Friday, November 17, 2000
Cockburn given a jazz treatment
By MIKE ROSS
Edmonton Sun

Isn't it redundant to do jazz versions of Bruce Cockburn tunes? The guy's become pretty jazzy as it is. The 50-Till-I-Die legend delivered a set at the folk fest that wouldn't have been out of place in the Yardbird Suite.

Well, there's always room for more jazz. The mighty Suite is the very place where crack Toronto jazzman Michael Occhipinti will deliver his tribute to Cockburn. That's tomorrow night. Hear it on the guitarist's new album, Creation Dream.

Like Ozzy Osbourne appearing on all these Black Sabbath tributes, Cockburn himself is a guest on Occhipinti's collection of Cockburn songs - some obscure tunes and some familiar hits twisted into obscure new interpretations. It all sounds very cool. How long will it take you to identify Wondering Where the Lions Are? That's part of the fun.

"It's a real nice completion of the circle," Occhipinti says on the phone from Toronto. "He was someone I would go and see when I was a teenager and here I am making a record of his music. It's pretty thrilling."

The project started when Occhipinti's big band NOJO was signed to Cockburn's label, True North Records. Instant fringe benefit: Free Cockburn CDs! Label president and music lover Bernie Finkelstein later saw the Occhipinti Quartet doing a Cockburn tune at a local club and suggested an entire CD. They went to work.

Cockburn himself "was more than OK with it," Occhipinti says. "I know he's dabbled in jazz before. He likes to stretch out and improvise and certainly mess around on stuff. And every album has always had a couple of instrumentals on it. It's definitely in his blood."

The concept of jazzing up pop tunes has been on Occhipinti's mind for quite some time.

"My own feeling is that almost anything is fair game. I strongly believe that that's what jazz musicians have always done. If you look back at its recorded history, it's always been about taking whatever popular songs were available and doing something with them. Most of the jazz songbook comes from the Broadway show songs."

This practice seemed to stop when rock 'n' roll became popular, he goes on, with some traditionalists seeing themselves as "guardians of the truth" - as in playing Satin Doll over and over again. Conscious of the fine line between creating Muzak and annoying both pop and jazz purists on a project like Creation Dream, Occhipinti says he'd like to see the attitude change.

"My own feeling is that there's always been good pop songs and there's always been bad pop songs," he says. "I don't think any era has a monopoly on good or bad. On the surface, maybe some three-chord songs don't seem to work as well, but I think it's just a case of putting in a bit of work, putting your own stamp on it. We're talking about 40 years of popular songs that have been neglected."

Does this mean we'll be seeing jazz CDs of Black Sabbath tunes in the near future? Don't laugh. Occhipinti is already doing some Led Zeppelin with his electric side project, Rivethead, so you never know.

Tickets to the Michael Occhipinti Quartet and his jazz tribute to Bruce Cockburn are $8 for Edmonton Jazz Society members and $12 for guests.