Tune of the Day


"Blue Rondo a la Turk"  on the Two Generations of Brubeck album.  Wow.

There are many fine versions of this tune, but this one gets me dancing, clapping, fist-pounding, whatever, every time....and it's not easy to dance in, what, 9/8?  I love tunes that grow, build, develop, and move through changes.  This one just picks me up and takes me right along with it.  Great melding of jazz and rock idioms, too.  It's fun to imagine Dave Brubeck setting the groove and then sitting back to hear where his kids and their friends take it. 

You can continue exploring Dave and the kids on Two Generations of Brubeck, "The Great Spirit Made Us All".  And Chris Brubeck's rock/jazz band Sky King on "Secret Sauce".

For extra credit, give a "spin" to Chase, "Bochawa" from their last album, Pure Music.

Anyway, that's my two cents today.




77jovian

"Watching The River Flow". I was knocked out by the song when I first heard it, in 1971. I just watched an interview with the drummer on the song, Jim Keltner. He said the rhythm section on the song---Leon Russell on piano (who produced the session), Carl Radle (from Derek & The Dominoes) on bass, and Jesse Ed Davis (from Taj Mahal’s band) on guitar---was the best he was ever a part of.

Jim said Dylan wrote the lyrics to the song at the session, in a few minutes. He also said Dylan was one of the two best rhythm guitar players he ever worked with, Lennon being the other. But then, Jim never recorded with The Everly Brothers or Dave Edmunds. ;-)

The song sounds as great today as it did in ’71. Timeless.

"Across The Borderline" by Gaby Moreno and Van Dyke Parks (with Jackson Browne). You may be familiar with the version by Linda Ronstadt or Ry Cooder, but this version is very different. Gaby’s vocal is great, but it is Van Dyke’s reimagining of the song that makes this version so special.

Van Dyke Parks was Brian Wilson’s collaborator on the ill-fated Smile album, and is a genius (or at least as close to one as our times has produced). He is a master orchestrator, fully in evidence on this song. I have to get their album. If you haven't yet heard Van's debut album Song Cycle, you should!