Jazzy Piano Covers: Planet with a Fringe on Top

Planet Rock - Jason Moran
from album The Bandwagon on Blue Note (2002).

Surrey With The Fringe On Top - Ahmad Jamal
from the album At The Pershing / But Not For Me on Chess (1958).

It always piques my interest to hear songs redone in entirely new genres, whether it be some bluegrass band's take on Outkast or Ray Charles singing Country & Western tunes. Of course, many many times these efforts are corny and fall flat on their face. In the case of the first of today's two tracks (Jason Moran's live trio interpretation of Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock") a seminal hip hop track is given an elegant and honorific jazz update. Nasheet Watts (drums) and Tarus Mateen (bass) mimic the stop & start percussion line of the original, while Moran's piano lines explore lots of new territory.

Today's other track comes from a far inferior starting point, as Ahmad Jamal (also recording live) covers "Surrey With The Fringe On Top" from the musical Oklahoma. Or maybe it was actually titled Oklahoma! I had a blissful childhood in Oklahoma (pointedly no exclamation), but this musical was the bane of a near idyllic existance because its ubiquity was nearly matched by its insipidness. However, the brilliant Jamal absolutely burns through a fast-fingered rendition of "Surrey" and puts all the sordid of When Harry Met Sally re-introducing the boring original to girls about the time I was starting to take interest in them. Jamal has so forever been highlighted and burdened by the praise Miles Davis laid on him for his use of negative space in his playing and composition that one can forget he could really scorch the keys with great technique when the mood called for it.