David Liebman - Lieb Plays the Beatles

David Liebman is considered a renaissance man in contemporary music, with a career stretching over 40 years. He has recorded scores of albums, ranging from post-bop jazz and unaccompanied solo explorations to work with larger bands. Even in his eclectic career, Lieb Plays the Beatles is an unusual departure. Here, Liebman explores 17 Beatles songs (including seven that are part of three medleys) with bassist Marius Beets, drummer Eric Ineke, and guest saxophonist John Roucco. Rather than play cover versions of the tunes, Liebman often changes the tempos, uses the melody as a departure point for his improvisations, varies the instrumentation, and ends up creating new music. Among the songs explored and reinvented are 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', 'The Fool on the Hill', 'Something', and 'Blackbird' (one of the few Beatles songs that could be considered a Jazz standard). These versions are so creative that one can imagine the Beatles themselves being surprised at what their songs inspired!