Jazz version of 10 DS and MK classics….

[goon525]

Look, this could go in the covers section, but these aren’t covers, they’re complete reinterpretations by a jazz guitarist and cellist. First the Stereophile review that drew my attention to its existence:-

ARNE JANSEN/STEPHAN BRAUN

Going Home
Jansen, electric and acoustic guitars; Braun, 5-string cello, bass Herzog 901101HER (CD). 2023. Jansen, Arne Schumann, Josef Bach, prods.; Schumann, Bach, engs.

If you don’t love Dire Straits, either you’re too young to remember the ’80s or lack good taste. Mark Knopfler was one of the anointed. “Money for Nothing” and “Telegraph Road” are immortal. “Sultans of Swing” is as perfect a song as rock’n’roll ever gave birth to.
Arne Jansen is a German jazz musician who didn’t start with jazz. He started with Dire Straits. When he was 9, his father brought home their 1982 album, Love Over Gold. Arne was never the same. He says, “‘Telegraph Road’ is the reason I started playing guitar.”
Jansen does not merely play these 10 Knopfler songs. He is a jazz improviser, and he affirms his reverence by making them the basis for fresh creation. He gives them new shadings and places them in new contexts. Often you don’t recognize the songs right away. When you do, it’s a rush.
Knopfler wrote vocal stories. Jansen’s achievement is to reveal, instrumentally, the beauty of Knopfler’s melodies—even, or especially, when he is loose and free with them as on “Telegraph Road.” “Money for Nothing,” with its suspenseful waltz groove, is unexpectedly dark; it makes you laugh out loud to hear this casually cynical tune transformed into something so foreboding.
Jansen’s duo partner, Stephan Braun, is a valuable asset. With his unique percussive approach to the 5-string cello, he is a complete rhythm section. When he sometimes takes the lead, he presents a fascinating alternative sonority and sensibility.
“Sultans of Swing” is the killer. The song is so tight and complete, it would seem to defy jazz interpretation, but Jansen and Braun find a way in. They lavish love on its irresistible melody then give it new bite and twang.
What fun this album is.
—Thomas Conrad

I should add that Thomas Conrad has been writing jazz reviews for years for Stereophile, but I don’t think rock reviews. He seems to have very good taste! The album itself - available on Qobuz, so I guess all the other streaming services - contains eight DS classics plus StP and the title track. As Conrad hints, some songs would take quite a while to identify, others are obvious. I think it needs more than the one listen I’ve given it so far to get all the references. Definitely worth a listen during the endless wait for something new from the master….

[quizzaciously]

That's really the only way you can get away with covering Mark's songs. They are so perfectly thought through, and so perfectly recorded, arranged and played, that if you want to just copy it, you are almost bound to fail (or invest "just" 20 years doing it like I did). So complete reinterpretation is desperately needed. I never listen to covers of Mark's songs (which aren't many anyway), but when it hits — it hits. Like "Brothers In Arms" by Gregorian, what a masterpiece, and a completely new version of the tune. This is a great album indeed, making Mark's songs even more cinematic than they are in the original. Folk, jazz versions of Mark's songs is heaven to me.

[hunter]

Wow, this is interesting. Beautiful and creative interpretations of Mark's music. Great sound quality too. Thanks for the headsup.

[qjamesfloyd]

That's really the only way you can get away with covering Mark's songs. They are so perfectly thought through, and so perfectly recorded, arranged and played, that if you want to just copy it, you are almost bound to fail (or invest "just" 20 years doing it like I did). So complete reinterpretation is desperately needed. I never listen to covers of Mark's songs (which aren't many anyway), but when it hits — it hits. Like "Brothers In Arms" by Gregorian, what a masterpiece, and a completely new version of the tune. This is a great album indeed, making Mark's songs even more cinematic than they are in the original. Folk, jazz versions of Mark's songs is heaven to me.

There are actually more covers of Mark's songs than you would think, there are lots of covers of Why Worry for example, I have looked into this now and again.

[quizzaciously]

That's really the only way you can get away with covering Mark's songs. They are so perfectly thought through, and so perfectly recorded, arranged and played, that if you want to just copy it, you are almost bound to fail (or invest "just" 20 years doing it like I did). So complete reinterpretation is desperately needed. I never listen to covers of Mark's songs (which aren't many anyway), but when it hits — it hits. Like "Brothers In Arms" by Gregorian, what a masterpiece, and a completely new version of the tune. This is a great album indeed, making Mark's songs even more cinematic than they are in the original. Folk, jazz versions of Mark's songs is heaven to me.

There are actually more covers of Mark's songs than you would think, there are lots of covers of Why Worry for example, I have looked into this now and again.

What about great covers tho? That you would listen often or even more than the original? That's a really tough call, I think. And I'm not dramatising it or being a purist. For me, it really boils down to the Brothers In Arms version that I mentioned and The Long Road by Tugores.

Why Worry by Everly Brothers? Maybe, I actually think their version would fit on the album perfectly. Maybe something like "Graceland" with Mark singing the first verse, and Everly Brothers joining in later. That would be cool! But music-wise their version was still nearly identical to Mark's.

[Dutchessy]

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5mKeaMJty7JyJPYZeI0b0e?si=tYlwlivmQtCS2SaE_cH5ew

[hunter]

Unless you're a tribute act or typical cover band, I feel covers that are very close to the original are pointless. What Arne Jansen and Stephan Braun have done here may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you look at Arne Jansen's discography and understand his musical viewpoint, this album represents Mark's music through Jansen's personal filter. I love the audio quality of it too. I have only played it through my headphones, but I'm looking forward to sit down in the "sweetspot" in front of my hifi and give it a proper listen.

[quizzaciously]

Unless you're a tribute act or typical cover band, I feel covers that are very close to the original are pointless. What Arne Jansen and Stephan Braun have done here may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you look at Arne Jansen's discography and understand his musical viewpoint, this album represents Mark's music through Jansen's personal filter. I love the audio quality of it too. I have only played it through my headphones, but I'm looking forward to sit down in the "sweetspot" in front of my hifi and give it a proper listen.

The problem is these are so well-written songs it's really hard to come up with a different (and good!) arrangement. Not just different for the sake of it, but different in a good way, like this jazz album. It's really interesting that Mark's songs either yield complete copy-and-paste covers which are indeed pointless, or these virtuosic Hi-Fi re-imaginations, and nothing in-between

I think it happens because Mark is not a melodic composer at all. He barely has any melodies, apart from Local Hero and some soundtracks, usually his songs are basically recitative with a guitar substituting the talking sometimes. I hate instrumental covers of "Sultans Of Swing" because the song has absolutely no melody. It's not "Here, There And Everywhere".

Romeo also lacks melody, the melody for Your Lates Trick is choppy and not instrumental-friendly at all. The only way to play it is to stretch it into infinity, so this is probably the only good instrumental cover album of these songs I ever heard.

Brothers In Arms is a good melody, though I think with talking (can't call it singing) the song's message sounds way more impressive. How it leads to the last line.

[hunter]

Unless you're a tribute act or typical cover band, I feel covers that are very close to the original are pointless. What Arne Jansen and Stephan Braun have done here may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you look at Arne Jansen's discography and understand his musical viewpoint, this album represents Mark's music through Jansen's personal filter. I love the audio quality of it too. I have only played it through my headphones, but I'm looking forward to sit down in the "sweetspot" in front of my hifi and give it a proper listen.

The problem is these are so well-written songs it's really hard to come up with a different (and good!) arrangement. Not just different for the sake of it, but different in a good way, like this jazz album. It's really interesting that Mark's songs either yield complete copy-and-paste covers which are indeed pointless, or these virtuosic Hi-Fi re-imaginations, and nothing in-between

I think it happens because Mark is not a melodic composer at all. He barely has any melodies, apart from Local Hero and some soundtracks, usually his songs are basically recitative with a guitar substituting the talking sometimes. I hate instrumental covers of "Sultans Of Swing" because the song has absolutely no melody. It's not "Here, There And Everywhere".

Romeo also lacks melody, the melody for Your Lates Trick is choppy and not instrumental-friendly at all. The only way to play it is to stretch it into infinity, so this is probably the only good instrumental cover album of these songs I ever heard.

Brothers In Arms is a good melody, though I think with talking (can't call it singing) the song's message sounds way more impressive. How it leads to the last line.

It's actually quite interesting that Mark is regarded as a very melodic songwriter and guitar player, yet a lot of his songs have very sparse melodies. I think it has to do with his limited vocal range and his blues roots. In later years, after quitting smoking, his songs span wider intervals. I generalize, but in earlier years, as we know, his singing was limited, and he compensated with very fluid, melodic guitar work. In later years, as his voice improved, he could sing with greater melodic variation, and now the guitar is a lot more tone down. A lot simpler and straight-forward solos. IF there are any solos at all. An inverse reltationship, it seems.

[dustyvalentino]

That's really the only way you can get away with covering Mark's songs. They are so perfectly thought through, and so perfectly recorded, arranged and played, that if you want to just copy it, you are almost bound to fail (or invest "just" 20 years doing it like I did). So complete reinterpretation is desperately needed. I never listen to covers of Mark's songs (which aren't many anyway), but when it hits — it hits. Like "Brothers In Arms" by Gregorian, what a masterpiece, and a completely new version of the tune. This is a great album indeed, making Mark's songs even more cinematic than they are in the original. Folk, jazz versions of Mark's songs is heaven to me.

There are actually more covers of Mark's songs than you would think, there are lots of covers of Why Worry for example, I have looked into this now and again.

What about great covers tho? That you would listen often or even more than the original? That's a really tough call, I think. And I'm not dramatising it or being a purist. For me, it really boils down to the Brothers In Arms version that I mentioned and The Long Road by Tugores.

Why Worry by Everly Brothers? Maybe, I actually think their version would fit on the album perfectly. Maybe something like "Graceland" with Mark singing the first verse, and Everly Brothers joining in later. That would be cool! But music-wise their version was still nearly identical to Mark's.

I've been a huge Everly Brothers fan my whole life, since before I had heard DS, but their cover of Why Worry isn't that great. By the 80s their voices had changed and it just wasn't the same. There's very little of their later output that stood up unfortunately. Wings of a Nightingale (written by McCartney) is probably the best.

[dustyvalentino]

Good, almost identical cover. Great voice.

[hunter]

Good, almost identical cover. Great voice.

Yeah, that's the right voice for that type of song, twangy and rich. Mark wrote a song in that classic country style, with pedal steel and Floyd Cramer-style piano, but his own voice isn't capable of producing anything close to what is required. The cover sounds better than the original, IMO.

[quizzaciously]

Good, almost identical cover. Great voice.

Yeah, that's the right voice for that type of song, twangy and rich. Mark wrote a song in that classic country style, with pedal steel and Floyd Cramer-style piano, but his own voice isn't capable of producing anything close to what is required. The cover sounds better than the original, IMO.

Yeah, but it lacks the powerful, singing, crying guitar...

[superval99]

Good, almost identical cover. Great voice.

Randy's voice is very good, but MK's final solo is spine-tingling! 

[hunter]

Yeah, but it lacks the powerful, singing, crying guitar...

I didn't listen all the way through. Yes, Mark's solo on this one is beautiful. (What a shame that he stopped playing like that. It's not even hard technically, so that's not a reason.)