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Prince Jazz Influences I watched some Jazz songs he played live, Footprints by Wayner shorter and Now's the time by Charlie Parker.
Was Prince also inspired by Jazz Musicians? If so did he mention who inspired him? Which other jazz songs did he play live?
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He said he dug Miles, Coltrane, George Benson and Herbie Hancock. I'm sure he grooved on some his father's music too. I can't recall if it was Bobby Z or Dr. Fink, but one of them said that they brought him jazz records that he had never heard before. They said that he was looking for some new inspiration..It must have been around 1985. I think Lisa even said she brought him Miles' "Bitches Brew". | |
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lion88 said: I watched some Jazz songs he played live, Footprints by Wayner shorter and Now's the time by Charlie Parker.
Was Prince also inspired by Jazz Musicians? If so did he mention who inspired him? Which other jazz songs did he play live?
Great question, I posted on here about 2 weeks ago a video of him playing Summertime. In addition to the tunes you mentioned he knew and could play dozens of the most popular jazz standards: Autumn leaves, summertime, all the things you are, softly as in a morning sunrise, tune up. Bascily anything in the early jazz repertoire (that begining jazz students have to learn) which includes about 100-150 jazz tunes. Also he was able to play the Charlie Brown theme by the time he was just 12 years old. As you know his dad was a jazz pianist and he showed prince early on how to voice chords. So by the time he was 12-15 he had a great command of left and right hand voicings. He also had perfect pitch, so he caught on to most things as soon as he heard them, by the time he died he knew thousands of tunes. In the Vault (1977) theres some footage of a young teenage prince playing some incredible jazz voicings, licks and runs at a very quick tempo too. Influences: Oscar Peterson. Prince was often spotted at Oscar's shows in Canada. And if you've never listened to Oscar Peterson then your in for a real treat, he's the greatest jazz piainist that ever lived and besides prince he is my all time favorite musician. [Edited 5/24/16 10:25am] | |
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Billy Cobham, obviously. | |
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Oh, and Maceo played "What a Wonderful World" on Prince tours, so there's Louis Armstrong. "Mercy Mercy Mercy" was played on a tour as well, so Joe Zawinul (or whichever rendition caught Prince's attention). | |
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Moreover, I think Prince took these Funkadelic lyrics to heart:
"Who says a jazz band can't play dance music? Who says a rock band can't play funk? Who says a funk band can't play rock?"
P-Funk had jazz elements. Joni Mitchell had jazz elements, etc.
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I also read somewhere that "Courtin' Time" was influenced by Duke Ellington. If P had lived to be in his eighties, I could have really seen him dabbling in big band orchestration. | |
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Cool Prince article with perspective and favorite songs from Jazz musicians: https://www.allaboutjazz....?width=768 | |
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Thanks for posting..excellent read. | |
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Reading that, I'm also reminded of how Foo Fighters covered "Darling Nikki," and it's not suprising - it has grunge dynamics. | |
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