Simon & Garfunkel
Live 1969
Columbia Legacy
By George W. Harris

I know what you’re thinking, “What are Simon and Garfunkel doing in a jazz review?!?” Well, the fact of the matter is, if jazz is ever going to get past The Great American Songbook, it needs to look at other sources for composers. Back in the 60s, one of the greatest songwriting teams was the duo of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. To this day, while Art Garfunkel is polishing of his Pete Best award for leaving a band in order to live a life of artistic obscurity, Simon is still going strong making some incredibly creative music, some of which has been covered by the likes of Brad Mehldau. This collection of various concert gigs serves as a great sampler of tunes that could easily work into the jazz canon, and it’s hard to put down such wonderful harmonies as well. Tunes like “Song for the Asking “ and “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright” are begging for instrumental/improvisational interpretation. The whimsical simplicity of “The 59th Street Bridge Song” and “At The Zoo” are excellent foundations for some tenor player to start building on. We need to put a moratorium on Gershwin and Porter, and look to guys like S&G, Tom Waits and even Warren Zevon, and see what can be culled from the present generation. This disc is an excellent place to start.