"When the music changes, so does the dance."
— African proverb
In 1971 (coincidentally the same year Stravinsky died), flutist Hubert Laws got together with arranger Don Sebesky and began to explore the latent jazz potential in The Rite of Spring. Using it as a backdrop for improvisation, their experiment became the title track of an album for CTI Records featuring Laws and sidemen Bob James on keyboards, Gene Bertoncini on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Dave Friedman on vibes, Airto Moreira on percussion and Wally Kane on bassoon.
(Courtesy of CTI Records)
Over the decades since then, a number of other jazz musicians have taken up the unique challenges of playing Stravinsky's iconic score — either in part or in full — re-imagining Stravinsky's familiar motives and harmonies as jazzy grooves, riffs and changes.
Here are some of the standouts.
Alice Coltrane: "Spring Rounds" (Eternity: Warner Bros., 1975).
Don Sebesky: "The Rite of Spring" (Three Works for Jazz Soloists and Symphony Orchestra: Gryphon, 1979), featuring Bob Brookmeyer (trombone), Jon Faddis (trumpet), Gordon Beck (piano), Richard Davis (bass), Joe Beck (guitar) and Jimmy Madison (drums).
Ornette Coleman: "Sleep Talk" (live performance in Germany, 1978). See also "Sleep Talk" (Of Human Feelings: Antilles, 1982) and "Sleep Talking" (Sound Grammar: Sound Grammar, 2006).
Ted Pease: "Spring Rounds" (live performance at the Berklee Performance Center, 2011) featuring Daniel Ian Smith (sax), Tim Ray (piano) and Keala Kaumeheiwa (bass). See also "Spring Rounds" (Transitions: Big & Phat Jazz, 2010) featuring the New World Jazz Composers Octet.
The Bad Plus:On Sacred Ground: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (live performance at Duke University, 2011).
Darryl Brenzel:The Re-(w)rite of Spring (Innova, 2012) featuring Mobtown Modern Big Band.
Pierre-Yves Martel: Le sacre du printemps (live performance in Montreal, 2013) featuring Quartetski [click image below to play].
What's your favourite version of The Rite of Spring? Do you know of any jazz interpretations that we've missed? Tell us in the comments section below.
Related:
Vijay Iyer: Radhe Radhe: The Rites of Holi
Listen to the Calgary Philharmonic perform The Rite of Spring on CBC Music