By Rick 

The Great American Songbook is a body of music that is, sadly, forgotten by the majority of my generation. Ask the average teenager to hum the melody to the tune “All The Things You Are”, and you will probably be greeted by blank stares and raised eyebrows. Besides the jazz musician or Mel Torme enthusiast among us, this boom period of American commercial music gets lost in the generational cracks; what was once considered “great” is now dated and corny. Though, there is a reason for this. In the 1950’s, the Great American Songbook era was replaced by a genre on the rise, Rock and Roll. And so, the disintegration of the Great American Songbook began its decline though no fault of my generation, but of my parents. But this was always bound to happen. Musical genres become dated, the youth takes over, and the cycle begins again. Take J. S. Bach for example: his sons were ashamed of his “old” music while they were involved with the newly emerging classical era, and now his music is some of the most enduring of all time. However, just as “classical music” has become the vernacular blanket term for western art music, I propose that the Great American Songbook be expanded to include all great songs that have profoundly shaped American culture, not just those written from the 20’s through the 50’s. 

When be-bop happened in the 1940’s, it was yet another in a string of youth counter cultures. Be-bop musicians were the disgruntled by product of the swing era, an era where musicians would go to clubs every day and play the same music over, and over again. Understandably, these swing musicians needed to break free from the grind and experiment. They took popular tunes like “I’ve Got Rhythm” and “What is This Thing Called Love” and transformed them into long, fast, complicated, improvised songs. One of the most important piano players from this era was Thelonius Monk.  Last year I remember listening to my radio and I came across a broadcast on Monk by Wynton Marsalis. As a huge Monk fan I was very interested to hear what he had to say about the man, especially considering his significant knowledge about jazz history (and his penchant for saying some pretty controversial things about the music). The majority of the broadcast was great, very informative and praiseworthy. Then, Dr. Marsalis arrived at a point where he was talking about the decline in jazz record sales during the late 1960’s. He praised Monk for, “not losing his integrity” and giving in to record labels who wanted Monk to cover Beatles tunes to push record sales. I immediately thought to myself, “how would Monk lose his integrity if he covered a Beatles tune?” I feel that, considering the cultural impact the Beatles had on this country (not to mention the raw songwriting talent), it would be an honor to cover a Beatles song well. Moreover, Monk of all people, having been part of the Be-Bop revolution, could have understood the spirit of taking a popular song and expanding it. 

Like the Beatles, artists like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Nirvana, and Radiohead (to name a few) have had significant impact on the musical direction of the country. Each deserve to be categorized as great american artists (even though the Beatles, Radiohead are English and Joni Mitchell is Canadian I contend they still deserve the distinction due to their contributions to the culture in America). In modern jazz, especially since the end of the 80’s and the beginning of the 90’s, there has been a push, even a high profile one, to thrust these artists into the Great American Songbook. Herbie Hancock introduced his album The New Standard in 1994, which features tunes by Stevie Wonder, Lennon and McCartney, and even Prince.. Joshua Redman released, in 1998, Timeless Tales for Changing Times, with many tunes by the same composers. Of course, there is Brad Mehldau who has recorded many Radiohead, Nick Drake, and Beatles tunes. In fact, he wrote a now infamous liner note for his 2000 album Back at the Vanguard: Art of the Trio (Volume 4) about his view on the state of jazz. The Bad Plus, with the ever rebellious but surprising traditionalist Ethan Iverson, released on their album These Are the Vistas a rather fitting version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. Still, with all of these high powered covers, the scholastic jazz community still regards the recording of one as a novelty, pushing their students to focus on the established standards. Even with Mehldau’s ubiquitous popularity, you never hear “Paranoid Android” called at jam session (the closet you ever come is “Blackbird”, and very rarely). As of yet, I have not heard, though have seriously considered, a serious jazz cover of “Bartender”. Nothing should be off limits to this new generation of the jazz community; blowing over “Everything In Its Right Place” is just as fun as blowing over “All The Things You Are”.  

So, let us take charge and rework the Great American Songbook. As it has countless times before through music history, the cycle is ready to begin again.