You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - When Jazz Musicians Go POP

Episode Date: October 13, 2021

Peter and Adam check out the latest album by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga: Love for Sale* Have a question for us? Leave us a SpeakPipe at link.youllhearit.com/speakpipe* Support the pod by spreading the word with the link openstudiojazz.link/yhi* Learn more about Open Studio Pro: openstudiojazz.com/proInterested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

Hey, Peter. Hey, I'm going to give you a little hint about what we're talking about today. You ready? I am ready. Wait, one more time. That's a hint? That's a hint. No?

Anything? Oh, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. There you go. I'm Matt A Manus. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear podcast. Music advice and inspiration coming at you. Coming at you today, sponsored by Open Studio.

Go to Open Studio. Go to open studio, jazzoz.com for all of your lesson needs. Peter, I'm very excited about today. Today's lesson is dedicated to our dear friend Rachel Morgan who was asking us, hey guys, what do you think of this new Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga album? I think it's the second one they've done together. Yes. And it just came out this last week as we're recording this episode.

Yeah. So, of course, we hadn't heard it yet. So we hadn't heard it yet. But, you know, I don't know about you, man, but I'm kind of a sucker for Tony Bennett. Oh, Tony's the best. He is, I think, you know, in the music that we play here, there's so many people that sort of cross over that represent us in greater popular culture.

And I think Tony Bennett does a great job of representing, you know, the jazz musician. And I mean, this is someone who's made albums with Lady Gaga and Katie Lang, but also Bill Evans, you know what I mean? Oh, and that's one of the great records. That'll be for another episode. Exactly, yeah.

The duo record. And it's all him. It's still his personality. His musicality is still very strong, even when he's doing these very broad, general things. So I thought it would be fun today to talk about our favorite. favorite times that jazz musicians go pop.

And what I mean pop is I mean like the big time, like the big stage, right? We're not messing around here. So not a jazz record. This is not for like our Greenwich Village audiences. This is for the greater population. This is uptown. This is Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Middle America. Yeah, you got skin in the game.

More than just Lower Manhattan is hearing you. I love it. I love it. So before we jump into that, we just want to say a big shout out and send a lot of love to Tony Bennett. And I don't know if you know this. He just turned 95. I know.

Yeah. There's been a ton of, I haven't actually seen anything on this album, but I've seen a ton of interviews with Lady Gaga and with him. And yeah, he's... Wait, is it Lady Gaga or Lady Gaga? It's Gaga. Oh, I thought it was Lady Gaga. Okay.

Note to self, Gaga. Gaga. I feel like your kids are right in the sweet spot of the Lady Gaga era. No? They were into it? Yeah. No, they were little when... Lady Gaga or depending on her.

Not Gaga. Nope. No, but she's been around for a minute. We forget that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, compared to Tony Bennett, she's a spring chicken. That's right. But this is a cool thing.

Do you know about Tony Bennett earning a Guinness World Record recently? For what? I mean, like just a few days ago for when this new record, Love for Sale was released. He became the oldest person to release an album of new material at 95. No. Yes. Wow. I mean, you know, Guinness World Records.

They certify those. They're not missed. You don't just slip in there. Well, he's definitely guaranteed to be probably the top selling 95. What is it, Nontogenarian? It's Octogen. For people in their 80s. Right.

Nontaginarian? Like a non-net? Like a non-net? Like a non-togen. It's probably going to be the best-selling non-togitarian of all time. Well, yeah, seeing as he's the oldest. But also with Lady Gaga. So enough talk.

Let's listen to I've Got You Under My Skin, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. Gaga. Gaga. You look great. Thank you. It's a cute. I'm excited. Smooth.

Still smooth. It is. I've got you. Uh. Under my skin. I've got you deep in the heart of me Rocking the mustache Tony Bennett Is she is

Lady Gaga over-dressed for the session They're in the studio Dude it's Lady Gaga This is paint a picture This is tame for Lady Gaga I mean Tony Bennett's dressed To the Nines as well But he always has a great suit

You know stylistically she's not a jazz singer But she's a good singer She's a good singer You can't say there's anything pitchy going on. Absolutely not. She's got a great tone. Yeah. A big voice.

Yeah. Nice eyelashes. I mean, Tony Bennett, not pitchy either. Dude, solid. She said, Lady Gaga got a little New York sass on that bridge there. No, she is in New Yorker. That's Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett. Shout out to Tony Bennett.

Just decades and decades of pure inner. What else do you want from your pop stars, ladies and gentlemen? Right. Then for that kind of, that kind of voice. Well, and the thing is, like, his pop ascendancy really, well, he had some hits back in the day. And, of course, as always was associated with, I left my heart in San Francisco, I believe. Totally. But then I think the big, big breakthrough that I remember being aware was the like MTV unplugged.

Yeah, that was pre-Lady Gaga duo, right? Oh, yeah, that was 90s. Yeah, yeah, that was big time. Stepping out. Remember that album stepping out? That was like a legitimate hit album in the 90s. My parents had it. That's when I first heard of him was stepping out.

And by the way, that whole run in the late 80s, early 90s, sort of his resurgence. Ralph Sharon trio, Killen. Killing. Killing, yeah. Killing the Ralph Sharon is an amazing pianist. That was a great trio. One of those just, I mean, Ralph Sharon could probably knows a million tunes, all of the verses. Yeah, for sure.

But just loads of chops and beautiful voicings. And, yeah, Tony Bennett is one of my faves. next up though if we're talking about jazz musicians going pop peter this was the first second one i thought of after tony bennett lady gaga and it's one we've talked about before actually is one that you were just kind of hipping me to a friend of the show's friend of open studio bob reynolds yes made a video on this exact solo yes uh this is sting with branford marcellus yeah anything goes on tight pardon me sting hold on allergic to hold on it deserves a guys from england there you go uh Sting with Bramford Marsalis on Roxanne. There was a period where... Roxanne!

Where Brantford... You don't know what I put it! Oh, sorry. It's like Gordon's here in the studio with us. Gordon. Do you think Gordong? No. Gagga?

Sting? No, Brinferd and Kinnee were in the... Sorry. We're in basically in Sting's band for a while. And so this is Roxanne. This is duo. Yeah. classical flair there.

That's great. Brantford is just so crushing this, man. I can tell you one thing, and this is no insult. This is just an analysis. An insult? An insult. Sting, a little pitchy, but in a very interesting, authentic way. But he's got a sting thing happening.

Sting's got a sting thing down like crazy. But Brantford intonation, impeccable. Perfect. Tone perfect. But that's such a, but he's still, he's complimenting so well. Like, because that can be a tricky thing to, if somebody's, like, really, you know, playing with the notes. Like, but Bramford's being himself playing. I mean, just he's accompanying, but he's stepping in at times with a single line.

Yeah. Oh, man. Great stuff. Does anybody have a better soprano saxophone sound than Bramford Marcellus? He's got the most beautiful sound on that instrument. I mean, I would just say, I don't know about better, but I would put up other ones that are top shelf like that. You know, like you have a top shelf whiskey. He's top tier.

Steve Wilson. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. Dexter Gordon. Didn't do it a lot, but that, have you heard him? I've never heard that.

Oh, man, on the round midnight soundtrack. Oh, that's right, yeah, yeah. Some beautiful peacocks, I think he's doing it on there. That was a great one. Thank you for that. Very cool. So now let's go to look at the abs on this next artist here. So this is DeAngeo.

Peter Martin Trio? What? Oh, no, you're doing DeAngelo. You wish, man. Now, this is DeAngelo voodoo, of course. Ever heard of it? This record wouldn't be the same without a couple of musicians that jazz fans will be familiar with, the great Roy Hargrove, of course. And then Charlie Hunter, great guitarist slash bassist,

has a guitar that has a bass on it. And they're both featured on Spanish Joint, one of my favorite tracks of a pretty much flawless album. Yeah. I believe Charlie Hunter wrote this song, too. He wrote the track, the music to it. Or was a co-writer on it. Chorus on his voice there. So cool. Sounds like a boss chorus by the Lange's voice. Yeah. Ooh. Quest love on the... You know what I'm saying.

And the production on here, the panning, the heavy percussion here, and... Oh, great stuff. The mini, mini Roy's. I love it. It's better than one more, mini roy. Several. Yeah, I mean, this is not... This is going to be something that I think a lot of jazz music is...

are familiar with. It's a most beloved record, DeAngelo Voodoo. And this really brought out, you know, I mean, brown sugar for sure, but voodoo, I think more than any of DeAngelo's, like, and the so-called Neo-Soul 90s records like this open up the floodgates. Totally. For like jazz players,

R&B players, you know, Robert Glasper, everybody to come together. But for our next track, this was kind of the precursor in a lot of ways, right? We're going to have a trio. A generation before. We're about to have three tracks in a row of saxophones. sitting in with legendary pop and rock bands. So let's go here.

We're going to start with the one in the sort of... Oh, don't you go there. We're going to go chronologically. Oh, you're about to go there. Chronologically. This is one of the greatest musicians of all time, Wayne Shorter, sitting in with one of the greatest bands ever. Steely Dan.

Steely Dan, sorry. With Ajah. Aja. Ajah. This is Asia. I'm skipping ahead to Wayne because it's a face-melter. This is like 1976. I feel like a lot of saxia.

Exaphone is in the past year, oh, Wayne, a check for this. Oh, my God. The past year, the past, I mean, every year, they're not. Man. But the Steely, well, Steve Gad. Okay. That's Steve Gad. So, can we listen to this again?

Yeah. Listen to what he plays, which is not a lot. Like, would you choose to play this if you, I mean, I don't know. It's like, his choices are always so interesting. Yeah, especially those last two phrases. They're so. I mean, little flurries here and there, but listen to this. That's a very interesting choice there.

Going down. Well, and as much as... Damn. As much as saxophonists, you know, have copped all the influence by this. You know, for this record coming out of Weatherport, you think they might owe them a little bit of... Yeah. A few royalty checks for the concept on this, you know? Absolutely, yeah.

But that's just... That's next level, man. Yeah, ma. And seamless. And then it works probably best with Steely Dan, because... because they're practically a smooth jazz band. Exactly. You know, their weather report heavy as it is.

The next one is more of a juxtaposition. It's more of a contrast. And I didn't even know about this. You told me about this. 1981, the Rolling Stones, waiting on a friend. Yeah. Sunny Rollins? Sunny Rollins.

Come on. That would be something you might be interested in. I wouldn't even know it's a possibility. Here it is. That's an interesting choice too. Yeah. I mean, Sunny's got a little bit of weight influence there too, right? Or is that just the placement of this track?

I don't know. I mean, look, this is not going to go down to Sunny Rollins' his greatest solo of all time. It's pretty darn good. But it's Sunny Rollins. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. It's Sunny Rollins doing his thing with, you know.

It's from 1981 waiting on a friend, the Rolling Stones. That's going to lead us into the last saxophone player here to sit in with a major pop artist. And that's Donnie McCaslin with David Bowie all over David Bowie's last album right before he died. Like literally released days before his. I was going to say this is four or five years ago, but this is longer than that, right? It feels like it. It's 2015. Okay.

Yeah, 2015, I think. Yeah, six years. Okay. So this is David Bowie Black Star. Yeah. Mark Giuliana and the drums. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Mark Julianna.

That's Black Star. Viby. Angsty. The whole record is a brilliant vibe, actually. David Bowie, one of the most handsome gentleman to grace a pop idiom ever, right? handsome but as handsome is number seven you put this in there I put this in there we didn't we talk about well I wanted to flip the script I wanted to put the script I wanted to warning anybody okay you might want to stop listening to the podcast right now unless you're either going to laugh

cry or some comment this is going to be like the classic of the holidays now you laughed you cried with Adam and Peter yeah yeah yeah this is the Nancy Myers of the list here so this is I'm not a fan of this let me just put it out there right now so we've been doing great great jazz musicians that have been, have gone pop, that have been sitting in with very famous pop musicians. I thought, why not flip the script and have a very famous pop musician that goes jazz? Well, you missed the mark then. We're going to go out with Sir Rod Stewart.

I don't know if he's knighted. Rod Stewart from one of his several Great American songs. He's not knighted. He's nodded. This is from, we're going to go out on the Great American Songbook. Volume friggin' five, Peter. People love this stuff. Oh my gosh.

People love this stuff. I've got the world on a string. I'm obviously in the minority on this because people love this guy. Buddy, hold on your hoodie because this is a swangor. I'm closing my hoodie. This is a swanger. I've got the world on the string. Until next time, you won't hear it.

We hope. I got the word on a string. I'm sitting on a rainbow. Got the string around my finger. That's Peter Martin. That's not on the actual track. Sorry, got a little too hip there for a second. As long as I hope that's true.

Oh, somebody's playing in the channel, though. Mash up.