Probably not what they meant by jazz docent.

Some pretty serious jazz cats---James Carter and Cyrus Chestnut among them---have recorded an album made up entirely of Pavement covers. Follow the link and you'll hear a solo piano rendition by Chestnut of "Trigger Cut." From a marketing perspective, there is a certain genius to this (as there was to The Bad Plus covering Nirvana, Blondie, etc.), though one wonders whether the indie kids will bother listening to it, as knowledge that it exists may be all that is required. Maybe one download for the obligatory "Summer Babe" mix disc track. It's "tentatively scheduled" to release in spring '05.

This is a pretty odd project, even given the recent spate of rock and funk tunes coming out of the jazz camp. (See also Jason Moran's "Planet Rock" and others.) For one thing, one Pavement cover from this crew would probably turn heads; an album's worth indicates an interest in the band's oeuvre that goes well beyond casual, and well beyond any marketing considerations. For another: Cyrus Chestnut listens to Pavement? Yay. It's hard to express why this makes me happy; it may simply come down to the notion that someone with an unerring ear for music---and generally music of a different sort---has settled on something that I like a lot, thereby allowing me to bask in some kind of good-taste-by-proxy glow. Or maybe it's that glorious mosaic thingy Dinkins was always invoking. Or maybe it's just some weird side project.

Then again, maybe it's not even that odd.

[Pavement news via hip priest S/FJ.]