Music Diary Notes: A Baker’s Dozen of Great Jazz Covers of Beatles Songs

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No sooner had my Music Diary Retrospective: A Magical Mystery Tour of the Beatles Catalog been posted last year, I got an email from someone saying that they were surprised given my love and heavy coverage of jazz (including the recent Rubber Soulive by Soulive), that I didn’t list any jazz covers of Beatles songs. I thought about doing something but got busy with other things, and then this week I was enjoying the excellent George Benson record ‘The Other Side of Abbey Road’ and thought it was definitely still worth doing!

I won’t even begin to try an exhaustive listing of all of the great Beatles covers by jazz artists – there are literally hundreds for me to choose from! I decided to do a nice round list of a ‘baker’s dozen’ songs whose cover version I have known and loved for at least a few years and that have resided on my iPod for some amount of time. And since I can, I threw in a song that isn’t a Lennon & McCartney composition, and also one that isn’t a jazz song but is an awesome cover.

So let’s get right to the songs!

Wes Montgomery – A Day In The Life

Bobby McFerrin – Blackbird

Stanley Jordan – Elenor Rigby

Jeff Beck – She’s a Woman

Ramsey Lewis Trio – A Hard Day’s Night

Alan Holdsworth – Michelle

John Scofield with Medeski, Martin & Wood – Julia

Sonny Rollins – Till There Was You
(And yes, I know this isn’t a Beatles original)

What are your favorite covers of Beatle’s songs – jazz or otherwise?

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About the Author

Michael Anderson
I have loved technology for as long as I can remember - and have been a computer gamer since the PDP-10! Mobile Technology has played a major role in my life - I have used an electronic companion since the HP95LX more than 20 years ago, and have been a 'Laptop First' person since my Compaq LTE Lite 3/20 and Powerbook 170 back in 1991! As an avid gamer and gadget-junkie I was constantly asked for my opinions on new technology, which led to writing small blurbs ... and eventually becoming a reviewer many years ago. My family is my biggest priority in life, and they alternate between loving and tolerating my gaming and gadget hobbies ... but ultimately benefits from the addition of technology to our lives!