JAZZ NOTE # 2 – PLAY A SHOWTUNE
written by Dave
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The best way an artist can grab the attention of an ever-elusive audience is to take something tried and true and turn it on its head. I’m talking about reinterpretation. When it comes to jazz, there is no better way to ease a new listener into a new sound than to play a familiar tune, especially when song comes from the Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical, “Oklahoma” and Ray Charles is the one singing “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from the 2006 Concord release, “Ray Sings Basie Swings.”
What I like most about this cover is that it doesn’t remotely sound like morning. I don’t think the word even exists in the jazz lexicon. Most jazz musicians don’t even get out of bed before noon. So when Charles steps into Count Basie’s thick, crisp harmony sounding like a stiff belt of whiskey, he doesn’t lope like a man waking up. Instead, you hear that growl in his voice and you can see the grin growing for he is a man who is happy that the sun is finally going down.
The time of day isn’t the only thing mixed-up in this song. Take a full listen and see if you can determine if Charles is singing with a live band. At the time he was. But when these master tapes were found after his death, the only parts that were salvageable were his vocals. Count Basie and his orchestra were not properly miked during the concert, but not problem. Bill Hughes who now steers the venerable, still-playing Count Basie Orchestra was available to lay down the new tracks.
Some jazz purist may balk at the technology that bridges musicians playing in different decades. But if that technology allows me to visualize Ray Charles wearing a cowboy hat on top of a horse jazzing up an otherwise “oh hum” song, then I, too, have a wide grin just to hear one more time Ray Charles growl.
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