Jazz, as Sonny Rollins once noted, is a music that can absorb so many things and still be jazz. From its most formative stages, the music was a multi-rhythmic and multi-cultural stew. Jazz musicians have from the beginnning, borrowed and built upon classical, pop and rock compositions.

Bjork. her music is described as a fertile ground for improvisers

In that light, a current trend, highlighted in the New York Times, is very instructive.

Outside of her fan base, Iceland native Bjork is probably best known as the woman who performed at the Oscars wearing a swan for a dress. However, an important and growing part of her constituency is in the jazz world, where the pop singer is increasingly recognised as the leading composer of new material; some feel that her songs may become the new standards.

"She's a musician's musician," said pianist Jason Moran, who covered Bjork's Joga on his 2000 disc, Facing Left (Blue Note). "Many of her songs tread an uncommon path in terms of instrumentation, lyrics or emotional landscape within her voice."

At the time, Moran's choice seemed like a novelty. But soon after, saxophonist Greg Osby, one of Moran's mentors, performed All Neon Like on his 2002 disc, Inner Circle (Blue Note). That same year, trumpeter Dave Douglas played yet another Bjork track Unison on his release, The Infinite (RCA). A trend has undoubtedly been born.

Pianist and vocalist Rachel Z added her take of Joga to her recent release Grace (Chesky Records). Guitarist/ vocalist Badi Assad deftly tackled Bachlorette on his album Verde (Universal International). Keyboardist Larry Goldings offers an inspired rendition of Cocoon on his forthcoming disc, Quartet (due out from Palmetto on Jan. 24); and vocalist Janis Siegel turns the introspective Hidden Place into a Latin jazz romp on her March release A Thousand Beautiful Things (Telarc).

In addition, performers like pianist Brad Mehldau and vocalists Dianne Reeves and Mary LaRose have incorporated Bjork's songs into their live performances.

Not since the late '60s, when the jazz community welcomed the gentle harmonies of the Beatles' early work into their repertoire, have so many jazz musicians embraced the music of a pop star.

"Bjork's songs have a wonderful sense of form, especially when things should build, or collapse, or change," said Goldings. He added that he was attracted to her melodies, dramatic singing and use of space.
Rachel Z said Joga affected her emotionally.

"It explained exactly how I felt as a single woman trying to pursue music and love in New York City; I felt so alone at the time, but the song moved me and gave me courage."

For Assad and Siegel, the principal challenge was making their versions distinctive. In adding Brazilian rhythms to Bachlorette, Assad felt she could incorporate the song into her world. For Siegel, the Latin elements enabled her to stay true to Bjork's singing style, which she described as "emotional and yet abstract".

During their conversations with me, several of these artistes floated the possibility of doing an entire album of Bjork's music, but up-and-coming saxophonist/arranger Travis Sullivan may beat them to it. He has organised an 18-piece big band called the Bjorkestra devoted entirely to her music, and after three years of building a solid following by playing small rooms like Joe's Pub and The Knitting Factory in New York, and jazz clubs in Boston and Philadelphia, the band will try their hand at a mid-size New York rock venue, The Bowery Ballroom.

Eight years ago, Sullivan was working with a big band that had a Scandinavian singer. To surprise the vocalist, he took a stab at arranging Bjork's 1995 composition Hyper-ballad for the group. "It was a very cool vehicle for the band; the music had a lot of interesting counter-melodies and a very distinct but light groove." He liked the results, but nothing more came of the endeavor until four years later. While listening to some of Bjork's recordings, he grew fascinated by the concept of arranging her music as the basis for a band.

"Her melodies have a folk-song-like effect, but there are so many electronic textures in the music," he said. "The challenge is to maintain the simplicity without diminishing the power of the music." He began with songs like Army of me and Cocoon and built steadily until the group's book now features about 15 of her songs.

While Sullivan has developed his group, he noticed his peers covering Bjork's songs, and it didn't surprise him. "Her music has a lot of really fertile ground for improvisers."
He's contacted Bjork through her management and heard that she's aware of the trend in the jazz world and pleased. "I just hope someday she'll be at a gig and come up and sing the encore with us."

Bjork (whose last name is Gundmundsdottir) first came to prominence in the late '80s as the singer in the Icelandic alternative rock band, The Sugarcubes. When that band split up in 1992, she pursued a solo career and had immediate success with her unique combination of guttural vocals, inquisitive lyrics, and accessible dance rhythms.

Dance-floor workouts like Human Behaviour and Big Time Sensuality propelled her first recording, Debut (Elektra, 1992), to solid commercial success. She offered a broader range of material - including a cover of the mid-1950s big band hit It's Oh So Quiet - on her follow-up, Post (Elektra, 1995). The recording added to her growing critical acclaim, though it failed to broaden her fan base substantially.

Bjork's 1997 recording, Homogenic (Elektra), established her as a key figure in contemporary pop. It opens with the lines "I thought I could organise freedom/ how Scandinavian of me" sung in a voice that conveys both deep lamentation and a vigorous, resilient spirit. The album's sound is sweeping and orchestral, featuring strings from the Icelandic String

Octet and harps and accordions from her frequent collaborator, Zeena Parkins.

Her subsequent releases, the exquisitely intimate Vespertine (Elektra 2001) and Medulla (Atlantic, 2004), which was highlighted by dense vocal layers, have solidified her reputation as a creative force in popular music.
Still, it was a surprise that many of her songs are moving into the jazz songbook.

In the nearly 40 years since performers began doing Lennon-McCartney covers, stellar music from Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan and Paul Simon have failed to make much of a dent in the contemporary jazz repertoire. Why Bjork?

Goldings sees her use of electronics to create a soft, ambient element in her sound as a key. "Bjork seems to thrive on creating her own sounds, so that the listener often does not know what they are hearing," he said.
"It's a particular challenge to find a way to re-create that in an acoustic setting."

Electronic pop music has been a growing niche since the early '90s, and it incorporates aspects of 20th-century classical music, art rock, and the avant-garde wing of hip-hop. Dozens, if not hundreds, of jazz musicians have sought ways to integrate elements of this new style into their own performances.

Perhaps in that light, their embrace of Bjork, the performer who has done the most to bring melody and song into the style, seems less like a surprise than something that was inevitable.
"Her music is already part of the standards of my generation," said Moran, who is 31. "Not too long ago, I was asked what music I play, and I answered Brahms, Bjork and Ellington."

Reggae king Bob Marley has already gotten the smooth jazz treatment, via Lee Ritenour's "A Twist of.." series and eight-string guitarist Charlie Hunter has covered the Natty Dread album.

Bob aside, are there any of our reggae and even dancehall artistes that could merit the straight-ahead jazz treatment? Third World perhaps? Time will tell.

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