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My most recent Battle of the Bands post of May 1st pitted a couple of jazzed up versions of Gabriel Faure's beautiful classical piece "Pavane". When I listen to the version as it was intended to be performed it almost seems like a sacrilege to have jazzed up versions. But then I listen to either of those versions and realize it works--either one of them stands well on it's own. I prefer the original as the composer intended, but I enjoy my Battle picks as well.
The first time I ever recall hearing a version of Faure's "Pavane" was the one by Brian Auger on his great eclectic collection with his band The Trinity on the album Befour. I was already a Brian Auger and the Trinity fan after having seen them perform in 1968 on the This Is Tom Jones television show with vocalist Julie Driscoll. Very impressed with their style, I got their albums Streetnoise and Jools & Brian. Later when Auger's Befour album sans Driscoll came out I was still in his camp and not disappointed. It's a great album for those who enjoy jazz rock.
Though recorded a few years before Auger's album, I didn't discover Stan Getz's album Voices until the late 90's. The CD version I found has the Voices album paired with another similarly styled album called Cool Velvet. What an album pairing! After reading the liner notes I learned that the song on the album that is called "Once" was actually a mellow jazz reworking of Faure's "Pavane". It was only recently that I made the connection between Auger's version and the one by Getz.
So how did the two versions fare with you the readers? For me it's such a tough choice. It's one of those things that might have a different answer depending on the time of day and my mood. But over all since I seem to lean toward a more mellow sound the older I get, I'm going to go with the Getz version called "Once". That doesn't make Auger's version less great in my eyes, but my trending taste in music gives Getz my vote.
The majority of you felt like I did and so Getz came out ahead with 13 votes. Auger's 9 votes was not a bad showing though and might have gotten the win if more of you had been in a jazz rock mood. It was a good contest.
Final Vote: Stan Getz 13 Brian Auger 9
Do you enjoy when classical works are given a modern music style treatment? Do you like it when rock songs are given a classical treatment? Have you heard any of the string quartet albums that give classical treatment to songs by well known rock acts (e.g.--The String Quartet Tribute to Led Zeppelin)?
Next Battle of the Bands will be on Thursday May 15th.
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