Roger Green is one of the most stylistically diverse artists in Colorado.
Green holds his own on the indie-rock circuit, and he also has credits on numerous high-profile jazz releases. The singer-songwriter has a history that includes a long stint with the Czars, a spell with experimental outfit The Way Things Go, numerous friendly collaborations with Porlolo and A Dog, Paloma — and his friendship with trumpet player Ron Miles has blossomed into a full-blown artistic collaboration that goes both ways.
And then there’s his composition that involved 25 electric typewriters — plus guitar, keys, bass and pedal-steel guitar — at the Lab at Belmar.
Yes, Green is an accomplished and fascinating musician. So of course there are some good stories behind his new release, “Clear Running Water,” a half-covers record that pits his own material against that of John Denver, Yoko Ono, Joni Mitchell and “West Side Story.” The Denver Post caught up with Green to talk about the inspirations behind such an odd outing — and his recent trip to a used-record shop.
Q: You just got home from buying some used records. What did you buy today?
A: Today I was focused on older jazz. I got a John Coltrane ballads record with Johnny Hartman. I got some Lenny Tristano, some Chet Baker and some Miles Davis from the ’60s — “Filles de Kilimanjaro.”
Q: Sounds great. What all inspired you to make a record with so many covers?
A: I’d been inspired by a few different things. I’d been playing more jazz because I was on that Ron Miles record last year, and in the jazz world right now there’s this renaissance of jazz players listening to — and covering — songwriters like Elliott Smith and Bjork. It’s now cool in the jazz world to cover Radiohead.
Q: That’s different than indie rock how?
A: In jazz, people play songs other people write, and it’s OK. In the indie rock world, you have to be more selective about it. If I went to the Hi-Dive and played an Elliott Smith cover, it would be uncool. If I played a Radiohead cover, it would be very uncool. But Brad Mehldau covered Radiohead on his last three records — and he’s covered Nick Drake too.
Q: How did you pick the songs?
A: While playing with Ron’s band on the “Blossom” record, we looked back at a lot of childhood-type songs that were really big for Ron’s musical upbringing, and I thought I should do a bit of that myself. With the Joni Mitchell song (“Both Sides Now”), I’d heard Judy Collins’ version on KOSI 101, which was what my mom listened to. And I liked it — even though sometimes I didn’t want to like it.
Q: What was one of the biggest challenges with this record?
A: I wanted to express the things I was feeling at the time through other people’s lyrics, like a torch singer. And it was great to see if I had a voice that was consistent. I could do John Denver, which is cheesy to a lot of people, and Albert Ayler, which is edgy avant-garde jazz from the ’60s, on the same record, and try and make an album make sense.
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
“Clear” for release
Roger Green will release “Clear Running Water” at his CD release party at the Hi-Dive on Jan. 4.
Also playing: Wymond & the Brethren of the Free Spirit, Bad Weather California and Joseph Childress.
Tickets: $6, available at hi-dive.com.
