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Improvising the Classics: Roll Over Beethoven
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The pianist and composer Jon Batiste said "Beethoven's work taps into a universal connective, magnetic truth in music." Beethoven was a master of motivic development, taking small musical ideas and expanding them into long and varied ideas, just like the art of improvisation.
In 1998, Elvin Jones, the legendary drummer who anchored John Coltrane's quartet, was a guest artist at the Manhattan School of Music. Jones was asked to name any recent recordings that he likes. Instead of naming a jazz album, he replied that he's been listening to Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
Join me, Larry Slater the JAZZMD, for an hour of jazz interpretations of Beethoven's canon. Featured artists include Jon Batiste, The WDR Big Band, Alfredo Rodriguez, Hiromi, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Ben Rosenblum.
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