Episode 156, Miles Davis as Bellwether

Discovering Jazz

This was inspired by a book by my favourite science fiction writer: Connie Willis, called “Bellwether”. In a flock of sheep, there is one sheep that, for some unexplained reason, influences all the others in terms of when and where they move. That sheep is referred to as a bellwether. The bellwether isn’t necessarily the first to take action….and it can be a challenge trying to discover what sheep is actually the ‘bellwether.

My interest here is why certain tunes get selected by jazz musicians to become jazz ‘standards’, while others are ignored. Might it be that there is a bellwether who has a role to play here?

Often they become standards because a particular musician just happened to start playing it….and others followed. Many of the most recorded tunes in jazz were at one time recorded by Miles Davis.

The podcast starts off with Dear Old Stockholm, and how this Swedish folksong ended up becoming a jazz standard.

I also talk about and play a version of All of You, So What, I Loves You Porgy (mentioning the very important Gil Evans connection), Solar, and two versions of Well You Needn’t. As well, I talk about and play a Cyndi Lauper tune that Miles Davis transformed from a run of the mill pop tune and to something that jazz people now play.