  I'd never heard it before, not really a fan of either artist, but I liked what they did with that song.
Just a few:

Aaron Copland/Leonard Bernstein
McCoy Tyner/John Coltrane
Stephen Sondheim/Leonard Bernstein
Stan Getz/Kenny Barron
Neville Marriner/Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Count Basie/Neil Hefti
Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn
Thad Jones/Mel Lewis
Joe Zawinul/Wayne Shorter
Tony Bennett/Bill Evans
Tony Williams/Ron Carter
Stan Getz/João Gilberto
James Levine/Renee Fleming
Ry Cooder/Buena Vista Social Club
Duane Allman/Dicky Betts
Gil Evans/Miles Davis
Beth Hart/Joe Bonamassa
Pat Metheny/Lyle Mays
Wayne Shorter/Milton Nascimento
Stan Getz/Eddie Sauter
Jobim/Ellis Regina







In the mid-80’s I saw & heard The Blasters back Big Joe Turner live at Club Lingerie on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. Dave Alvin was of course at that time still in the band, as was the legendary Lee Allen, tenor sax player on all Little Richard’s 1950’s Specialty Records sides. What a singer, what a band! You can keep your Led Zeppelin, THIS is Rock ’n’ Roll!

The worst collaboration I have witnessed was Keith Richards’ disgusting behavior towards Norah Jones during their duet at The Gram Parson’s Tribute Show at Universal Studios Amphitheater (late-90’s, I think.). They performed a terrible rendition (Norah was okay, Keith simply awful. He was doing his whole "Aren’t I charming?", sloppy-drunk routine. Pathetic.) of the Everly Brothers’ classic "Love Hurts", and Keith was all over Norah like a cheap suit. What a pig. Norah’s facial expressions ranged from stunned bewilderment to outright embarrassment. I was myself embarrassed to be witnessing it.

Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart. Check out Truth and BeckOla! Late 60's blues-rock at its best! I saw them do all these songs live in concert in 1969!
Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Bill Bruford in great British band Yes! Check out The Yes Alblum, Close To The Edge and Fragile!
David Bowie and Mick Ronson! The Spiders From Mars - Ziggy Stardust! Glam rock at its best!
Brian Eno, Andy Mackay and Brian Ferry in Roxy Music! Superb prog rock! Check out Country Life and Stranded!
Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye! Check out Horses and Radio Ethiopia! Downtown NYC rock!
Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir in the Grateful Dead! Saw them live three times: '69, '73 and '74!
Michael Stipe and Peter Buck in REM! Murmur set the stage for alternative rock!
Gary Brooker and Matthew Fisher in Procul Harum! Shine On Brightly and A Salty Dog! Psychedelic Brit-rock!
Duane Allman, Greg Allman and Dickie Betts in the Allman Brothers Band! They set the template for Southern rock to follow!
roberjerman,
Those are bands you’re mentioning. I think that the OP meant temporary collaborations. He even said not artists who composed music together. 
@roxy54 : No, the OP has listed some old/past time artists! I'm listing some whose contributions together were essential to the bands they were in!
Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock! Jazz giants that took the form into the future!

Oh roberjerman, if THAT’S the premise:

- Sam Philips and Elvis Presley.

- Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe in Rockpile.

- Dave Edmunds and The Flamin’ Groovies, for The Groovies classic Shake Some Action album.

- Dave Edmunds and The Fabulous Thunderbirds, for their Tuff Enuff album.

- Hell, anything and everything Dave Edmunds touches!

- Buddy Miller and anyone he works with, including Emmylou Harris (he’s her band leader, guitarist, and harmony vocalist on the road).

- Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons in The Flying Burrito Brothers.

- Iris DeMent and John Prine.

- Little Village: John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, Jim Keltner.

- The Traveling Wilburys.

- Bob Dylan and The Hawks/The Band.

- Marty Stuart And His Fabulous Superlatives.

- Don and Phil Everly.

- George Martin and The Beatles.

- Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks.

- Phil Spector and The Wrecking Crew.

- Dann Penn and Spooner Oldham.

- Jerry Wexler and all the Atlantic Records artists he produced.

- The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section/The Swampers, The Wrecking Crew, The Funk Bothers, The Band, Booker T. & The MG’s.

- Mann & Weil, Goffin & King, Barry & Greenwich, Pomus & Shuman, Leiber & Stoller, Holland/Dozier/Holland, B. & F. Bryant, Lennon & McCartney, Jordan & Wilson, Rogers & Hart, G. & I. Gershwin.

That’ll do for starters.


The Beatles & Eric Clapton in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

Regards,
-- Al

- Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin
- Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler.
- Ray Charles and Quincy Jones
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- Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements, Peter Rowan, David Grisman and John Kahn (Old and in the Way)
- Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris
- Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughan
- Paul McCartney and Denny Laine
- Pat Methany and Charlie Haden
- Duke Ellington and Mahalia Jackson
Frogman, I notice you mentioned Stan Getz multiple times.  You should check out his work with Albert Dailey.

Getz is one of my all-time favs.  You ever hear him do "Blood Count"?

Also, thanks for mentioning Elis Regina.

onhwy61, thanks for the Dailey recommendation, I’ll check it out.

Great tune, Blood Count; it was one of Getz’ signature tunes. Several versions available on the Tube and all great. Getz was a beautiful player. I’m sure you’re familiar with the original Ellington version with Johnny Hodges; and the story behind the tune.  Love Elis Regina.
The Word - Cody and Luther Dickinson, Chris Chew, Robert Randolph, and John Medeski

They have made two wonderful albums together.
Fripp & Eno

bdp24, 
Kind of disappointed Bob Dylan & the Hawks was so far down on your list :-)

@boxer12, I’m disappointed in myself for not going to The San Jose Civic Auditorium on the night in the fall of ’65 that Bob & The Hawks performed live ;-) . I know a couple of guys who did, and I’m SO envious. To think they were at that point in time already making such advanced music, while The Beatles were still singing boy/girl love songs to crowds of screaming teenage girls, greatly amuses me.

I had heard only Bob’s single "Subterranean Homesick Blues", which left me completely bewildered---I had no idea what to make of it. Hey, I was only 14! The fact that he recorded a song as astounding as "Desolation Row" that Summer just astounds me. He was light years ahead of EVERYONE else in Pop music.

@mapman, that Old & In The Way album is not only good music, but recorded in audiophile quality sound! I bought it when it was first released, my first Bluegrass album from the current generation (I already had LP’s by Bill Monroe and the other old-timers). I knew of David Grisman (O&ITW member), as a bassist I knew (we were both members of the same San Jose/Cupertino musician clique) had in 1971 started going up to Mill Valley to take mandolin lessons from Grisman. David told him there were plenty of mandolin players, but a shortage of upright (acoustic) bassists. So Todd (Phillips) got himself an upright, and ended up becoming one of Bluegrasses busiest bassists, working with Grisman himself. I jammed with him a few years back, and his 18th Century upright sounded amazing!

Mapman
Old and in the way, a wonderful collaboration.  Back in the day,
the 1st NRPS album, (bluegrass/pop rock), packed with some
wonderful tunes.  Old and in the way, a few years later, got down
to the nitty gritty.

Oh man, great one roberjerman! Others include Chuck Berry and Johnnie Johnson, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Little Walter (damn!), Little Richard and Earl Palmer (vicious Rock ’n’ Roll!), Roger Hawkins and David Hood/Levon Helm and Rick Danko/Al Jackson Jr. and Duck Dunn, my three favorite rhythm sections.

Patsy Cline and Owen Bradley, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons, Buddy and Julie Miller, Ray and Dave Davies, AC/DC and Mutt Lange, this list goes on and on!

Ray Charles/Betty Carter
Billie Holiday/Lester Young
Louis Armstrong/Ella Fitzgerald

" Old and in the way, that's what I heard them say
They used to heed the words he said, but that was yesterday
Gold will turn to gray and youth will fade away
They'll never care about you, call you old and in the wayOnce I hear tell, he was happy
He had his share of friends and good times
Now, those friends have all passed on
He don't have a place called home
Looking back to a better day, feeling old and in the way
When just a boy, he left his home
Thought he'd have the world on a string
Now the years have come and gone
Through the streets he walks alone
Like the old dog gone astray, he's just old and in the way"

I was 19 and in college ~ 1979 when I picked that album up.

Now I'm old but still forging ahead.....hopefully not in the way...at least not yet...

More to discover