Rey's Theme Jazz Arrangement

[artguy360 1,843]

I just discovered this on YouTube...and it's surprisingly good! Rey's Theme totally works as a jazz piece and the arrangement is very nice. I'm surprised!

 

https://youtu.be/-Z3FmAxpQZ0

 

What do you all think?

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

Well that is indeed surprisingly good.

I wonder what Williams thinks of this performance, it could provid him ideas to revisit his scores with jazz arrangement after the violin's one

[QuartalHarmony 542]

I hate to say it, but I'm enjoying it more than most of the Trotter Trio Star Wars arrangements from the mid-90s...

[SilverTrumpet 638]

Very modern, but I definitely liked it. It's very creative and doesn't feel like a stretch. 

[Madmartigan JC 85]

Loving it!
Nice and very original arrangement.
I love it when the translation to other genres isn't so 'literal', but more of a freer interpretation.

[MrJosh 892]

Very nice, really enjoyable arrangement, great sax solo too. 

[Datameister 2,037]

I like. It's amazing how many non-jazz tunes can work so well as jazz. I especially dig the false ending...nice homage to one of Williams's proclivities, whether intentional or not.

[Jay 37,284]

Huh.  I was expecting to like this based on the comments, but I didn't.  It's kind of meandering

[artguy360 1,843]

It's certainly a very relaxed take on Rey's Theme and doesn't convey the same heroism as the original. But as a loungey jazz piece, I like it a lot. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

46 minutes ago, Jay said:

Huh.  I was expecting to like this based on the comments, but I didn't.  It's kind of meandering

 

It's jazz.  

[Richard Penna 3,670]

I can hear the creativity behind it, but my reaction is similar to Jay's - it has the meandering qualities that generally turn me away from jazz. I'd lost interest after the first 30 seconds or so.

 

I occasionally like 'big band' sort of jazz when there's a clearly defined melody (Someone In The Crowd from LLL), but very rarely this sort of more relaxed type, like in Whiplash which is a great film, but its actual musical performances bore the crap out of me.

[Datameister 2,037]

I do like the idea of it rather better than the execution. I think a different approach to the arrangement could be more to my tastes. Maybe a little jazz quartet with some spicier harmonies? (But also still maintaining a bit more of a recognizable connection to the original during the solos?) But I did still enjoy this one.

[rough cut 1,714]

Great interpretation!

[crumbs 14,300]

I like it, but it does feel unfocused. My attention started to wane after a few minutes.

 

But I guess that's kinda the point of jazz, being unfocused. Maybe I'm just accustomed to JW's style of jazz, which generally retain the steadfast focus of his film scores.

 

Happy to see people take his music and reinterpret it, though!

[Tom 4,634]

1 hour ago, crumbs said:

I like it, but it does feel unfocused. My attention started to wane after a few minutes.

 

So you are saying this version captures Rey's character arc pretty well then?  

 

j/k--I don't really care.  

[crumbs 14,300]

4 minutes ago, Tom said:

So you are saying this version captures Rey's character arc pretty well then?  

 

j/k--I don't really care.  

 

Heh... Rey does have an arc across the trilogy, but it's certainly unfocused, yeah.

 

Within TROS itself it's like whiplash from one scene to the next. Yeesh!