Horrible Pop Songs That Make Great Jazz Tunes

[RDK]

"Alone Again (Naturally)"

Gene Ammons kills on this on his album "Goodbye." Dewey Redman also covers this on 'Musics."

[Dan Gould]

"Alone Again (Naturally)"

Gene Ammons kills on this on his album "Goodbye." Dewey Redman also covers this on 'Musics."

I beg to differ, Ray. No one, and nothing can redeem that steaming pile. (And yes, I have the Ammons CD)

[B. Clugston]

Roland Kirk has transformed many a pop horror into listenable jazz. He does wonders with Bread's "Make it With You" on the Brotherman in the Fatherland disc.

[Stereojack]

"Alone Again (Naturally)"

Gene Ammons kills on this on his album "Goodbye." Dewey Redman also covers this on 'Musics."

I beg to differ, Ray. No one, and nothing can redeem that steaming pile. (And yes, I have the Ammons CD)

Dan, I beg to differ with you. -_- I hated the tune until I heard Sarah Vaughan sing it - absolutely divine!

[Dan Gould]

"Alone Again (Naturally)"

Gene Ammons kills on this on his album "Goodbye." Dewey Redman also covers this on 'Musics."

I beg to differ, Ray. No one, and nothing can redeem that steaming pile. (And yes, I have the Ammons CD)

Dan, I beg to differ with you. -_- I hated the tune until I heard Sarah Vaughan sing it - absolutely divine!

Well, mileage has been known to vary.

[RDK]

"Alone Again (Naturally)"

Gene Ammons kills on this on his album "Goodbye." Dewey Redman also covers this on 'Musics."

I beg to differ, Ray. No one, and nothing can redeem that steaming pile. (And yes, I have the Ammons CD)

Not horrible, Dan, but I've got a little pop ditty that you might enjoy on my upcoming BFT (others, though, might not think so highly of it). Actually, it's the one track I'd bet you'd easily identify.

[Dan Gould]

"Alone Again (Naturally)"

Gene Ammons kills on this on his album "Goodbye." Dewey Redman also covers this on 'Musics."

I beg to differ, Ray. No one, and nothing can redeem that steaming pile. (And yes, I have the Ammons CD)

Not horrible, Dan, but I've got a little pop ditty that you might enjoy on my upcoming BFT (others, though, might not think so highly of it). Actually, it's the one track I'd bet you'd easily identify.

Are you programming Gene Harris' version of "Ode to Billy Joe"? Then I'm in!

[Stefan Wood]

Cyndi Lauper's "Time after Time" (as done by Miles Davis)???

[PHILLYQ]

"Sunny" by Bobby Hebb was so saccharine it would give me a toothache if I heard it, and it was a BIG pop hit in its time. Pat Martino turned it into a tour de force that still gives me chills whenever I hear it.

[DTMX]

Don Braden's version of Saving All My Love For You from Organic.

Of course, I haven't heard Lester Bowie's and Hank Crawford's takes on the same song...

[PHILLYQ]

Don Braden's version of Saving All My Love For You from Organic.

Of course, I haven't heard Lester Bowie's and Hank Crawford's takes on the same song...

Lester Bowie's is excellent! With Brass Fantasy he also did a cool cover of "My Way"

[Guy Berger]

Cyndi Lauper's "Time after Time" (as done by Miles Davis)???

I haven't paid attention to the lyrics and haven't heard it in a long time, but my recollection is that this isn't a horrible song.

Guy

[Dmitry]

Cyndi Lauper's "Time after Time" (as done by Miles Davis)???

Why is this a horrible song? I think it's quite nice.

If we are just talking about ANY pop songs made into jazz, then --

Rahsaan - YOU ARE THE SUNSHINE OF MY LIFE

Bill Evans - MASH

[RDK]

It doesn't have to be a horrible pop song, but I wasn't gonna bring up "Alone Again" without prefacing it with that.

[JSngry]

"I Got Rhythm"

[ep1str0phy]

Ha!

Both Lester Bowie and Rahsaan were great with crappy pop tunes. Take your pick.

[JSngry]

What's the definition of a "crappy" pop tune? Most of the songs listed here stike me as pretty decent songs. It's the records of them, the hit versions, that are annoying as hell. "Alone again..." is not at all a bad song, but Gilbert O'Sullivan's record of it pissed me off from Day One, and things haven't changed since.

OTOH, there's any number of insipid pop songs that have been made into great records. You think to youself, "man, what a great song", but when you try and do something with it other than cover it outright, there ain't nothing there.

[Jazzmoose]

"I Got Rhythm"

There's a jazz version of this?

[RDK]

What's the definition of a "crappy" pop tune? Most of the songs listed here stike me as pretty decent songs. It's the records of them, the hit versions, that are annoying as hell. "Alone again..." is not at all a bad song, but Gilbert O'Sullivan's record of it pissed me off from Day One, and things haven't changed since.

OTOH, there's any number of insipid pop songs that have been made into great records. You think to youself, "man, what a great song", but when you try and do something with it other than cover it outright, there ain't nothing there.

"She loves you yeah yeah yeah"

I can never decide if this is one of the best pop songs ever or one of the worst.

[Jazz Kat]

Both Sides Now, Pat Martino

[sidewinder]

'Sunshine Superman' - saved by Eric Kloss.

[Uncle Skid]

Grant Green's take on Bacharach's "Wives and Lovers" (Matador) is interesting.

And "Wives and Lovers" definitely qualifies as a "Horrible Pop Song"!

[Spontooneous]

Pretty much every tune Billie Holiday recorded with Teddy Wilson.

[Hot Ptah]

Pretty much every tune Billie Holiday recorded with Teddy Wilson.

Like "Mandy is Two"?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I think one of the least interesting pop songs has to be "Lollipops and roses". Harold Mabern does a superb version - a BURNING version - on his album "Fantasy". He also does great versions of the Sesame Street theme, and "You belong to me", another that doesn't seem to offer much, (though Jimmy McGriff did a decent version with David Newman and Rusty Bryant on board), as well as Earth Wind & Fire's "Fantasy" and Donnie Hathaway's "Harlem Dawn" and another Pop classic, "The sidewinder".

Oh yes, and try David Newman's version of "Goldfinger"! Or the Secret Agent Men's (featuring Dr Lonnie) version of the Alfred Hitchcock TV series theme.

And, incidentally, Hank Crawford's version of "Saving all my love for you" was pretty good. It doesn't come up to Braden's version, which is 100% classic.

MG