The Jazz.com Blog
March 26, 2009 · 0 comments
The Best of the Dozens
Today jazz.com publishes the latest installment of its regular feature The Dozens. This article, written by S. Victor Aaron, looks at 12 unusual tracks each matching a jazz artist with a rock or pop icon.
Some of these tracks seem almost too odd to be true. What spurred Chick Corea to collaborate with Rick Derringer? What chain of events brought Stan Getz to a Huey Lewis session? Who masterminded the idea of pairing Carole King and Wynton Marsalis? And am I the only one here who would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Yoko One got together with Ornette Coleman?
But this is also a good occasion to point you in the direction of some other Dozens published on jazz.com that you might have missed. While on the topic of connections between jazz and rock, I can't help but be reminded of Matt Leskovic's recent article on jazz stars drawing on contemporary material in his Dozens on the New Standards. Leskovic (who seems suspiciously knowledgeable about rock for a jazz writer) also did a separate installment of the Dozens celebrating "Jazz Takes on the Beatles."
Despite these precedents, we don’t always spend our time at jazz.com fantasizing about rock stars. Many of our Dozens simply focus on a deserving jazz artist or ensemble. Here are some examples:
ESSENTIAL HORACE SILVER by Bill Kirchner
ESSENTIAL ELVIN JONES by Eric Novod
ESSENTIAL BILL EVANS by Ted Gioia
ESSENTIAL WEATHER REPORT by Jared Pauley
ESSENTIAL JOE HENDERSON by S. Victor Aaron
ESSENTIAL JELLY ROLL MORTON by Rob Bamberger
ESSENTIAL GERALD WILSON by Jeff Sultanof
ESSENTIAL ESBJÖRN SVENSSON by David Tenenholtz
And we sometimes focus our attention on an artist outside of the jazz world, but with potential appeal to our site visitors. For example, take a peak at Ed Leimbacher’s survey of Muddy Waters or my take on Frank Zappa.
Our “Guest Artist Dozens” are a special treat. This feature, edited by Ted Panken, lets jazz musicians become reviewers for a day. (Yes, I know, this is their secret dream finally fulfilled.) We published Uri Cain’'s selection of 12 Herbie Hancock tracks a few days ago. But check these ones out too:
JOE LOVANO SELECTS ESSENTIAL JOHN COLTRANE
ERIC REED SELECTS ESSENTIAL AHMAD JAMAL
RANDY BRECKER SELECTS ESSENTIAL FREDDIE HUBBARD
ETHAN IVERSON SELECTS ESSENTIAL STRIDE PIANO
JASON MORAN SELECTS ESSENTIAL MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS
BOBBY BROOM SELECTS ESSENTIAL GEORGE BENSON
BRIAN LYNCH SELECTS ESSENTIAL WOODY SHAW
VIJAY IYER SELECTS ESSENTIAL ANDREW HILL
Another guest artist feature, edited by Eric Novod, allows jazz musicians to pick 12 desert island tracks. We hope to publish more of these soon. In the meantime, you can enjoy these examples:
DESERT ISLAND DOZENS: BEN ALLISON
DESERT ISLAND DOZENS: PETER ERSKINE
And here are a few miscellaneous Dozens that have been among the most popular with our site visitors:
THE BIRTH OF THE COOL by Jeff Sultanof
12 TURKEYS FOR THANKSGIVING by Alan Kurtz
THE 12 SONNYS OF JAZZ by Scott Albin
HIP-HOP MEETS JAZZ by Jared Pauley
ESSENTIAL TANGO by Ted Gioia
MODERN BIG BANDS by Eric Novod
FRINGE GUITAR by Ted Gioia
ITALIAN JAZZ by Thierry Quénum
12 TAKES ON SUMMERTIME by Thomas Cunniffe
CRIME JAZZ by Alan Kurtz
For a complete list of past Dozens (we have published around a hundred of them), click here.
This blog entry posted by Ted Gioia.
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