Imagine you were a musician being invited to work out and compile a program of – let´s say – fourteen cover titles, mainstream or far beyond that, corresponding to your personal biography. It´s more than just performing them, in addition giving a short presentation of each song: artist, composer, historical context, theoretical structure of that piece of music, … You are free to play the entire song or just a fragment of it – those „Fine Lines“ (John Martyn). Guitar professor Kurt Rosenwinkels recommendation to play standards – because each one has an aspect that one can learn and earn from – could also apply to many modern pop- and folksongs and their manifold hybrid crossings. You may tell a little story of your relationship to the song you´re going to play. You may sing, play your instrument like guitar or piano, you may dance, for a very few songs you may choose your favorite company like (haha!) Thomas Morgan on Bass, Brian Eno playing additional keyboards and Sebastian Rochford on drums.
Here is a possible list of mine (work in progress for a project …):
- James Taylor: „Let It All Fall Down“
- David Sylvian: „The Boy With The Gun“
- Milton Nascimento: „Don Quixote“
- Talking Heads/Peter Gabriel: „Listening Wind“
- The Eagles: „Hotel California“
- Joni Mitchell: „A Strange Boy“
- Steely Dan: „Peg“
- Walter Becker: „Upside Looking Down“
- Rebekka Bakken: „Everything Can Change“
- Robben Ford: „Peace Of Mind“
- Eric Clapton: „Layla“
- Pat Metheny: „So May It Secretly Begin“
- Rikkie Lee Jones: „Ugly Man“
- Bob Dylan/Sarah Jarosz: „Ring Them Bells“