The original has the long drum solo and general noodling that makes up way more of the track than the famous riff. (Is that the best riff ever? Might make for a thread.) Even some live Brubeck versions cut down the noodling. So versions that stick more closely to the riff while allowing for individual instruments to play around a little sound honestly better to me.
Must be. It’s been featured in countless films.
Regarding the drum solo, it will always be special to me not only as a drummer, but it was the first time I heard anything played with headphones on, in stereo!
Man, I thought I had died and gone to heaven, just listening to Morello and his stick/kick control!
Quasi
Hmmm… that’s why it didn’t work for me, if I may respectfully dissent.
I’m all for unconventional interpretations of classical pieces but the percussion is too far up front and it almost drowns out the melody at times. In other words, it makes the piece sound too busy.
When the guy settles down and relies on accents to compliment the melody, it sounds smoother. Other times, especially in the beginning, he’s playing in this frantic triple-time cadence that needs to be dialed down a notch or four.
But for that, yeah, sure it’s great.
They do? I love the sitar.
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The sitar is often used badly or played badly in Western music. For example, Ravi Shankar has said he can’t listen to Beatles songs that use the sitar because it’s played so badly.
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The kind of music that sitars are traditionally used for has some very different assumptions about the construction and direction of a musical work. Having grown up with Western music, I personally find classical Indian music difficult to listen to because it doesn’t follow the patterns that my musical ear expects to hear.
Yeah, that was the other thing I noticed. The tabla player is fan-freaking-tastic, but the tabla is just wayyy over the top for what is normally such a laid-back and “cool” tune. I get to hear a reasonable bit of traditional Indian music and the tabla isn’t always so crazy busy all the time, so it’s not like it’s just a matter of the style. It’s just that the piece needs a good bit of air and space, in my opinion.
I am so happy I watched this!
Cite? That doesn’t sound like something a teacher/mentor would say about his student.
I dunno, there’s a lot of fast hi-hat in the original, and the drum solo goes pretty indulgent in a lot of versions from the original. I think it’s quite in keeping with the ethos!
Re: The tabla segments.
I’m trying to imagine what the piece might have sounded like, had he kept to the original Morello-played solo.
Joe used snare, toms and bass during that solo. The tune (IIRC) was in 5/4, so he was pretty much on his own as far as counting because he didn’t have that Brubeck piano keeping him “in place” during that time.
I’m thinking that these guys just didn’t want to go that deeply into it and just let him play his little fills and then came back in with full orchestra (band? What would you call those guys?).
I like what the drummer did here, but I have to wonder, listening back to the original, if he could have pulled it off the way Joe did.
I’d like to hear from some other drummers on this one.
Thanks
Quasi
All I can say is that I heard Ravi Shankar himself say it in a radio interview. I don’t remember the program or the exact words, but the upshot is that he said that the sitar parts were essentially unlistenable.
He says something similar, if milder here:
Really fun to see - I agree with your take on the string arrangements - too much, but cool overall…
A little hotter than I normally hear it, but beautiful. Masterful arrangement.
Somewhere Paul Desmond is smiling.
Violins and 'cellos? That’s a strings section.
Nice. For more fusion music, here’s something by Ananda Shankar: - YouTube and Ananda Shankar - Light My Fire - YouTube. Enjoy!
A sitar-driven, shagadelic/psychedelic arrangement of Jumpin’ Jack Flash. No really - what time capsule was this found in? 
I actually kinda like those.
Very interesting, I agree with pulykamell, the strings really are a bit off - they sound like out of a bad sample library and the players look like they were just pulled from their other job at the assembly line. Loved the sitar and tabla. Great fusion!
Yeah, that I knew.
However, with a conductor and a percussionist, I was thinking there might be another term.
Maybe we need to make one up. “Jazz Fusion Strings With Percussion”? Too long?
Q