Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma" first appeared on his 1954 album Afro (which also featured "Manteca", "Caravan", and "Night in Tunisia", among others). Gillespie's trumpet is backed by Rene Hernandez on piano, Roberto Rodriguez on bass, and percussion from Jose Mangual, Ubaldo Nieto, and Ralph Miranda. The tune starts with the bass and piano setting up a nice groove along with the … [Read more...]
Hallucinations/Budo: A Critical Analysis of Covers
"Hallucinations", or "Budo", is a Bud Powell composition...er, a Miles Davis composition. As "Hallucinations", the tune first appeared on Powell's The Genius of Bud Powell as a solo piano vehicle, while it first appeared as "Budo" on Miles' Birth of the Cool, with a nonet. Either way, it's a fun and catchy piece of bop that has been re-visited quite a few times since it first … [Read more...]
Once, Twice, Eight Times a (Golden) Lady – Eight Versions of Stevie Wonder’s “Golden Lady”
Among pop music writers, Stevie Wonder's tunes are definitely some of the most often-covered by jazz musicians, and it's not for nothing - they're great tunes. I've looked at a number of versions of "Isn't She Lovely" in a previous column, The SFJAZZ Collective has made an album of Stevie Wonder tunes, as did Madlib under his Yesterday's New Quintet guise and The Deep Blue … [Read more...]
Woody ‘N You: A Critical Analysis of Covers
"Woody 'n You" was written in 1943 by Dizzy Gillespie as an homage to Woody Herman (credit where it's due), a clarinet and sax player and band leader. "Woody 'n You" was one of three tunes that Gillespie wrote for Herman, and Herman apparently played the tune live, but its first appearance on record was in 1944, on Coleman Hawkins' recording date. That recording was later added … [Read more...]
Nardis: A Critical Analysis of Covers
"Nardis" is an oddity-- written by Miles Davis for Cannonball Adderley's Portrait of Cannonball album in 1958, where Blue Mitchell was on the trumpet, Davis himself never recorded the tune.For the tune's first appearance, in addition to Cannonball Adderley's sax and Blue Mitchell's trumpet, Bill Evans played piano, Sam Jones played bass, and Philly Joe Jones played the … [Read more...]