Trumpeter Michael Sarian Covers “Glory Box” as Cool Jazz

Michael Sarian is a Canadian-Argentinian trumpeter who has been performing jazz in the US for over a decade. He is currently signed to famed trumpeter Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf Music. Though a jazz cover of a trip hop song might seem slightly weird to some, throughout the genre’s history jazz artists have made it a habit of pop covering hits. It’s become less common as jazz has gotten more and more avant garde and esoteric but it’s still a standard part of many jazz musicians’ repertoires to have at least one cover of a pop song. Due to its sound, Portishead‘s”Glory Box” lends itself to a cool jazz approach and that’s mostly Sarian’s approach on his new version.

The iconic bassline begins the track but, because it’s jazz, it’s almost immediately played with. Sarian’s trumpet begins by approximating Beth Gibbons’ vocal line in a pretty class cool jazz style but as the track progresses he begins to deviate from it. There’s a Fender Rhodes solo which would give the cover a classic ’70s jazz feel were it not for the drum part. The piano solo is followed by Sarian’s own solo which mostly plays it by the book until he goes full ’70s Miles Davis with an echo effect on his trumpet. Sarian’s penchant for playing free doesn’t come in until the very end where he makes some extremely high pitched noises in the coda. So it’s cool jazz right up until the last few bars.

As jazz covers of pop songs go, it’s extremely approachable, with the song remaining recognizable almost throughout and almost none of the atonality and discordance that characterizes so much jazz since the 1960s.  Check it out: