{"id":31082,"date":"2026-02-01T00:11:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/?p=31082"},"modified":"2025-12-28T11:26:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T19:26:01","slug":"peter-sprague-all-you-need-is-love-peter-sprague-plays-the-beatles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/peter-sprague-all-you-need-is-love-peter-sprague-plays-the-beatles\/","title":{"rendered":"PETER SPRAGUE: All You Need Is Love\u2014Peter Sprague Plays the Beatles"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When your loyal correspondent was in third grade, the Beatles announced they were breaking up. My teacher was in her first year out of college, in her early 20s. I only remember any of this because I was stunned to see my teacher crying that morning. Through her tears, she told us that the greatest band in history had just broken up. She sent the A\/V kid to the office to get a record player, and then she played \u201cLet It Be\u201d for the class of eight-year-olds.<\/p>\n

For those of us of a certain age, the Beatles maintain an emotional hold the way that Little Richard and Elvis did our parents, and Sinatra and Count Basie our grandparents.<\/p>\n

So, there is little surprise in guitarist Peter Sprague continuing to revisit the catalog of what he readily acknowledges was his favorite band growing up. The influences were always there, even in his straightest-ahead of his jazz playing.<\/p>\n

What is a bit of a surprise\u2014a continuing surprise\u2014are the evocative vocals of Rebecca Jade in tackling the Beatles on Sprague\u2019s projects, given that she was born a full decade after their demise.<\/p>\n

Her inspired takes on their songs speaks to the stellar quality of many of the Beatles\u2019 compositions\u2014which is sometimes overlooked because they were also such great performers that it can be difficult for other artists to escape the shadow of the original versions of these songs.<\/p>\n

But just as modern jazz singers keep returning to the Great American Songbook of the 1920s-1950s because the compositions offer the kind of complexity and depth that allow for a near-endless re-interpretation, so does Jade seemingly find similar inspiration in the works of the Beatles.<\/p>\n

All You Need Is Love <\/em>is Sprague\u2019s second full-length dive into the Beatles in the last half-decade (following 2022\u2019s Day Tripper<\/em>), this time delivering a full 10 songs by the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team, plus a cover that anchored early Beatles\u2019 sets and an original tribute to the band.<\/p>\n

While Jade was the sole vocalist on Day Tripper<\/em>, here she shares singing duties with longtime Sprague colleagues Allison Adams Tucker and Leonard Patton. On the tracks where Jade is featured, though, she picks up where Day Tripper <\/em>left off\u2014delivering performances of tremendous emotion and imagination, yet wholly embedded in a Beatles vibe.<\/p>\n

\u201cGot to Get You into My Life\u201d kicks the album off with a pretty loyal opening, Tripp Sprague (sax) and Paul Seaforth (trumpet) laying down a horn chart fairly close to that on the 1966 original from Revolver<\/em>. (It charted again when released as a single in 1976 to support the Beatles compilation Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Music<\/em>.) Jade\u2019s vocal is loyal to the original, but adds to it\u2014bending notes, soaring far above Macca\u2019s own range.<\/p>\n

While the Beatles\u2019 version featured a magnificent guitar break by George Harrison\u2014a short but key passage that was emulated in purpose if not stylistically by Georg Wadenius on Blood, Sweat & Tears\u2019 1975 cover, and Al McKay on Earth Wind & Fire\u2019s 1978 version\u2014Sprague never takes a true solo, instead playing a short break after Tripp\u2019s extended improvisation and then engaging in a running call and response with pianist Danny Green before Jade jumps back in to carry it to the close.<\/p>\n

It is beguilingly lovely.<\/p>\n

On \u201cNowhere Man,\u201d Jade not only anchors the track with her rich vocals but provides a backing chorus that echoes the Fab Four\u2019s own vocal harmonies. And on Chuck Berry\u2019s \u201cRoll Over Beethoven\u201d (which the Beatles had covered when starting out), Sprague\u2019s arrangement doesn\u2019t even try to out-rock Berry, instead simmering just below boiling, Jade\u2019s vocals bouncing along closer to a jump blues. And who knew Danny Green could channel Berry\u2019s pianist Johnnie Johnson so completely?<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most interesting track is \u201cThe Beatles, an homage Sprague co-wrote with local singer-songwriter Deborah Liv Johnson as the flip side of her 1988 single \u201cEight O\u2019Clock Journey,\u201d which Sprague produced and played on. This is at least the second time Sprague has revisited the track, having also recorded an instrumental version on his 2009 outing, The Peter Sprague String Consort<\/em>. (Interestingly, in addition to Sprague, drummer Duncan Moore has played on all three versions.)<\/p>\n

On this take, the arrangement hews close to the original, albeit with Sprague\u2019s guitar intro slowed down considerably from the 1988 version. Jade\u2019s vocal range is similar to that of Johnson\u2014as is the tonal purity of her voice. Also, as on the original, Sprague adds in synthesized strings.<\/p>\n

The gorgeous melody is a wondrous vehicle for Jade\u2019s voice and Sprague\u2019s guitar, and it\u2019s nice to hear this overlooked local gem given another arrangement.<\/p>\n

The title track closes out the album, again with Jade on vocals following another horn chart that is a knowing nod to that on the original. Here, Jade\u2019s high-register vocals offer a different take from the Fab Four, and Peter\u2019s stately solo on guitar matches Harrison\u2019s original in pacing but doesn\u2019t have the heavy distortions and effects Harrison employed. Too, his extrapolations are as imbued with jazz references as they are with the melodic theme. Tripp\u2019s solo on sax is equally endearing<\/p>\n

Tucker and Sprague\u2019s previous collaborations have mostly skewed toward Brazilian jazz\u2014and the arrangement for \u201cYou Won\u2019t See Me\u201d definitely has a bit of a bossa nova groove to it, with Tripp adding in another level of tropical warmth on flute.<\/p>\n

Tucker\u2019s high-end register on vocals is a perfect match for \u201cNorwegian Wood,\u201d which is approached in a pretty straight-ahead jazz vein. The slowly undulating arrangement on \u201cYou\u2019ve Got to Hide Your Love Away\u201d is another showcase for Tucker\u2019s expressive singing.<\/p>\n

Patton takes lead vocals on \u201cLucy in the Sky with Diamonds.\u201d Largely eschewing the psychedelic overtones of both the original and Elton John\u2019s hit cover, the opening third of the song is performed at a relaxed tempo before the first chorus hands the lead over to Tripp on synthesized reed (EWI). His extended solo adds in a bit of the out-there that so defined the original.<\/p>\n

Patton and Tucker team up on vocals for \u201cGetting Better,\u201d engaging in both call and response and then deeply layered harmonies that are a treat all in themselves.<\/p>\n

Sans voice, the stripped-down duet of \u201cBlackbird\u201d with only Sprague\u2019s guitar and Mack Leighton on bass cuts right to the heart of the song. A similar effect is achieved with an instrumental quintet reading of \u201cShe\u2019s Leaving Home.\u201d<\/p>\n

As mentioned above, many\u2014if not most\u2014attempts to tackle the Beatles\u2019 songbook end up being eclipsed by the originals.<\/p>\n

Sprague and his cohorts put their own stamp on the music with this outing, making clear that not only were the Beatles tremendous performers, but John Lennon and Paul McCartney were also uniquely gifted composers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When your loyal correspondent was in third grade, the Beatles announced they were breaking up. My teacher was in her first year out of college, in her early 20s. I only remember any of this because I was stunned to see my teacher crying that morning. Through her tears, she told us that the greatest band in history had just broken up. She sent the A\/V kid to the office to get a record player, and then she played \u201cLet It Be\u201d for the class of eight-year-olds. For those of us of a certain age, the Beatles maintain an emotional hold the way that Little Richard and Elvis did our parents, and Sinatra and Count Basie our grandparents. So, there is little surprise in guitarist Peter Sprague continuing to revisit the catalog of what he readily acknowledges was his favorite band growing up. The influences were always there, even in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cd-reviews"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31082"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31085,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31082\/revisions\/31085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}