If you ever wondered how the melodies of Mario 64 would sound rendered by a big-time jazz band….Hang Onto Your Hat. That’s the title of a
new album published by Materia Collective that introduces the world to the Video Game Jazz Orchestra, a Nashville-based group of musicians who plan to cover a wide variety of video games in the old-timey jazz style. They’re starting with Mario 64.
“Koji Kondo’s foundational work for the field of videogame music in his Super Mario 64 soundtrack was already ripe with opportunity to be reimagined in the jazz idiom,” comments lead arranger David Russell. “We thought there was no better time to celebrate these game music standards with these storied and incredibly diverse arrangements. Each of the arrangers on this album are at the top of their game, beautifully walking the line between honoring the original pieces and elevating them in a way that’s never been heard...