Swindle has shared an inspired cover of Donald Byrd’s 1973 hit, “Miss Kane,” from the trumpeter’s album Street Lady.
“I didn’t want to move too far away from the original and be respectful of Donald Byrd. There’s definitely a responsibility to treat that music with class and respect. My process really has been to understand the original but to present it in a new way with a modern edge,” explains Swindle.
The track follows nine-piece afro-jazz outfit Nubiyan Twist’s take on Donald Byrd’s “Through The Noise (Chant 2).” The track will also be featured on Blue Note Re:imagined II.
The project returns in September with a new 16-track compilation featuring fresh takes on music from the illustrious Blue Note Records vaults recorded by a heavyweight line-up of the UK jazz, soul, and R&B scene’s most hotly-tipped rising stars.
“We liked the idea of taking a track that might not be an obvious choice and when approaching our arrangement of Donald Byrd’s ‘Chant,’” shared the group upon the release of “Through The Noise (Chant 2).”
“We were thinking about the unusual marriage of heavy swing found in both jazz and UK garage and 2-step. This was a connection we hadn’t consciously made before but one that became an exciting backdrop for our influences that include broken-beat, afrobeat, and bebop. The lyrics are influenced by the ‘reimagined’ concept itself and the idea that the music forms a way for great musicians of the past to speak to us, in the present day.”
Arriving off the back of the widespread international success of the first volume, which topped jazz charts around the globe, Blue Note Re:imagined II once again infuses the spirit of the new UK jazz generation into the legendary label’s iconic catalog, balancing the genre’s tradition with its future and reflecting the melting pot of talent and diversity within the current scene.