November 7, 2008
Jazz covers of Radiohead’s Nude
The Guardian has five different downloadable covers with commentary of Radiohead’s Nude. Of course, in the spirit of improvisation, we need to understand “cover” a little bit differently than we would in Rock and Pop:
Any interpretation should respect the original’s essence while stamping it with the character of its performer. The difference in jazz is that the interpretation may stray so far that the original tune becomes unrecognisable. Master improviser Sonny Rollins, for instance, will unleash a torrent of variations that twist and embellish the original, segue into a random run of other famous melodies, or transform into on-the-fly miniatures that are sometimes more striking than the classic he started out with.
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