The David Liebman Trio - Lieb Plays The Beatles

Even in David Liebman's eclectic career, 'Lieb Plays The Beatles' is an unusual departure. He explores 17 Beatles songs (including seven that are part of three medleys) with bassist Marius Beets, drummer Eric Ineke, and occasionally guest saxophonist John Roucco. Liebman is one of the world's leading saxophonists and has played with Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, McCoy Tyner and many others.

Among the songs explored and reinvented are While My Guitar Gently Weeps, The Fool On The Hill (which features Liebman on piano), Something and Blackbird (one of the few Beatles songs that could be considered a jazz standard). Rather than play cover versions of the tunes that are similar to the original recordings, Liebman often changes the tempos, uses the melody as a departure point for his improvisations, varies the instrumentation (which includes some pieces with just two saxophones), and ends up creating new music. In other words, this is not a commercial effort but instead serves as an opportunity for Liebman to dig into the fresh material in unexpected ways.

Personnel: David Liebman (soprano and tenor saxophones, piano, wooden flute), John Ruocco (tenor saxophone, clarinet and bass clarinet), Marius Beets (bass), Eric Ineke (drums)

Liebman is among the most important saxophonists in contemporary music...a leader and artist of integrity and independent direction. - Downbeat Magazine