KWCW

Most tribute albums are hit or miss affairs, usually filled in mostly equal parts with interesting takes on old standards and boring or even embarrassing filler material. Come Together – A Jazz/Soul Tribute to the Beatles is no different.

In terms of contributing artists, this compilation is miles ahead of most tribute albums, with many of the greatest artists in the history of jazz and soul music present, including Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, and Herbie Mann. But even some of these great artists make missteps in their experimentation (or lack thereof) with the Beatles’ catalogue. In general, the experimental takes work better than the straight covers. Herbie Mann & Tamiko Jones’ version of “Day Tripper” is overly similar to the original, and Jones’ vocals seem flat in the context of the song. Aretha Franklin’s first track on the album, “Let It Be” is also a bit dull in its similarity to the Beatles’ version. The exception to this rule is Little Richard performing “I Saw Her Standing There”, which is great fun, simply as a result of the original being right up Richard’s alley to begin with. Clarence Wheeler & the Enforcers suffer the opposite problem with their jazz exploration of “Hey Jude”: their version doesn’t have enough to do with the original song, seemingly bleating out the “Na-na-na” part every few minutes only out of obligation before diving back into a jazz workout which, while good, feels like a non sequitur.

The songs that do work are superb, however. The Meters and Black Heat transform “Come Together” and “Drive My Car”, respectively, into funk songs, and the results are tremendous. And the instrumental jazz rendition of “Something” by Wade Marcus is simply gorgeous. Aretha Franklin even manages to nearly trump the original “The Long and Winding Road” with her soulful version.

Ultimately, most of the weak tracks on Come Together are in the first half of the album (such as Charles Wright’s truly awful cover of “Here Comes the Sun”) but listeners who make it through the first few rough spots will find a lot of great material on the second half.

-Ben

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 4th, 2006 at 6:46 pm and is filed under Jazz, Funk/Soul. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.