Van Halen is quintessential guitar rock. So what happens when an electronic jazz duo of self-avowed fans take on the band's blistering discography? the bird and the bee's latest album, Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 2: A Tribute to Van Halen, offers an answer: Though the songs will feel familiar to fans of the guitar rock icons, the arrangements are entirely fresh.
Producer/multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin and singer Inara George have done this before with Hall and Oates. But with no guitars in the bird and the bee, Van Halen presents a different type of challenge; ultimately the duo used a creative approach to recreate the melody of some of the greatest rock songs of the late '70s and early '80s.
In this session, we'll also talk about the surprising depth in David Lee Roth's lyrics (but maybe not the videos). Hear that and more in the player above.