2006年VOA标准英语-Lington Gives Popular Song the Smooth Jazz Trea

By Doug Levine
Washington
28 October 2006

Saxophonist Michael Lington became a fan of American jazz while growing up in his native Denmark.  It was a passion so strong that he eventually settled down in the U.S. and launched a recording¹ career.  In a recent interview with VOA's Doug Levine, Michael Lington spoke² about his newly-acquired solo fame and his latest album, A Song For You, dedicated³ to some very special pop classics.

It seems like everybody is going back to their musical roots these days.  But it isn't often that a tribute come from a jazz instrumentalist.  For Michael Lington, it was the chance of a lifetime to go into the studio and re-work some of the biggest hits of the 1970s and '80s.

"This album is terribly exciting," says Mr. Lington.  "It's a dream come true, really.  Thinking about how impossible it seemed to do an album with a full orchestra, with [producer] Randy Waldman, and my dream band.  Realizing that that actually did happen, it's a pretty amazing feeling."

"When I was 14, I just got so influenced by jazz and R&B, and singers, and singers-songwriters, and I lost interest with the clarinet, basically," he adds.  "I didn't hear David Sanborn play the clarinet.  I didn't hear Grover Washington, Junior, play the clarinet.  I didn't hear Michael Brecker play the clarinet.  So to me, I started getting really interested in that [saxophone] sound.  And it was in the same family of instruments.  Basically, it was just a natural progression that I was growing up and I got interested in another style."

It's been a long time since Michael Lington made the switch from clarinet to saxophone, but with encouragement from producer Randy Waldman and a week's worth of practice, he performed a clarinet solo on the intro to "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word."

Even with such non-traditional arrangements, Lington is hearing only good things about his new release.

"What's interesting about it is that people outside the format⁴, people that may not know about me or 'smooth jazz' react in an amazing way, very positively⁵ to this album," he says.  "Because not only are they songs they are familiar with but the whole treatment is very classic and very non-genre driven.  It's just music."

Michael Lington's A Song For You provides a nostalgic return to the peak of pop music's singer-songwriter era.  It was a time when the charts were dominated by Elton John, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and Carole King, whose hit song "It's Too Late" only seems to get better with age.

1 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

4 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

5 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。