Jazz for aficionados

Bob Mintzer played bass clarinet in Weather Report. He's well known cat.

One of my pet peeves is for an instrumentalist or vocalist to mess with one of the standards, and not follow the script in regard to the emotions of the song. For a song to survive longer than I've been living, it must have something special about it; follow the script or leave it alone and write your song. I'll give you an example with this song, maybe you can think of others, I wont give examples of people who've messed up standards.

"Softly As In A Morning Sunrise" is the way love affairs begin. A fellow walks out of his front door not expecting anything different from yesterday, and decides to knock on the door of a lady he works with. This day happen to be one out of a thousand, and when she open the door, their eyes meet and something happens. From one minute till the next, things are happening that seem to be beyond their control, and they windup where all lovers windup. That's the way it begins; "love", flaming in all it's glory.

The passions that give love, are the same passions that kill love. Next comes "Jealousy"; as sure as night follows day. Mr. Miles Davis told us about that.  

Softly as in an evening sunset the light that gave you glory takes it all away. Once he or she is gone; "What am I going to do, I don't know if I want to go on living without her"!



                        [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ9xS0raZ_M[/url]


That's the story that song told, it was good enough for a short play.





Enjoy the music

***** I wont give examples of people who've messed up standards. *****

Dang!!   That's leaving out the good part.

Czarivey, I think you may be mistaken.  Bob Mintzer never played with Weather Report.  He played bass clarinet (as well as saxophone and EWI) with The Yellow Jackets and he did play in Jaco Pastorious' band; Jaco was a member of Weather Report.

Mintzer is, without a doubt, one of the most talented modern jazz musicians.  Great composer, arranger, author and fabulous instrumentalist.  I posted some of is work here quite a while back and he was unfortunately deemed a "noise maker" by the jazz police.  He is, after Michael Brecker, perhaps the best of the post-Coltrane style tenor players.  Schubert, you made a very astute and interesting observation: Mintzer has not only studied Classical music extensively, but Classical definitely informs his writing (and his playing).  Among many other things, he composed a work for saxophone quartet and symphony orchestra premiered by a quartet that I was a member of and a major orchestra.  He's quite a talent.