Awesome Jazz

Welcome to the new age. During their 10th Anniversary tour, Postmodern Jukebox revisited their 2015 arrangement of the Imagine Dragons track Radioactive and gave it a shiny coat of fresh paint. This time, we’ve got singer Rogelio Douglas, Jr. heating up the room with his rich, soulful voice and a wild scat-beatbox solo.

Benny Goodman didn’t just popularize swing and push jazz to the mainstream. He and his orchestra, along with the troubled times of the 1920s and 1930s, unknowingly started a few of the pop music phenomena that persist to this day. Learn all that and more in Polyphonic’s excerpt from his newly released book, Century of Song.

Getting it Back tells the untold story of the greatest band you’ve probably never heard of. Formed in 1970s UK, Cymande brilliantly combined jazz, funk, soul, and Caribbean vibes — disbanding after being faced with prejudice and indifference. But, decades later, their music’s been rediscovered by DJs who’ve sampled Cymande’s pioneering sounds.

To celebrate their 10th-anniversary concert tour, Postmodern Jukebox shared this wonderfully smooth and soulful jazz cover of Soundgarden’s 1994 track Black Hole Sun. That’s Ray Moore Jr. crushing it on vocals and drums. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it’s based on this arrangement performed by Haley Reinhart and PMJ back in 2016.

The Prodigy’s Firestarter is anything but calm and relaxed. But in the hands of musical primate SyncopApe, the track is now a chill bossa nova tune suitable for easy listening. His bossa-novafied version of Slayer’s Bloodline and lounge edition of Rammstein’s Mein Herz Brennt are just as wonderfully demented.

The Clavemusicum Omnitonum Modulis Diatonicis Cromaticis et Enarmonicis is a microtonal harpsichord that can play diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic melodies. Musician Georg Vogel demonstrates its unusual sound with an excerpt from Chick Corea’s You’re Everything, played on a modern replica of the 17th-century instrument. More here.

Borrowing a page from Drumeo’s book, the YouTube channel Pianote invites keyboardists to create their interpretations of popular songs they’ve never heard. In this video, Snarky Puppy’s Justin Stanton takes on Dua Lipa’s Don’t Start Now, imparting the dance-pop hit with a smooth blend of jazz and funk after only hearing the drums and vocals.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio’s Linus and Lucy from A Charlie Brown Christmas brings happy memories flooding in. While the jazzy original was performed on piano, bass, and drums, Foggy Mountain Spaceship gave it a twangy new sound by playing the track on banjos. For more banjo goodness, check out their cover of Walking on the Moon by The Police.

Chickity China, the Chinese chicken. Postmodern Jukebox and vocalist Emma Smith take on the Barenaked Ladies’ 1998 track One Week, revamping the fast-talking pop hit in the jazzy style of a 1940s lounge act. It’s another brilliant performance from Scott Bradlee’s retro cover band.

The Foo Fighters’ track Everlong is already a pretty emotive song. But vocalist Anthony Vincent has taken things to a whole other level, turning the tune into a smooth and soulful jazz ballad with the help of producer and pianist Joey Izzo.

The music from the Super Mario Bros. games can be energetic and uplifting. But it can also be quite relaxing. If you need to calm your nerves on a hard day, all you need is to hit play on this clip, and you’ll get 75 minutes of the chillest Mario music ever. This is the music that spas should play while you get a massage.

Robyn Adele Anderson and her bandmates knocked it out of the park with this vintage Broadway-style performance of the My Chemical Romance hit Welcome to the Black Parade. That’s Demi Remick clacking her feet and proving what pop-punk always needed was more tap dancing.

Postmodern Jukebox might be a little late to the party with their cover of Kate Bush’s Running up That Hill, but they really nailed it. With warm and powerful lead vocals by Sweet Megg, they performed this wonderfully interpretation of the track deftly blending western and jazz styles courtesy of arranger Scott Bradlee.

Nyan Cat was one of the biggest memes to hit YouTube in its early days. The animation was known for its pixel art kitty, endless rainbows, and an infectious soundtrack. The Nate Sparks Big Band took that tune and turned it into an incredible 7-minute jazz jam.

This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard Black Sabbath’s music turned into jazz. But Jazz Sabbath created an entire album of Ozzy and company’s metal reworked into a concert-worthy jazz performance. Seriously, this is some really great music, so consider making a purchase from their Bandcamp page.

Throughout his 60-year jazz career, double bass maestro Ron Carter has always been the coolest cat in the room. To celebrate his 85th birthday, the national treasure jams supreme in an NPR Tiny Desk Concert filmed onstage at the Blue Note Jazz Club. The jazz deity will be fêted at Carnegie Hall on 5.10.22.