Bix Beiderbicke - Why Do I Love You?
Miles Davis - Why Do I Love You?

I believe it's been well established just how much I love cover songs. And it may belie more than a pre-adolescent obsession with Weird Al, maybe it represents how I look at everything, maybe it's easier to recognize innovation in the form of a cover. Perhaps it's a symptom of my generation to long simultaneously for nostalgia and novelty, but the cover-song fills that void with ease.

While it's become passé now, there was a time when nearly every skate company and band had some sort of parody logo. The free fonts websites still have tons of these famous logo-mimicking typefaces as evidence. The phenomena became more widespread and I'm sure we've all seen the Marlboro box converted to read Marijuana, or Coca-Cola to Cocaine. Maybe it all goes back to Mad Magazine or Honoré Daumier... but simply mimicking a song doesn't a good cover make. I still have my Weird Al tape collection and I'm not looking to adding more to my Parody collection.

When a song is no longer played note-for-note or with minor changes for comedic effects, when a known song is used primarily as a structure or guide, and when new musical aesthetics are advanced by means of reinterpretation, you have more than a cover or parody. As each generation attempts to reinvent musical history for themselves, the cover songs are often encountered with varying degrees of success. It's difficult enough understanding how we get from The Untouchables covering "Stepping Stone" to any of the Fugazi records, let alone where are right now and where we might be headed. It's much easier to draw an analog from the past.

In the late 1940s Miles Davis began to tire of the limitations set by the conventional small jazz groups of the day. He was playing with Charlie Parker's quintet and began organizing live sessions with more players on the side. Eventually, he organized live performances of his nonet (nine-piece band) but they made no money so the group broke up. About a year later Miles reformed the nonet in order to record some 78s for Capitol, as he was contractually obliged. The twelve 78 sides were later collected and named, "The Birth of Cool." Besides the expanded instrumentation, what these songs demonstrate is Miles interest in retaining the vivacity and vigor of bop, but expand its range and possibility. And though these songs represent a more restrained, toned-down, and less aggressive style of playing, they don't get quite as intimate or romantic as their cool jazz progeny. (Which I'm really not that into.)

Wikipedia labels Birth of the Cool as "Hard Bop," so I'm not about to tell you it's a good example of "Cool Jazz." It's laid back departure from bebop, prevalent at the time, are what marks its place in history.

Nowadays you can buy THE COMPLETE Birth of the Cool, which includes some bonus live tracks recorded by nonet around the same time as the 78 sides. (Unfortunately, it also features a revision of the cover art which was a bad idea.) One of the songs features Kenny Hagood on vocals, a rendition of the DeSylva/Gershwins tune "Why Do I Love You?" As a manifesto for cool jazz, the nonet's approach to this classic tune, which their audiences must have been familiar with, surely comes close.

And since time will make the contrast stronger, I've also posted Bix Beiderbecke's ragtime version. Of course I wasn't there at the time, but Bix seems to be to jazz what Green Day is to punk. A wider audience was into Bix and listened to his work, but he was taking a lot from the underbelly of New Orleans. All this to say, Bix's version represents a popular tune in a populist genre. People liked it. (Even Miles was fascinated with him... and hey, I like Green Day too.)

A few decades later Miles reinvents the tune. What he changes and what he keeps speak not only about what Miles is interested in, but just how much the art form of jazz has evolved over such a short time.

(Buy The Complete Birth of the Cool at Amazon.)

(Buy Bix Beiderbecke, Vol. 2: At the Jazz Band Ball at Amazon.)