BWB -- from left, Rick Braun, Kirk Whalum and Norman Brown -- will be joined by R&B singer Lalah Hathaway at the Akron Civic Theatre Saturday night for "An Evening of Jazz.'' (Lori Stoll)
Today’s paparazzi-fed music coverage tends to paint the late Michael Jackson only in colors of plastic surgery, drug abuse and rumors of pedophilia. What often gets lost in all that is the significance and quality of the music that made him a superstar. It was as layered as a cake, and it takes a jazz musician – or three – to appreciate that.
And that is where sax genius Kirk Whalum and his pals in
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– trumpeter Rick Braun and guitarist Norman Brown – come in. The new album from the band that plays the Akron Civic Theatre Saturday night is called “Human Nature,’’ and it is a jazz reinterpretation of some of MJ’s biggest hits.
It is a loving tribute to Jackson, by three musicians whose greatest gift may be the ability to make even the most casual listener taste all those layers in Jackson’s music.
“I’ll say that Rick came up with the idea to do the album,’’ said Whalum in a call to his Memphis home. “It took Norman and I about 20 seconds to say, ‘Yeah!’’’
Jackson was a pop star, maybe the pop star’s pop star. But he was so much more, and that’s what BWB wanted to convey, Whalum said.
“Michael had a unique influence in the world of jazz,’’ Whalum said. “When you get people like Miles Davis covering your music, well, how often does THAT happen? When he passed away, this became a project that needed to be done.’’
That doesn’t mean it was easy. Because Jackson’s music was so popular, so well known, there were hooks and riffs that needed to be present to pay true homage to him. Plus, he WAS a vocalist, so a jazz album with just one of 13 tunes that featured vocals – “Human Nature,’’ with Shelea Frazier – is even more of a challenge.
“It was a lot of fun,’’ Whalum said. “If you think about it, the framework and infrastructure of those songs is so familiar that if you give people just enough of that, you can improvise around it. ‘’
“Beat It,’’ he said, is one of the best examples of that. If you lay down that bop-baaaaa opener, “then you’re able to do the jazz thing, which is to innovate in those other areas.’’
The key to this record was to avoid turning it into a jazz Muzak record, something you’d hear in the dentist’s chair, Whalum said.
“We were very intentional about not doing that,’’ he said. “We can’t play it exactly like the record, but we were trying to include all the nuances we all loved, all the harmonic nuances that complemented Michael’s music. This is Michael’s music in the milieu of jazz.’’
Whalum is pretty happy with the way the album turned out, and he thinks Jackson may have been, as well.
“I think Michael would like it. I really do,’’ Whalum said. “I think he would appreciate the honor of jazz musicians taking his music seriously, especially as a pop star. You’ve got 10-year-olds covering your music, but it’s not the same as having jazz musicians doing it.’’
Quick, somebody notify the media. The REAL media, not the paparazzi.
BWB's Norman Brown, Kirk Whalum and Rick Braun due in Akron on heels of album celebrating Michael Jackson | cleveland.com
D pogotovo vi sto se razumijete u jacksons period
((
