Jazzing it up

So okay, maybe you can tell by now, I'm not the biggest fan of modern music. I mean, sure, there is some pop music I do like, but not much. But what if there were jazz musicians who made jazz versions of popular modern songs? Well, as it turns out, there are! And I like them! Jazz musicians have been covering pop songs and converting them to jazz standards for a long time. Take for example Art Tatum's "Over the Rainbow" or John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things". Both of these songs started as pop songs before they were redone as jazz songs (and some of the most famous jazz standards at that).



So here's a song you may know; the popular "Don't Stop the Music" by Rhianna. This cover, at least in my opinion is far more entertaining than the original. Jamie Cullum is singing and playing every note with passion and care. Compare that to the original in which Rhianna is casually singing out the notes behind a thumping bass with very little distinguishable key. Now I know that this may be more appealing to dance to in today's modern dance style than Cullum's version, but for pure musicianship, Cullum has Rhianna beat by a mile. And Jamie Cullum is by far not the only jazz musician who takes pop songs and jazzifies them. If you have the time, check out Brad Mehldau or The Bad Plus. Even if these may not become your favorite songs ever, they are certainly interesting twists to songs you know.

In a way, I'm somewhat curious to know what motivates these jazz musicians to cover these pop songs. In all likelihood, it is just these musicians branching out to create new forms of interesting music, but on the other hand, there may be a different reason. Check out Jamie Cullum's video again. If you look closely, you will notice that this video has over six million views, which is far more than any of his other songs. Maybe Cullum is just covering a pop song so that he is noticed by the larger pop communities that don't normally listen to jazz. It's almost like he is exercising his social capital in that he is using other people's awareness of pop music to get them to vault him higher in popularity. This is just a theory, but it would be interesting to examine closer. But for now, I'm happy as long as these incredible musicians keep making great music.