<<Bob,how did you become the "covers guy"? Were you involved with these projects before becoming a member of the list? >>
I have always been a bit of a covers junkie, Bree. Was never much of a collector of them, but I enjoyed them nonetheless, and owned a lot of tribute records & cd's. Way back when, John Low in Australia traded to me a tape with all the Fairport Convention Joni covers, and I transferred them to CD, and then filled out the CD with a couple that I already had (Holly Cole, Cassandra Wilson) and some that people had included as filler on concert tapes. After I completed the CD, I offered copies to the list and it was pretty well-received, and several JMDLer's asked me about other Joni covers that they knew of; Heart, Lani Hall, The Supremes, etc. So I asked for anyone who had a Joni cover in their record collection to send me a tape or CD of it, and we got 4 CD's worth. (I'm in the process of upgrading this volume even as we speak). So Volume 2 was 4-CD's, and the covers kept coming. I had NO idea what I was getting into! I've currently got about 34 CD's worth, and lots more to get, and of course folks keep recording Joni's songs. And when you take in all the singers around the world that have recorded Joni, it truly boggles the mind. I was very excited this week to find the first-ever covers of "Moon At The Window" (by Cheryl Fisher, A Canadian jazz singer who also does "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat), and "You Dream Flat Tires" (by My Flexible Friends, a German jazz trio). Anyway, I never answered your question...how did I get the job? Nobody else dumb enough to volunteer, I s'pose! :~) And a BIG thanks to Uncle John in Holland, who takes care of Euro-jmdler's for me...this collection is very popular in Europe. > <<He and I are both big beatles fans and were musing if there is a > "cover guy/gal" somewhere out there for their music? Surely there must > be.>> I've thought the same thing...that would be quite an undertaking, literally hundreds of thousands of them out there I'm sure. Every one of these cheese records I've bought for a Joni cover also has at least 1 Beatles cover on it, and usually a Paul Simon cover as well. Bob Dylan covers would also be a humongous collection. Joni is massive, but at least it's doable. I've been very blessed and lucky to have so many helpers and so much support throughout this project. > <<Dee Felice is from Cincinnati,a drummer. I've seen Dee and his jazz trio > a > few times downtown. Very well-known in Cincy.>> Weren't they 'discovered' by James Brown or something? I know there's a connection but I couldn't find out exactly what it was... > <<You must have agonized including this one. Doesn't she have an operaetic > type voice;sang with Mario Lanza in movies? Could it be as bad as Steve & > > Edie Gorme doing Soundgarden's,BLACK HOLE SUN?>> It's bad. Some of those Mario duets were also on this record. My wife told me she'd divorce me if I EVER played this record in the house again. While it WAS tough to include it, we can all rest easy knowing that it's behind us now. > > <<A QUESTION FOR EVERYONE:Why do some of the GREATS i.e. Joni,Paul > McCartney,Errol Garner,Buddy Rich,prefer or choose not to read nor write > music? I understand that maybe in doing so would somehow curtail their > creative juices/flow.....but this doesn't totally answer it for me. Any > thoughts?>> I think it can be very limiting very some...if they have the training and knowledge about which chords "go together" and which ones don't, they would instinctively write using those rules. And like Joni says, the sounds she heard in her head were never the basic majors and minors. Bob
