Jazz is getting all remixed up

Welcome to the world of remix, a jazz phenomenon for the young -- or young at heart -- where nothing is sacred and everything seems fair game.

The major jazz labels are trying a new way to attract greater numbers of young listeners by taking classic jazz recordings and having DJ producers use them as the basis for creative -- oftentimes funkier -- electronic, hip-hop and dance remixes for the club (as in dance club) scene.

The phenomenon began with a handful of remixes in the early 1990s when labels started allowing DJs to pore through their vaults for material with which to tinker.

This year there was a virtual explosion of projects, due in large measure to the success of Verve's controversial 2002 project, "Verve/Remixed," which has sold more than 200,000 copies in the U.S. alone.

Verve followed this fall with "Verve/Remixed II" and a companion budget disc, "Verve /Unmixed II." The latter compiled the original classic tracks for comparison with the altered states -- or to allow young listeners to check out the originals they may not have known existed.

The new soundscapes often add new keyboard and rhythm tracks, repeat segments for effect and put the tunes in quirky contexts. Recordings by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Betty Carter and Oscar Brown Jr. have emerged with remixing, chopping and beat programming.

So have tunes made famous by perhaps the most innovative jazz musician of his day, the late alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. Last month, Savoy Jazz joined the scene by releasing "Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project." It invited artists to put their own spin on Parker's classic Savoy repertoire from 1944 to 1948. It turned out to be part remix and part cover versions by more traditional artists. Participants included Dr. John, Me'shell NdegeOcello, the Kronos Quartet, Hal Willner, Dan the Automator, The Band's Garth Hudson and singer Serj Tankian from the alternative metal group System of a Down.

The Blue Note label is just out with "Shades of Blue: Madlib Invades Blue Note." Hip-hop artist, rapper and producer Madlib (Otis Jackson Jr.) is known for a quirky, patchwork musical sensibility. He provided the label with a wish list of tracks that he wanted to work with, including trumpeter Donald Byrd's "Steppin' Into Tomorrow," Horace Silver's "Song For My Father" and Wayne Shorter's "Footprints." He also reworked recordings from singer Bobbi Humphrey, The Three Sounds, Reuben Wilson and Herbie Hancock. He added a new tune of his own, "Funky Blue Note," in tribute to the label's 1960s and '70s era.

Eli Wolf, A&R director for Blue Note, says the remix trend operates on several levels. The younger, hip-hop-oriented musicians are creating guideposts to jazz for their generation and expanding the music as well. "They are incorporating sounds that they can relate to," Wolf said. "That appeals to young listeners."

Wolf said he believes that if Parker were still alive, he would appreciate the trend. It is not so different from the way the bebop pioneers stretched the boundaries of jazz some 45-50 years ago, he said.

"Verve/Remixed II" presents interpretations of 14 tracks by 14 different remixers. For example, Chicago DJ-producer Felix Da Housecat stretched Nina Simone's bluesy "Sinnerman" from 1965 into a 10-minute dance odyssey. He isolated a repeated piano vamp and the singer's accusatory "Who you gonna run to?" and paired them with an octave bass line, synthesized strings and a kick drum. And "Naima's Love Song" by singer Betty Carter, a jazz radical in her own right, gets a remix from DJ Spinna with a broken beat, burbling Moog-bass line and shimmering keyboards arranged to complement her singular voice.

Blue Note is preparing a global project called "Blue Note Revisited," in which remixers worldwide are retooling some of the label's classic jazz tracks. The remixers include DJ Cam, Towa Tei, DJ Spinna, 4Hero and Kenny "Dope" Gonzales.

Warner Bros. teamed this year with ACIDPlanet.com to make available loops from tracks in recordings by George Benson, Joe Sample, Al Jarreau, Michael Franks ("Popsicle Toes," of course), and Bob James and David Sanborn as basic material for a remix contest. Participants were allowed to remake the songs as they see fit, with new arrangements and effects.

There's reinforcement for those purists who believe it's an "if you can't beat them, join them" trend at work. Some projects over the past year by singular jazz artists, including Chico Hamilton, Nicholas Payton, Danilo Perez, Olu Dara and Herbie Hancock resulted in 12-inch single remix variations or offered alternate tracks on their CDs.