David Bowie has recorded a jazz track with Maria Schneider.
The reclusive singer penned ‘Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)’ after seeing the Grammy award-winning composer and her 17-piece band perform in New York and the pair then worked on the track in several studio sessions this summer.
Producer Tony Visconti said: "Initially we worked from David’s demo of the untitled song.
"Over the course of three long sessions in a rehearsal studio, Maria and core members of her band jammed over the bassline for several hours.
"After this, Maria and David met to finalise the arrangement and structure and Maria kept me in the picture by sending me musical scores of her updates – her writing was very meticulous."
Despite working on the song for so long, the ‘Jean Genie’ hitmaker didn’t reveal the title of the eight-minute track until the last minute.
Tony added to NME magazine: "When the day arrived to record the piece with the full 17-piece band, David handed lyrics to Maria, myself and our engineer – and it was only then we learned it was called ‘Sue’."
Maria had a "fantastic" time working with the ‘Space Oddity’ star and says their experiences have provided her with new career inspiration.
She said: "It was a fantastic collaboration that brought us to a place that I don’t know either of us envisioned, but after the fact, felt entirely inevitable. He has been such a fresh inspiration for me."
The track will be released as a limited-edition 10-inch vinyl and download on November 17 and will feature on the forthcoming ‘Nothing Has Changed’ compilation which is released on the same day.
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