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The (Jazz) Police

By Ludovico Granvassu | Mondo Jazz
September 3, 2019
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September 2019 will mark the 40th anniversary of "Message in a Bottle," an auspicious opportunity to look back at the seminal work of The Police, through a jazz lens.

With both Sting and Andy Summers coming to The Police with jazz in their background and Stewart Copeland being a master of polyrhythmic drumming it's not a surprise that their compositions would sound very good in the hands of jazz players.

These two hours will feature some of their most beloved tunes, from "Roxanne" to "Walking on the Moon," from "Wrapped Around Your Finger" to "Every Breath You Take," performed by jazz luminaries like Gil Evans, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, modern masters like Johnathan Blake with Chris Potter & Linda May Han Oh, The Bad Plus and Lynne Arriale, as well as international artists like Michela Lombardi, Christof Lauer and Jens Thomas, Flavio Boltro, among many musicians that took took more than a few liberties with these Police classics... We then close with music by The Police and the jazz dabblings of Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers and Sting.

Happy listening!

Ben Allison "Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00
Piero Fassi Circles Trio "Message in a Bottle" Shape of My Heart (The Music of Sting) (Atlantis/The Saifam Group) 0:17
Host talks 4:57
Gil Evans Orchestra "Murder by Numbers" Live 1986 7:41
Curtis Stigers "Can't Stand Losing You" I Think It's Going to Rain Today (Concord) 17:21
Lynne Arriale "Wrapped Around Your Finger" Nuance (Motema) 21:18
Host talks 25:56
Johnathan Blake "Syncronicity I" Trion (Giant Step Arts) 28:52
Christof Lauer, Jens Thomas "Syncronicity II" Shadows in the Rain (ACT) 45:23
Host talks 50:59
Christof Lauer, Jens Thomas "Roxanne" Shadows in the Rain (ACT) 53:29
The Bad Plus "Every Breath You Take" Live in Newport 2003 56:15
Guillaume Seguron Quartet "Wrapped Around Your Finger / Don't Stand So Close to Me" Witches (AJMi) 1:02:54
Host talks 1:11:02
Michela Lombardi "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" Shape of My Heart (The Music of Sting) (Atlantis/The Saifam Group) 1:13:18
Philippe Kahn "Walkin' on the Moon" Walkin' on the Moon (Pacific High) 1:18:09
Host talks 1:26:04
Bob Belden "Shadows in the Rain" Straight to My Heart (Blue Note) 1:28:29
Quintorigo "Sole invisibile" Il cannone (Moletto) 1:35:03
Host talks 1:38:52
Flavio Boltro "Tea in the Sahara" Road Runner (Blue Note) 1:41:09
Joseph Patrick Moore "Masoko Tanga" Decade 1996-2005 (Blue Canoe) 1:47:16
Michael Manring "Spirits in the Material World" Drastic Measures (Windham Hill) 1:50:13
Host talks 1:54:07
The Police "Hungry for You" Ghost in the Machine (Remastered) (A&M) 1:57:11
Stewart Copeland, Stanley Clarke "Too Cool Hats" Sacred Grove Jams (Self-released) 1:59:59
Andy Summers "Lonely Woman" The Last Dance of Mr. X (BMG) 2:05:33
Host talks 2:10:56
Joe Henderson "Act II: It Ain't Necessarily So" Porgy and Bess (Verve) 2:16:17

About Sting

Instrument: Bass, electric

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