Song Of The Day 11/12/2013: Doc Severinsen - "In The Court of the Crimson King"

Quarterly Covers Report: Doc Severinsen was the bandleader on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, best known for his slick trumpet stylings and his Gaugin-esque approach to buying suit jackets off the rack. While leading any kind of "big band" in the '70s and '80s could not be considered even remotely modish, the Doctor was just switched on enough to recognize those hep new sounds coming from British progressive rock might be worth a spin in the ole jalopy o' jazz. So he produced this version of King Crimson's signature track, which is frankly not that bad at all as an instrumental fusion piece. Of course, you prog-rock purists may shrivel upon hearing Doc's upper-register-humping horn sucking all the vaporous mystique from your ash-smeared copies of the original Crimson album, in which case you can join the trad-jazz purists who believe music should have been declared dead when guitar pickups were invented. Knock yourselves out. (Special thanks to Stan 'Stanbery' Foster for dragging this to my attention.)