Podcast 501: Jazzin' On John Lennon @ 75

Had it not been for an assassin’s bullet on December 8, 1980, John Winston Ono Lennon would have turned 75 years old today. Given that we lost him at the age of 40, it gives one pause to think about how much great music we might have received over the years from his genius. It’s easy to argue that Lennon’s memorable work came in a spectacularly creative period of writing and recording that began with 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night and ended with 1971’s Imagine, followed by a general decline, if not outright silence. But what a body of work that gave us! And given the relative strength of the material on his final sessions in 1979 and 1980, there was definitely hope that an older, more mature, and perhaps more dedicated Lennon was far from finished. Alas, we will never know. Jazz musicians have recorded Lennon material almost since it first appeared, and you can check our previous podcasts that have focuses on Beatles music in my previous “Jazzin’ On…” podcasts of the music of George Harrison, Paul McCartney. and two prior John Lennon podcasts, #142 and #196. Podcast 501 features the following tunes written by John Lennon, during both his Beatles period and solo career, including: Laurence Elder - "Imagine"  Wayne Brasel – “Strawberry Fields Forever” Beatlejazz – “Cold Turkey” Bill Frisell – “Mother” Diane Reeves & Cassandra Wilson – “Come Together” Freddie McCoy – “I Am the Walrus” John Basile – “In My Life” Don Randi Trio – “Tomorrow Never Knows” Ramsey Lewis – “Julia” Steve Marcus – “Rain” Arif Mardin – “Glass Onion” Al DiMeola - "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"  John Pizzarelli – “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”