Jazz Crossovers to the Pop Charts/Timeless Classic

These two examples come to mind:

Duke Ellington used two minute thirty second hits like Satin Doll and Take the A Train to,in effect,subsidize more entended works that did not get air play.

Nat Cole was an excellent jazz pianist who had hits singing as Nat King Cole.

I believe that Ray Charles' ability to blend genres pretty much makes him beyond classification (though if pressed I might go with soul or ORIGINAL R&B). Anyways, not sure how far it made it in the pop realm, but his "One Mint Julep" is classic.

The song The Sidewinder by the late great Lee Morgan became a pop hit and was used on a car commercial around the middle sixties. The Blue Note album sold a great amount for a jazz album and was one of Blue Notes' best selling disks of all times.

As Ferrari mentioned (several years ago), " Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond title is "Take Five" Recorded in 1959 and has never gone out of style".

Agreed, Take Five is and will remain an undisputed classic. This is the sort of music that truly has become "classical" in its own right.

And, for an interesting and tasty example of contemporary interpretation of previous art, check out the song "Rose Rouge" by French musician St. Germain, from his album "Tourist". Sound familiar? Give it a few minutes to develop - about half-way in, it gets into what Jazz is all about (IMO): Taking one idea and building on it to create another through inspiration and interpretation. Here's a YouTube clip, but it pales in comparison to the real album version's sound quality and artistry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkegKN-VZBg

Killer Joe by The Jazztet comes to mind quickly