Not-so-instant replays

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This article was published 16/06/2023 (1164 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jazz Winnipeg has city bands on the run.

The reason is Spirit of ’73, a new four-night series for the Winnipeg International Jazz Festival that begins Sunday. Four local groups are taking a stab at four famous albums from 50 years ago that have changed the face of music.

Among those performers are Erin Propp and Larry Roy, the city duo that has the task of putting their own spin on Band on the Run, the 1973 record that remains Paul McCartney and Wings’ most successful album.

The tricky part is that Propp is only 39, born a decade after McCartney released famous singles such as Jet and the album’s title track, which have become synonymous with his post-Beatles career.

“My parents weren’t even married yet,” says Propp, who, along with Roy and other city jazz musicians, will perform Band on the Run on Wednesday at the Fort Garry Hotel Club Room.

“I don’t know a lot about it, but I’m learning all the music now. I’m certainly familiar with the Beatles repertoire but I’ve never followed a lot of the Wings’ music.”

When Jazz Winnipeg programs manager Zachary Rushing pitched the Spirit of ’73 concept to Propp and Roy, they were given dozens of great records from 1973 to choose from.

Joni Mitchell, one of pop’s superstars in the early ’70s, whose music is in the duo’s repertoire, didn’t release an album that year. It was guitarist Roy, a child of the 1960s and ’70s, who decided Band on the Run was something they could try.

“The song forms are non-traditional and it’s always fun to explore how another songwriter thinks about song form: why did they put that section here, why did they cut that section short?” Propp says. “It’s always a lesson when you transcribe someone else’s songs. There’ll be some Wings music that influences my music at some point. It’ll always be a surprise.”

Roy and Propp have enlisted bassist Karl Kohut and vocalist Karly Epp to help out, along with Joyce German on saxophone and Kasey Kurtz on guitar and keyboards.

Propp says a special guest will be Chris Sawatzky from Winnipeg punk group the Ripperz, who will play a critical part in the show.

“He’s one of my favourite male vocalists in the city and I think he sounds a fair bit like Paul McCartney, so we’re having him guest on one tune that night. It’s going to be great.”

Apollo Suns will be on much more familiar musical turf for their part of Spirit of ’73 on Monday.

The nine-piece instrumental psychedelic jazz-rock band, which has won two Western Canadian Music Awards, will crank it up for its rendition of Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd’s landmark record, which sat on the Billboard 200 albums chart for 736 weeks.

“Pink Floyd was one of my first deep dives into music. I must have been 15 or 16, and I immediately loved it,” says frontman and guitarist Ed Durocher, 35. “It’s a special moment of time when that band and those individuals were in tune with what they wanted to do.”

Apollo Suns have been on tour for most of the past month — they released a new single, Pluto, in May and have a new album coming out later in 2023 — so they’ll be doing Dark Side of the Moon cram sessions to prepare for their gig.

They’ll be using audio samples to match the album’s most recognizable song, Money, which begins with the repeated sound of a cash register, followed by its famous bass riff, but Durocher says they’ll add a 21st- century twist to Time, which on Pink Floyd’s version features the chimes of a grandfather clock.

“We could try to do it note for note but so many people have,” he says. “We’re thinking of using cellphone rings and doing it that way. No one has a grandfather clock any more, so how about an annoying Rogers ringtone or something like that.”

Vox Populi, the Carter Graham-led quintet that includes Kevin Waters, Aaron Shorr, Julian Bradford and Sheena Rattai, will tackle Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions in the series opener Sunday night.

Tuesday night’s subject album is Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters, performed by funk group Ego Spank, which includes bassist Gilles Fournier, guitarist Murray Pulver, Marc Arnould on keyboard and drummer Daniel Roy.

The series includes a dinner-and-a-show option, with a three-course meal beginning at 6 p.m., for $123, or $43 for those who wish to attend just the show, which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m. each night.

alan.small@winnipegfreepress.com

Twitter: @AlanDSmall