Radiohead Jazz Project

Many jazz solo artists and small ensembles have recorded Radiohead songs and frequently include them as “new standards” performance repertoire. To name but a few: Pianist Brad Mehldau, saxophonist Chris Potter, singer Jamie Cullum… It was a logical progression to expand jazz solo and small group interpretations of Radiohead tunes to the large jazz ensemble format, and the RADIOHEAD JAZZ PROJECT is the first grand scale effort to arrange multiple Radiohead compositions for the jazz big band. Jazz composers/arrangers/educators James Miley (Willamette University), Patty Darling and Fred Sturm (Lawrence University Conservatory of Music) established the RJP in the summer of 2010, selecting Radiohead song titles and establishing the international team of jazz artists to arrange the music. The internationally renowned HR Big Band of Frankfurt performed the Radiohead Project in 2011 in Germany.

You’ve got a winner. The charts are all “killers,” and with the good favor of Radiohead, could be a whole new thing for bands. I think these arrangers deserve some praise.

Bill Holman, arranger/composer

Radiohead appeals to jazz musicians in a big, bad way because the music is more complex than your average rock band. Where a lot of pop writing is fairly simplistic, Radiohead’s music has more interesting or complex harmony or forms. The phrasing is bizarre. And they also have a sort of brooding darkness to their music that appeals to a lot of jazz musicians.

Don Scott, guitarist