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1
The New Standard (1996)
Released
Compare Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Hancock’s group moves a compact Beatles song into a longer jazz setting with enough pulse to hold the original shape. Use it to hear how a pop melody can give an ensemble room to improvise.
More about The New Standard2
For All I Care (2008)
Released
Compare Lithium
The trio brings in singer Wendy Lewis for an album of reworked songs, including the Nirvana tune. Listen to how the exposed vocal and piano give the loud entrance a different effect from the familiar rock arrangement.
More about For All I Care3
Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington (1955)
Released
Compare It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
Monk gives Duke Ellington’s familiar melody his dry spacing and a strong left hand. The trio has room to let small breaks and offbeat accents take the place of an orchestra’s force.
More about Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington4
Porgy and Bess (1958)
Released
Compare Summertime
Gil Evans gives Davis a spacious orchestral field around the melody. Start with Summertime to hear how little the trumpet has to say between the recognizable phrases.
More about Porgy and Bess5
My Favorite Things (1961)
Released
Compare My Favorite Things
Coltrane’s soprano saxophone and the quartet turn a theater melody into an extended performance built around repeating harmony. Start with the title track for a direct comparison with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s song.
More about My Favorite Things6
Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays the Beatles (2023)
Released
Compare I Am the Walrus
Mehldau gives the recorded effects and vocal layers of the Beatles arrangement to a single piano. Listen for which motifs he keeps when the tune has to work without any of its original production.
More about Your Mother Should Know: Brad Mehldau Plays the Beatles7
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book (2011)
Released
Compare I've Got You Under My Skin
Buddy Bregman’s orchestra helps the melody swing over the forward motion of the words. This is a way into Cole Porter’s humor through how a singer shapes the beat.
More about Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book8
The Nutcracker Suite (1960)
Released
Compare Sugar Rum Cherry
Ellington and Billy Strayhorn turn Tchaikovsky’s Sugar Plum Fairy into an orchestral walk with a different pulse. The low reeds and percussion give the little tune a new center.
More about The Nutcracker Suite9
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book (2012)
Released
Compare Take the 'A' Train
Ellington’s own orchestra gives Fitzgerald a moving frame for Billy Strayhorn’s tune. Listen to how the voice can play against a band whose phrasing is already part of the song’s history.
More about Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book10
West Side Story (1962)
Released
Compare Something's Coming
The Oscar Peterson Trio keeps Bernstein’s sense of forward motion while giving the theme room for piano variations. Choose it for a whole musical heard through compact trio arrangements.
More about West Side Story11
Dave Digs Disney (1957)
Released
Compare Alice in Wonderland
The quartet makes a film tune a vehicle for short phrases, shifting accents, and the interplay of piano and Paul Desmond’s alto. Put the song next to its Disney original to hear how much space a quartet can create.
More about Dave Digs Disney12
The Big Gundown
Compare The Big Gundown
Zorn takes Morricone’s film cue apart and rebuilds it as an abrupt series of group sounds. Try the title piece beside the score to hear how much the pacing can change while a few recognizable details still point to the same world.
More about The Big Gundown13
The Other Side of Abbey Road (1969)
Released
Compare Come Together in the Because / Come Together medley
George Benson places the Beatles’ opening track inside a medley with a very different song. Listen for the moment the familiar bass figure changes the pace, with more room for guitar and horns than in the Beatles’ version.
More about The Other Side of Abbey Road14
Have a Little Faith
Compare Live to Tell
Frisell takes Madonna’s ballad into an instrumental setting and lets the sustained tones and gaps do some of the work the singer originally did. The album brings a similar ear to music by composers as different as Copland and Bob Dylan.
More about Have a Little Faith15
All We Are Saying...
Compare Across the Universe
The guitars and violin give Lennon’s tune several different textures, with no lyric to show where one phrase ends and another begins. It’s a choice for hearing the song’s gentle movement while the words are left to memory.
More about All We Are Saying...16
My Fair Lady (1956)
Released
Compare On the Street Where You Live
The trio pairs André Previn’s piano with Leroy Vinnegar’s bass and Shelly Manne’s drums. Listen for the steady motion that remains when a theater tune no longer has its lyrics to supply the pace.
More about My Fair Lady17
Mother Nature's Son
Compare Blackbird
Lewis brings a piano-centered instrumental arrangement to a melody many listeners know from acoustic guitar and a lone voice. Try it for the way a familiar tune can remain intimate even as the arrangement gives it more colors.
More about Mother Nature's Son18
Jazz Side of the Moon: The Music of Pink Floyd (2008)
Released
Compare Money
Sam Yahel, Ari Hoenig, Mike Moreno, and Seamus Blake turn Pink Floyd’s riff into a starting point for a small jazz group. Put the two versions together for the way the familiar uneven pulse can support a different kind of momentum.
More about Jazz Side of the Moon: The Music of Pink Floyd19
Gershwin's World (1998)
Released
Compare It Ain't Necessarily So
Hancock’s setting uses the Gershwin song as material for a changing group texture. Compare how the melody lands in the dramatic stage number and where the musicians leave it hanging.
More about Gershwin's World20
Timeless Tales (For Changing Times) (1998)
Released
Compare The Times They Are A-Changin'
Joshua Redman moves a familiar protest melody into a setting where the saxophone has to imply the shape of the lyric. Put the versions together to hear where the underlying phrases are pulled forward.
More about Timeless Tales (For Changing Times)21
Sketches of Spain (1960)
Released
Compare the Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez
Gil Evans takes the slow movement of Joaquín Rodrigo’s guitar concerto and gives its themes to an orchestral ensemble and Miles Davis. Try it for the change in how the solo sits against the other instruments.
More about Sketches of Spain
