Jazz Music & Artists That Became Mainstream Hits
- Thread starter ADUHF
- Start date
^ More great suggestions. I commend your memories.
A few more "easy" ones...
"Willkommen" by John Kander & Fred Ebb
A couple tracks from the 1966 musical and 1972 film Cabaret became pretty big mainstream hits. Following are two versions of Joel Grey singing one of those songs. This is from the film...
"Willkommen" by John Kander & Fred Ebb
A couple tracks from the 1966 musical and 1972 film Cabaret became pretty big mainstream hits. Following are two versions of Joel Grey singing one of those songs. This is from the film...
Last edited:
From the Broadway play...
Liza singing the title track from the film (also by Kander & Ebb)...
The original Broadway version by Jill Haworth is also good.
The original Broadway version by Jill Haworth is also good.
Last edited:
"As Time Goes By" by Herman Hupfeld
Another where we have to step in the time machine. This was originally written by Hupfeld in 1931 for the Broadway play Everybody's Welcome. It did not become a widely acknowledged hit though until it was sung by "Sam" (Dooley Wilson) in the classic 1942 film Casablanca.
This is one of several recordings made the same year the song was written...
Another where we have to step in the time machine. This was originally written by Hupfeld in 1931 for the Broadway play Everybody's Welcome. It did not become a widely acknowledged hit though until it was sung by "Sam" (Dooley Wilson) in the classic 1942 film Casablanca.
This is one of several recordings made the same year the song was written...
Last edited:
Narada Michael Walden is a name you may not know well. But I can guarantee you have heard his music.
I first began noticing this guy sometime in the 70's. He had an odd habit of turning up on many of my favorite jazz-fusion/funk tracks, usually as the percussionist, and occasionally also as a singer. Fast forward a few years to the 80's, and the guy is one of the most sought after & successful producers in the music biz. The list of artists he's worked with reads like a who's who of pop music royalty: Aretha, Whitney, Mariah... NMW was to a big extent the sound of popular R&B music in the 80's and into the 90's.
Producing, writing and playing drums is where NMW has really made his mark on mainstream music. But he started out as drummer for the jazz-fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra. And also had a string of moderately successful solo albums in the 70's and 80's, mostly in the funk/disco/R&B genres. One of his best jazz-fusion albums from the early days is Garden of Love Light. Victory was another pretty good one (though mostly R&B) from 1980. There's a definite Star Wars influence on a few tracks on this...
I first began noticing this guy sometime in the 70's. He had an odd habit of turning up on many of my favorite jazz-fusion/funk tracks, usually as the percussionist, and occasionally also as a singer. Fast forward a few years to the 80's, and the guy is one of the most sought after & successful producers in the music biz. The list of artists he's worked with reads like a who's who of pop music royalty: Aretha, Whitney, Mariah... NMW was to a big extent the sound of popular R&B music in the 80's and into the 90's.
Producing, writing and playing drums is where NMW has really made his mark on mainstream music. But he started out as drummer for the jazz-fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra. And also had a string of moderately successful solo albums in the 70's and 80's, mostly in the funk/disco/R&B genres. One of his best jazz-fusion albums from the early days is Garden of Love Light. Victory was another pretty good one (though mostly R&B) from 1980. There's a definite Star Wars influence on a few tracks on this...
Last edited:
Grover Washington's Winelight. Several tracks on this found their way onto mainstream radio.
More Benson. Used for the intro to Bob Fosse's 1979 film All That Jazz.
"On Broadway" by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller.
"On Broadway" by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller.
Last edited:
"Birdland" by Joe Zawinul of Weather Report. With lyrics added by Jon Hendricks.
Last edited:
"Soul Bossa Nova" by Quincy Jones.
Last edited:
"Killer Joe" by Benny Golson (the chap playin sax in this unauthorized vid).
Last edited:
"Exodus" by Ernest Gold, from the Otto Preminger film of the same name. Performed by Quincy Jones band.
Original YT link broken. Still looking for a better replacement, but I'll go with this for now.
Original YT link broken. Still looking for a better replacement, but I'll go with this for now.
Last edited:
Users who are viewing this thread
