The great songs from the Golden Age of American popular music—the era of Gershwin and Porter—have been sung and done a thousand ways in jazz. The Vicious World septet asks the question: Why not the songs of more contemporary writers? Well, it's been happening for decades already, from jazz renditions of the Beatles in the '60s through recent takes on Nirvana and King Crimson. Vicious World's contribution is an album's worth of Rufus Wainwright, with unique angles of interpretation on “Going to a Town” and transforming “This Love Affair” into a loud collision of hard rock and jazz. With a lineup including violin and cello along with guitar, saxophone, trombone and bass, they have little difficulty rearranging Wainwright's sophisticated pop melodies in unexpected ways.
Vicious World
Plays the Music of Rufus Wainwright (Spinaround Records)
