ReMix: Super Mario Bros. 2 'Gypsy Jazz'

Sonic & Knuckles 'Lover Reef' prev   list all   next F-Zero 'Voices Broken'
downloadDownload MP3
2,338,794 bytes, 2:26, 128kbps
Stream/preview on YouTubePlay Preview
Streaming preview on YouTube
eStarland.com
Super Mario Bros. 2

MASON!!!!!!!!!!! 2006 marks the first year I've really given a damn about college basketball, almost entirely due to my own school's making it into the Sweet Sixteen, then the Elite Eight, and now... the Final Four. This is the first time a lot of people are hearing about GMU, located in my home town of Fairfax, Virginia, so it's just fun to see the school gain more national recognition. It doesn't change our status as a commuter school located deep in the heart of traffic-plagued suburban sprawl, but it does give us a newfound sense of pride about that sprawl. Thus mad props go to Larranaga, Lewis, Butler, and company. Final Four, baby.

Adrian Holovaty gives us a nice gypsy jazz arrangement/performance of Super Mario Bros. 2 (or Doki Doki Panic, take your pick), channeling Django Reinhardt. As a side note, for some great gypsy jazz guitar tunes and brilliant performances by Sean Penn and Samantha Morton, check out Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown; critically acclaimed and criminally underwatched, it even has a Django Reinhardt (as played by Michael Sprague) cameo in it, and does a superb job of building a mythos around his character. It'll make you appreciate Mr. Holovaty's piece all the more by adding some context. Speaking of the ReMixer, Adrian is actually a net celebrity of sorts, as the main force behind a python framework similar to Ruby on Rails, appropriately named Django, and the founder and developer of www.chicagocrime.org. For those of you who don't speak code, in other words, he's got some serious programming skillz to match his fretwork. This is a brief mix that sticks fairly close to the source, especially in the first half, and centers most arrangement decisions around adaptation to a single instrument. Quoth Jesse:

"the melody and structure are more or less the same as the original, but the rhythm guitar does a wonderful job voicing chords that could not be expressed on NES."

JJT adds:

"the original's chord progression is indicated with a bassline, but the remixer outlines and expands upon that progression with just the rhythm guitar. no bassline is needed. not the most daring arrangement we've ever seen, but there's plenty of interpretation and musicality."

For my money, it's exactly what I would expect an accomplished arrangement of this tune, in the genre of solo gypsy/jazz guitar, to sound like. The recording quality ain't perfect, but if it were clinically pristine it would sound a bit weird. Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay to Mr. Holovaty's piece is that, were I not familiar with the source material, I wouldn't have raised an eyebrow had it been part of the Sweet and Lowdown soundtrack, i.e. it would have fit right in. This is a straightforward ReMix which illustrates that pure musicianship and some thoughtful arrangement can result in pieces just as satisfying as more elaborately instrumented or involved compositions. The ReMixer/Developer clearly has a respect for Reinhardt, and that respect comes through in this short-but-sweet piece.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
Beautiful and fun, I love the style and the performance, one of my all time favorites. I play this mix for people who think they won't like "remixes," or think "remixes are all techno." I hope to hear more!
(Also, makes a great ringtone.)

- vindkast on April 18, 2009
I was wondering what gypsies and jazz had anything to do with this mix, but after reading what Wikipedia had to say, it all makes sense now.
The beauty of the mix is in its simplicity.
This is a reminder to the world that ~everything~ doesn't have to be boom/bust, life/death, now/never, "the world's gonna end now!!!", etc; it's an incredibly nice "stop and smell the roses" kind of mix.
This is an absolute must download.

- 42 on January 29, 2009
I've recently discovered musette and manouche music (gypsy swing/jazz), they're perfect for chilling and drinking some wine or a good beer. Gypsy Jazz has become a new favorite in my playlist!

- Black Mage on May 2, 2008
My lady, "The Lady", [URL="http://www.vgfrequency.com/?p=139"]enjoyed this piece so much that she wrote about it over at our blog, VG Frequency[/URL]. She felt a lot of connections to other great non-VGM music and enjoyed the arrangement a lot having played the game.
Take some time out and drop her a comment over at the blog. Even if you stumble on it way after we posted this. We'll still hug you.

- Liontamer on October 21, 2007
Nothing short of totally awesome.

- Dafydd on October 7, 2007
Gotta love that rag tag feel to it. And yeah, the mic and recording quality really did it. It's these little creative touches that make a remix stand out as cool I believe.
I don't believe I have to comment on the actual instrument work. It speaks for itself.
I feel like playing a game of stick ball now...

- Malaki-LEGEND.sys on October 8, 2006
About friggin time someone did some Gypsy, I think other than jazz-rap, this is my favorite jazz type.
I actually like the crappy microphone quality...sounds more like it was from a record, haha.
Loved the improv, but wish it was a bit longer cuz I think the source stuff was longer than it, aw well.
Awesome job man!
Oh! If ya ever do another Django style song, you should definitly lookinto having some violin in there too :D
Thad make it authentic gypsy times 5!

- operawonderdude on June 11, 2006
As much as I am a fan of lo-fi there is a note at around 0:39, and to a lesser extent one at 1:02, that makes my ears explode. Oww volume disparity. Otherwise this is enjoyable.

- Radiowar on June 10, 2006
As musical layman from the technical point of view, all i can say is this music is fantastic. Laid back and perfect for relaxing, simple yet with personality. Congrats on a job well done ^^

- apjo on June 9, 2006
Simple and groovy. Not too much to say otherwise. It's creative and cheery.
Prooves that simple can still triumph.

- Terium on May 22, 2006
I really liked this piece. I can't say I'm a fan of gypsy jazz (I listen to mostly contemporary or classic), but I liked the guitar in this a whole lot. I just wish I could play the guitar as good as that. ;_;
|GX

- Goten X on May 20, 2006
IndyCovaHart wrote:
Although the rhythm guitar(s) were right on, as far as the lead is concerned, I heard quite a few dead notes (one totally missed at 2:04), and more poorly articulated (hit too soft/hard) notes than I would have liked. Rhythmically, some notes were lagging, too.
As the contributor pointed out, it does have a "two takes and record" feel to it. Some may call that "charming", but it seems awfully strange to me for it to have been accepted. I have heard rejected works that clearly invested far more time and effort than this.
As a guitarist, I can safely vouch for his skills, but the performance could have easily been cleaned up with more takes. I'm surprised the judges did not ask for a resubmission.

Sorry for quoting all of that but I felt it was needed.
Ummm ever heard of humanising? Personally I think that the fact that it was clearly preformed live and had a few minor mistakes added to the quality of the song. Gives the impression of a very laid back tune which you could play on a summer’s day outside the front of a house in hillbilly country. Frankly if this was done on computer even with humanising effects it would sound no where near as good and would lose all of its quality and style. I want to get some tabs or sheet music and learn it myself, good job :D

- viewtiful on April 28, 2006
This is pretty amazing, got it queued up along with Django and Joao. Very laid back, very cool, not too many things going on, and will get boring if you listen to it too often, but it is what it is. Get it while its hot! This is the first great SMB2 remix since Estradasphere's (this doesn't top that though...I don't think any SMB2 remix could).

- bilditup1 on April 27, 2006
All I can say, is this song is fucking awesome
GG on this mix!

- phantomINTELLECT on April 24, 2006
I enjoyed this song - very simple, very "human." It reminded me of some of the David Schwartz songs used in the TV show Arrested Development.
The song might have benefited from a little more layering, and I would have loved to hear a "battle" of sorts between either two lead plucking guitars or perhaps the existing guitar with another instrument (a clarinet, perhaps).
Nonetheless, it is a good, fun song. Me like.

- SirLouie on April 24, 2006

Content Policy
(Submission Agreement and Terms of Use)

Page generated Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:18:15 -0500 in 0.0921 seconds

All compositions, arrangements, images, and trademarks are copyright their respective owners. Original content is copyright OverClocked ReMix, LLC. For information on RSS and JavaScript news feeds, linking to us, etc. please refer to resources for webmasters. Please refer to the Info section of the site and the FAQ available there for information about the site's history, features, and policies. Contact David W. Lloyd (djpretzel), webmaster, with feedback or questions not answered there.

top of page