- pierrejean gaucher: melody makers
(2009, cd, france, musiclip mu 1009)
Pierrejean Gaucher has a new album out!!
I have heard a number of Pierrejean Gaucher's previous albums and I've been fortunate enough to see him perform live on a couple of occasions, and he surprised me each and every time.
Besides being an superb jazz guitar player and fine composer, Pierrejean also has a very fresh and unique approach when it comes to other people's compositions. His Zappa renditions are among my absolute favorites.
For "Melody Makers", Pierrejean gathered Clément Petit on (electric) cello and Cédric Affre on drums. The trio takes on a number of pop tunes and treats them as jazz standards.
The result sounds great. The original vocal lines become the (re-arranged) melody lines, played by the guitar and/or the (electric!!) cello, in preparation of a solo, and all backed by a great and jazzy, accentuated rhythm.
The Beatles, The Police, King Crimson, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Led Zeppelin, ... they're all there.
"Melody Makers" is a fabulous tribute to the classic pop repertoire.
No Zappa-references on "Melody Makers", unless you count that Sting performed with Zappa, that the Radiohead song is called 'Scatterbrain' and that the band Scatterbrain once recorded a Zappa track, that Adrian Belew was part of King Crimson, that Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water' is about the Mothers' Montreux gig, that the Muffin Men had Kashmir on their playlist when they toured with Jimmy Carl Black, ...
OK, a bit farfetched, I admit.
But still, a fabulous tribute.
Recommended listening.
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