DownBeat November 1988 [antikvár]

on the beat NEW WORDS FOR OLD NOTES by Dave Helland aw Tuck and Patti and was I impressed. Palti Cathcart has a j big, soulful voice with a swinging _ . delivery. Tuck Andress is a first-rate finger-picking jazz guitarist. She can get a club, a big club, full of people to sing along, on cue, in tune to such varied fare as Love Potion No. 9 and Time After Time. Tuck has a solo spot which he introduces with a rap about how Patti makes him stand there alone, talking to the audience as a form of therapy He keeps it going long after a lesser performer would have lost the audience with this poor stage-frightened-me routine. After plenty of laughs he awes the audience with his renditions of Wes Montgomery's Up And At It and Carlos Santana's Eiiropa. These THE MANY SIDES OF WYNTON MARSALIS CAPTURED ON VIDEO. "Blues & Swing" is the debut honfie video from elght-tfme Grammv-wlnnlng trumpeter, Wynton Marsotis. This fulHength program features Inspired performances of timeless standards and classic Wynton orlglnals-plus candid interviev^ and student workshops that illuminate Wynton's unique point af view on the Jazz traditton. "Blues & Swing" reveals the perfamier, composer and teacher that are aii part of Wynton Marsalis. This exclusive home video portrait brings the mind ond music of a master into sharper focus thon ever before. /rmv\ cbs music video enterprises (^t^rrfrn On VH8 HI-FI Vidéocassettes Hear Wyriton Marsalis on stoge and on fire on his new Columbia album/The WVnton Marsalis Quartet Live At Blues Aiie^^. ( >clu'.Mi ^rvinol Manaoe'neni A M G Inletnotlonol 6 DOWN BEAT NOVEMBER 1988 ItiKflTiliu IB'I uielciiJiiniipkiuUll^lf. ¦ ¦ iVHHitlMIii.otih lix Tuck & Pott I two are going to sell a whole lot of albums for the Windham Hill Jazz label. But what stood out in my mind was hearing the lyrics to Tadd Dameron's Our Delight. A pleasant poem indeed. I asked Cathcart about them because I didn't know this tune had lyrics. As it turns out, it doesn't; at least not officially. It works like this. The owner of a piece of music, not necessarily its composer, has a bundle of rights. These include determining who will make the first recorded version, collecting not more than SVi cents royalty each time a recording of the song is sold, and approving any changes in the piece. On a practical basis, minor changes are made all the time. An arranger may change keys, a singer might skip a phrase or not hit all the high notes. An improviser can twist the melody and chord changes, get so far out that the original is unrecognizable, but that is interpretation not change. Adding lyrics to a melody is substantial change. The copyright owner may decide against a particular lyric or any lyric at all. I ended up calling Michael Stillman who has written lyrics to a number of other jazz classics that Tuck and Patti regularly perform including Bill Evans' B Minor Waltz and Charlie Parker's Barbados. Mark Murphy has recorded Stillman's lyrics to Billy Strayhom's Blood Count for his soon-to-be-released album on Muse. Tuck and Patti, on the other hand, wanted to use Our Delight on their debut album Tears Of Joy but couldn't. The owner of the music was unwilling to share credit and royalties with Stillman. Stillman says: "The most important thing, I think, would be to validate the art of writing lyrics to jazz melodies and solos that were originally instrumental. This is a poetic analog to the art of improvisation and deserves attention and recognition." For songs written before the 1978 revamping of the copyright law. this bundle of rights lasts for 28 years, is renewable for another 28 with an additional 19 thrown in for good measure. So some time around the year 2020 Tuck and I^tti can record Our Delight with Stillman's lyric. Iti the meanwhile, you can hear P-atti sing it in a club, an option 1 heartily recommend, dh