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"Jazz It Up" with Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus

"Jazz It Up" with Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus

Date: Jun 08 2009

Themes: Celebrity, Music

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Ethan Iverson, pianist for acoustic jazz trio the Bad Plus, admits that the band “rocks out” on stage. They also play rock clubs and do their own versions of songs by Nirvana, Radiohead and the Bee Gees, among others. All of these things make them one of the most hip and popular jazz acts in the world.

Whenever they cover a song, they put their own spin on it. It sounds totally new. They really jazz it up, not just by making it a jazz song, but by adding a flair the original version doesn’t have.

Now based in New York, the band is originally from Wisconsin, farm country in the middle of the US. These days, they pack up their stand up bass and play their complex compositions as well as improvised music all over the world. This week, they are touring Brazil before a show in Germany (click here for tour dates). Listen to Ethan talk with Jason about the band’s new album, For All I Care, on which they jazz up songs by 11 different artists.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Jason

Ethan

Ethan

Jason:  You guys are about to go to Brazil. It’s a place with a lot of jazz culture. Is it different than playing other places?

Ethan:  We’ve played Brazil a few times and always really enjoyed it. South America in general is a very warm audience.

Jason:  Do you guys work in any bossa novas or anything into the set?

Ethan:  No, we don’t play any Brazilian music, in part because we have too much respect. We don’t want to intrude on their territory.

Jason:  Very cool. Almost all of your new album is rock songs. But there’s a couple classical songs thrown on there too. What do you think ties it together?

Ethan:  What’s important there is that it’s 20th century classical music, in other words, the avant-garde. And there’s the sound of the avant-garde in our music anyway.

Jason:  I was thinking about what you guys do with sort of how you take these tunes and you jazz them up. And so I thought maybe that would be a good idiom for you to teach.

Ethan:  The idea of reinterpretation or cover has, you know, been around a long time. Classical musicians actually, like…Beethoven, would write a variation on a famous opera tune of the day. And then, in the first part of the 20th century, jazz musicians would take the popular songs and improvise off them. You take the melody and the chord changes and you sort of work out your own version of it. So when the Bad Plus plays rock covers, it’s not a straight cover, but it’s something that sounds like the Bad Plus.

Jason:  The phrase to jazz something up isn’t always used with jazz or with music. How would you use it just in regular daily life?

Ethan:  Well, I think you make it sparkly or give it some excitement to jazz something up.

Jason:  Right on.

 

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Ethan explains that the phrase “jazz it up” comes from when the first jazz musicians would play their own versions of popular songs of the time. But you don’t have to play jazz, or even play an instrument, to jazz something up.

Any time you make something better, you jazz it up. If you hang some new pictures in your office, one of your co-workers might say, “Thanks for jazzing the place up a little!” If you help your friend make her essay for school more fun to read, you helped her jazz it up. A similar phrase is spruce it up, only it usually means to make something nicer, while if you jazz something up, you give it more excitement.

When the Bad Plus plays Brazil this week, they won’t be doing any bossa novas. They don’t think Brazilian music needs any jazzing up. What needs jazzing up in your life?

Visit the Bad Plus’ official website and see if they’re coming to your town soon!

 

Comments

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gantle

gantle

Bangladesh

juzz it up

12:14 PM Jun 12 2009 |

Isis4ee

Isis4ee

Japan

What needs jazzing up in MY LIFE?!

I need think about it….mmmmm…..Sealed

09:39 PM Jun 11 2009 |

eru1071

eru1071

United Kingdom

jazz everything up, make them better.

07:13 PM Jun 11 2009 |

erhnakyz

erhnakyz

Turkey

Reallly good idiom. Jazz it up.

 

 I have to jazz everything up in my life,so I was bored a lot.

04:22 PM Jun 11 2009 |

Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

I like jazz mixed with drum'n'bass,is really cool! ;)

Nice to receive this band here in Brazil,though I don't know them…Welcome :)

12:14 AM Jun 11 2009 |

Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

I need to jazz up my “spoke english!”,for this I have to leave Brazil! hehe

12:09 AM Jun 11 2009 |

ciberd7

ciberd7

Brazil

I live in Brazil and I agree with them when they say they don´t wanna jazz Brasilian music up because it´s already good enough for listening and playing that it doesn´t need any improvement.

I´d jazz everything up. There´s a lot of things we´d jazz up, for example: that old car you´ve been spending time driving, your house or your dog! It could be something very different, but I´d work!

03:14 PM Jun 09 2009 |

ciberd7

ciberd7

Brazil

I live in Brazil and I agree with them when they say they don´t wanna jaz Brasilian musics up because it´s already good enough for listening and playing that I doesn´t need any improvement.

I´d jazz everything up. There´s a lot of things we´d jazz up, for example: that old car you´ve been spending time driving, your house or your dog! It could be something very different, but I´d work!

03:12 PM Jun 09 2009 |

aaraar

aaraar

Qatar

Mmmm .. I think i need to jazzing my house up .. becuase i really deny it for a long time … 

05:55 AM Jun 09 2009 |

superstars

Turkey

"What needs jazzing up in your life?"

 

 

I think, People should not do anything for jazz it up.Because, of life always waiting for something that may need to be unhappy all the time

10:53 PM Jun 08 2009 |

Ca_Brazil

Ca_Brazil

Brazil

id like to jazz my carrier up, now it would be great if something works out for the best in my life. 

09:50 PM Jun 08 2009 |

blue_bear

blue_bear

Taiwan

Jazz music is nice and light. I like it!

07:53 PM Jun 08 2009 |

Connie

Connie

China

its ok

07:30 PM Jun 08 2009 |

Connie

Connie

China

its ok

07:30 PM Jun 08 2009 |

Connie

Connie

China

its ok

 

07:30 PM Jun 08 2009 |

only_rock

only_rock

Azerbaijan

good

05:07 PM Jun 08 2009 |

lgb0214

China

Smooth Jazz not too bad. I fell to love it.

04:56 PM Jun 08 2009 |

Dolly87

Dolly87

Egypt

Mmm… i think i need to jazz up my room abit… using some soft shades of pink, lavender and violet on my curtains, pillows, and carpet…... some nice wall art,,,, a creamy fur blanket…...... some fresh natural roses….... and a couple Vanilla scented candels

and then i'll fall asleep :D

04:37 PM Jun 08 2009 |

silva_zhang

China

I always wanna jazz our process up, but firstly you should get some power and resouce to do this.

03:38 PM Jun 08 2009 |

Josepha

Germany

I don't like Jazz. It's horrible.

03:28 PM Jun 08 2009 |

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