As a music journalist since 1982, I’ve been fortunate to speak to many of the greatest bassists of the last fifty years about the original works of art they created on their instruments and as composers. As a professional bassist since 1979, my path has been quite different, meaning I—like the majority of gainfully employed musicians the world over—have mainly played cover songs (and by extension, cover bass lines). Maybe that’s why I’ve been totally captivated over the past month by a collection of internet artists who are reimagining today’s Top 40 the way jazz musicians reinvented Broadway show tunes in the ’50s. It all started innocently at Bass Player LIVE!, when before his excellent effects clinic Tim Lefebvre handed me a CD he had guested on called Think Thoughts by Louis Cole and Genevieve Artadi, an experimental duo he is also performing with live. I spun the disc on the long ride home from a gig in Boston and really enjoyed the pair’s highly musical approach to electronica,...