Mixing old & new - *sometimes* it works

[Cousin Hepcat]

Mixing old & new - *sometimes* it works...

Beyonce' dubbed over Duke Ellington's early-1940s "Harlem Air Shaft":

.

[YOUTUBE]J6Be4UjV2jA&NR=1[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Doctor Strange]

Well, it doesn't work AT ALL for me.

And not because I don't think Beyonce is a talented singer: she most definitely is. But I'm sorry, overlaying a classic Duke Ellington track with ANYTHING is a sacrilege!

But hey, if this leads any youngsters to check out more music by that old Ellington guy, I guess I can tolerate it...

 

[Chas]

I really wish I hadn't seen that. I feel slightly nauseous.

You know, the Duke Ellington Orchestra is still around; it's still led on occasion by an Ellington (Paul Mercer Ellington, Grandson of The Duke), so it isn't a 'ghost orchestra' at all, so why doesn't she just do an album with The Duke Ellington Orchestra and support them as well? Is she afraid of having to be around real musicians? That would be the best way to introduce her fans to the Duke's music.

I refer this sort of thing to the wonderful scorching that Pat Metheny did on Kenny G. when that slimepig dubbed over one of Satchmo's tunes. He called it musical necrophilia.

The clip that she purloined isn't the band doing "Harlem Airshaft", either. There's a trombone solo where the soundtrack is clearly doing a trumpet solo.

 

[Cousin Hepcat]

But hey, if this leads any youngsters to check out more music by that old Ellington guy, I guess I can tolerate it...

That's what I had in mind.

I'm as much as a Duke Ellington nut as anyone - if you count having a poster of his orchestra, and constantly tracking down and building up to a 100% complete collection of original 78 rpm pressings of his entire 1940-41 Victor recordings (incl. this one), and as many others as possible along the way.

Duke has always been my #1 favorite artist in any genre (and I listen to a lot of different genres), since I discovered his 1940-41 recordings as a kid.

why doesn't she just do an album with The Duke Ellington Orchestra and support them as well? Is she afraid of having to be around real musicians?

Beyonce didn't do this. The vocals are taken from the vocal-only track of one of her other songs, listed in the yoube vid description, and re-combined by someone else.

No need to trash the girl.

I never listen to modern hiphop or Beyonce, but I think it's a clever meshing of the two, and as many folks already mentioned in the vid comments, may introduce Duke's music to another audience. :eusa_clap

- CH

 

[Chas]

Hey, guy. It's an opinion, that's all. I don't think of Beyonce any more than I do last week's breakfast, I just loathe this sampling/overdubbing. Kids do this on their 'puters all the time. It's just laziness, that's all. I'm sure the Duke's estate got paid.
If she had gone into the studio and done some Duke upright, I would be heaping praise. This poo is just lazy. IMO.

 

[Rundquist]

Never could stand Beyonce myself, besides her looks. She can’t sing. It’s all done with an autotuner. I’m on the fence about sampling. I do agree that sometimes a young person can be exposed to music that they wouldn’t otherwise normally have access to. It’s just that usually the new music is horrible. It’s just that usually the new music is horrible. I’m opposed to bad music in general.

Here’s a great example where it can work (at least to me).
Yusef Lateef is the man.
[YOUTUBE]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CB6TvvqxdAM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CB6TvvqxdAM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Doctor Strange]

Chas, what makes you think that Duke's estate got paid? This isn't a Beyonce production, just a YouTube mash-up put together by some amateur, and I doubt that he/she gave a second thought to any of the performance rights for anything in it... (And let's face it: if anything, it's the Beyonce part that will cause them trouble: her lawyers are working a lot harder policing unauthorized use than Duke's these days!)

 

[Chas]

Hoping against hope. They probably didn't get paid, which sucks. I'll ask Paul Mercer Ellington about it; he runs the estate.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

[YOUTUBE]sJn4QTposi4&feature=fvw[/YOUTUBE]

"This works for me!"

[YOUTUBE]ML_-d-UFOkg[/YOUTUBE]