For your iPod

I stumbled on a couple of really interesting and cool jazz covers of novel tunes, and would like to share some with you. Anyone who has an addition, I invite you to post it.

What got me going on this (again) is discovering a couple more Brad Mehldau covers of contemporary pop tunes, I guess you'd call them.

I've noticed that Beatles tunes in particular seem hard to cover, and I started trying collect the more successful of the bunch (in my view). Mehldau in particular appears to be creating his own sort of Beatles' White Album covers, having done at least four by my count. Two of them are great and very accessible, and one (Martha My Dear) is pretty far out there, and requires some work on the listener's part (although worth it to me--it is almost more like contemporary classical music than jazz to my ear).

Besides Beatles pop/tunes, I am fascinated by covers of songs that are sort of more "kids' stuff" perhaps (e.g., Sesame Street Theme--I know Clark Terry used to cover it, but I have never found a good recorded version of it).

Anyway, here goes:

Blackbird: Brad Mehldau - really nice, pretty straightforward for Brad

Dear Prudence: Brad Mehldau - a little further afield, but a beautiful yet dissonant solo

Rainbow Connection: Nice version on a Tommy Newsom album. Tommy was the long running sax player in the Tonight Show Band whose shtick was being the polar opposite of the flamboyant Doc Severinson. But the version of Rainbow Connection on that album is a piano trio led by John F. Hammond with no horns. Anyway, it works.

Peter Cincotti does a reasonable vocal version of it as well. It is just a great tune.

She's Leaving Home: McCoy Tyner-- lush and beautiful

Eleanor Rigby: solo piano by the great Chick Corea

True Colors: Josefine Cromholm & Ibis. This is a very sparse treatment that could benefit from at some point getting a hair more traditional (like halfway through). But I find it quite arresting. I actually am also a big fan of the Cindy Lauper version that was a hit in her heyday.

Candy Man: Ray Brown trio (with Monty Alexander on piano)

Pure Imagination: (like Candy Man, also from the original Willie Wonka movie): Monty Alexander

Still Crazy After All These Years: Brad Mehldau

I've Just Seen a Face: John Pizzareli - I'm not huge fan of Pizzareli (not a hater either, mind you), but this is a great version of this tune

Further out there:

Brad Mehldau: Martha My Dear & 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (you have to get about 3 & 7 minutes into the latter before you can recognize the verse and chorus, respectively)

Nobody Does It Better (the Marvin Hamlisch Bond movie tune): Sex Mob. Check it out, the leader plays a slide trumpet. Also, he likes to record things the first time the musicians have ever played through a tune, to capture the freshness and spontaneity of it.

Not quite on point, but you also might check out a couple of great (and completely contrasting) versions of Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' from "Oklahoma"--it is perhaps a little surprisingly a great jazz tune: Ray Charles with the Count Basie Orchestra and Hank Jones on solo piano.

Finally, I really love this version of Joni Mitchell's A Case of You by Dianna Krall:

Weird Story

The week before last, Nathaniel was in Rock School camp, which ended somewhat early in the afternoon. I picked him up a couple or three days that week and made an effort to get there kind of early so he wouldn't languish at the camp with nothing to do. We were driving home and I didn't want to to make something for dinner so we decided to eat out.

We went through the 'usual' list, and nothing was sounding too good, and I finally threw out C.J. Muggs in desperation. C.J. Muggs is pub-type restaurant about two minutes from my house in old Webster. To my surprise, he said that sounded pretty good. But as we drove past on the way back, it was a little too early for me (he hardly had any lunch and was ready to go then). So we compromised, since we were so close to home, that we'd come back in 45 minutes or an hour.

When we did, we couldn't turn on to Lockwood (where C.J. Muggs is located). But we were so close, I just parked and we decided to hoof it the rest of the way. We saw a police car up the way, and I wondered if someone had had a heart attack or similar misfortune. As we got closer, we could see that a car had driven up over the curb and crashed through the plate glass window at one of the local businesses. Guess which one?

Right: C.J. Muggs. It flipped us out--we could have been sitting right there. Thankfully no one apparently was seriously injured in the crash. http://m.ksdk.com/news.jsp?key=72427&rc=ht

What's in a name?

What do people call you? I am lucky to have a lot of good ones going right now.

• Rob
• Robert
• Robert (ala Francais: ro-Baire; try rolling the "r" for more fun)
• Roberto (roll the "r" even harder)
• Bobby Joe
• Endicott [often slowly enunciated, with special emphasis on each syllable]
• Dude [that's what Nathaniel calls me when he's not thinking too hard]

[Yes, Bobby Joe has made it into the list as a permissible iteration.]

I'd even take the Dallas version, how JR Ewing (Larry Hagman) referred to Patrick Duffy's character:

"mmmBobby" (You've got to say the "Bobby" part fast; try it--you can't fail to sound just like JR!)

Just never a "Bob". To paraphase Stewie on Family Guy: "So help me, don't call me 'Bob.' For every time you call me 'Bob,' I shall kill you."

Inspired

My sister has taken to posting poetry on her blog, which is a wonderful thing. She marries them up to a beautiful picture (often one she or Steve has taken) or an interesting thought.

I don't know much about poetry, so let me try some Pooh-etry:

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.

"It's the same thing," he said.

Hey, baby....

How does one measure a life? How much money did you make? How many things did you accumulate? What did you accomplish at work?

Of course not. We all have and know our own measures which are of a much more personal nature, that carry far more value for each of us. But let me submit one variant for your consideration and amusement: How many times, and by how many people, and in what contexts, were you called "baby"? This seems as good as any to me. And the more the better, from my perspective.

This is a wonderful word, so versatile. Of course it can be innocent, or sweet, or sexy, or loving in the most innocent way (as between and a parent and a child), and everything up to and including much more sultry, adult versions. I love them all.

I've been thinking about this concept a lot lately, and I'll share with you why. The ending line is going to be my new mantra in life.

The Voodoo Blues Band sessions on Sundays at Hammerstone's are, among other things, great jam sessions, when some of the top St. Louis blues performers come by to say hello, share a drink, share a story, have a laugh, and, of course, lay down the blues. Our sit-ins are much more than people who just show up; they become and remain our dear friends.

One such friend who comes by often is both a wonderful drummer and a singer. An older gent who has been on the blues scene for years and years. Played with everybody. He doesn't just play the blues, he lives it, breathes it, drinks it in--it simply oozes out of the pores of his skin. A few weeks ago, he showed up after what for him had been a relatively extended absence. We were all so so glad to see him again, play with him again, just hear him again. As he was leaving the stage from sitting in, I gave a him a big pat on the back, smiled and beamed, "Morris, you sounded great!!"

He stared back at me with an expression I don't quite know how to describe in words (sort of like "huh?") and after a small beat, gave me a response I don't think I'll ever forget as long as I live:

"Baby, I always sound great."

And without more he moved on to his cheeseburger and listened to the rest of the set.

Morris, yes you do. My new mantra. Feel free to share your baby stories with us.

Prediction

I love to make predictions. Sometimes they are wildly right (I correctly foresaw the Cardinals taking the 2006 World Series even though they stumbled, bumbled and fumbled their way in to post-season that year (remember the Astros closing in fast while the Cardinals reeled?)). But just as often (if not more often), they are stupefyingly wrong: I confidently asserted Marvelous Marvin Hagler would knock out Sugar Ray Leonard in the late '80s. Woops. The worst of all might have been after seeing "Ghost" in a sneak preview (on a double-bill with Days of Thunder, no less). It was a very rare instance of seeing a main Hollywood feature without knowing a gosh-darn thing about it in advance (think about how much you typically know about a movie before plunking down your hard-earned cash at the box office). After seeing that towering pile of junk, I prognosticated (with my usual air of arrogance) to Sharon that it would last all of one weekend (maybe not even a full weekend), then (definitely) straight-to-video and (to a moral certainty) never heard from again. (I still think that's the fate it deserved.) Double woops and a half.

But to get proper credit, I have learned the hard way one must make a prediction in advance--it does not help to say after the fact that you were secretly harboring a premonition of events to come all along (a trick I've tried to no avail).

So, while we learned this weekend from Brian Williams that Tom Brokaw will be helming Meet the Press through the November elections (which has to be a temporary fix), I will make my prediction on the permanent successor to Russert: David Gregory. I think they are grooming him for that spot. I'm not saying I think he's the best or my top choice, necessarily. But I predict he is going to get it. You heard it here, if not first, at least before it was announced.

You Were There

For those who have never made it in to Hammerstone's, I thought I would share this with you. Apparently, one of our many legion of fans came in and took the attached video of us on a typical Sunday and posted it on YouTube. They really did a nice job, and captured pretty much what it's like to be in the club when we play...