Nick Drake News

(10/5/98, 2 p.m. PDT) - Following his premature death at the age of 26, Nick Drake's introspective recordings were largely forgotten by a public that had never really embraced him in the first place. That is changing, however. Fueled in part by a 1994 retrospective, Way To Blue, interest in Drake's music is being revived by a new generation of musicians and fans attracted to his stark, melancholy songs.

Drake's music has also been embraced by a less obvious population--the jazz world. Two new jazz releases--singer Andy Bey's Shades Of Bey and pianist Brad Mehldau's Songs: The Art Of The Trio, Vol. 3--both contain cover versions of the same moody song, "River Man," a coincidence that might strike some as unusual. Not Herb Jordan, who produced Bey's album and who is a longtime fan of Drake's music.

Drake wrote sophisticated songs in the spirit of great jazz composers like Billy Strayhorn, Jordan says. "It's hard to take a three-chord rock song and make a jazz song out of it," says the producer, who plans to record more of Drake's work in the future. "Nick gives you a lot to work with. It's powerful stuff."

-- Erik Pedersen, Los Angeles