I'm going to see if I can make this a weekly thing - post the original version of a song, and then the cover(s).
This week's song is truly weird, but I like it all the same. From the incredible mind of Jimmy Webb comes this masterpiece - MacArthur Park.
Originally performed by Richard Harris (RIP), who you may recognise as Dumbledore the earlier Harry Potter films (if you're into that sort of poor acting). It actually reached #2, which is uncommon for a 7 minute song, not to mention the fact that it's a very unusual pop song. It was later covered by Donna Summer. Be thankful that's not the one I'm going to post here.
The cover version I'm interested in is by Maynard Ferguson (obviously, with a full backing band), a Canadian trumpeter. It's extremely difficult to put into words just how brilliant this is. It's been arranged extrodinarily well, and the trumpet playing is inexplicably high.
To understand just how incredibly difficult it is to make a trumpet go that high, you have to be a brass player yourself. But really, I know some absolutely fantastic trumpeters and I doubt any of them could do that. Maynard is amazing.
. I'd be happy to feature your band! Just write me a quick note saying what type of music you play, maybe a link to your website/MySpace, and include a link to a few downloadable songs if you can (submissions without samples are usually disregarded).
0 replies:
Post a Comment