Although I like Robert Wyatt's cover of "Round Midnight" just as it is, if Mike Dickson (for example) was so inclined, I bet he could layer a Mellotron part to it and it would work beautifully.
Robert
I'm a huge fan of Robert Wyatt and love the way he tortured the Mellotron on Matching Mole's first record, but to me jazz and the Mellotron just don't go together. The playing limitations of the instrument are one thing, but there is something a little deeper. Jazz (to me) was always about 'precise imprecision', or in other words the way that very good musicians can play together in a way that sounds all over the map but which is actually pretty tight. On the other hand, the Tron is the exact opposite - it's imprecise precision, in that few notes are really in tune (or are only close to it) and has absolutely no way of playing anything very quickly. I'd have thought most jazz types would run a mile from a Mellotron!!
Mike